No charges for Columbia police officers for May killing
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two Columbia police officers will not face charges for shooting and killing a man at a gas station in May.
Miller County Prosecutor Ben Winfrey wrote in a Jan. 24 letter to the Missouri State Highway Patrol that he didn't think a jury would convict Lt. Lance Bolinger and Sgt. Roger Schlude for the shooting that killed James G. Sears III on May 26, 2021. Winfrey said a jury would most likely believe the two acted in self-defense as they went to arrest Sears as part of a drug investigation.
The afternoon shooting shut down the parking lot of the Petro-Mart on Stadium Boulevard for several hours. The police department said at the time that a "cursory review" of video showed that Sears "drew a firearm on the officers."
Winfrey said police had been watching Sears as part of a drug distribution investigation. Sears also had a warrant for his arrest out of Saline County due to a probation violation. The officers planned to arrest him at the gas station that day.
Winfrey said Sears parked next to a gas pump, and officers parked near him. Sears was using his phone at the time, which Winfrey said may have distracted him from recognizing officers had arrived. Winfrey wrote that the two officers "announced their presence" to Sears with their guns drawn.
"Officers announced their presence with guns drawn and trained at (Sears)," Winfrey said. "Upon recognition of police presence, (Sears) reached towards his belt where a handgun was concealed. Multiple witnesses report that police admonished (Sears) to refrain from further action and to put his hands up."
The two officers shot Sears when he didn't "comply with police instructions," Winfrey said. Investigators said they found a 9mm pistol on the ground near Sears.
Winfrey said he felt a jury would see the officers' shooting as one done to stop Sears from hurting them or others.
"In this case, (Sears) was in the act of retrieving a loaded firearm from his belt in response to police presence," Winfrey said. "A gun clearly gave both officers a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to avoid 'death, serious physical injury, or any forcible felony.' This belief is magnified when Decedent's prior criminal history is considered (especially two felony assault convictions)."
Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight asked for a special prosecutor to review the highway patrol's investigation in September. The patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control is also reviewing a deadly Columbia police shooting of Quillan Jacobs in November and the Boone County Sheriff's Office killing of Blain Johnson on Feb. 13.
Columbia Police Department Chief Geoff Jones said in a statement that the department will now work to conclude its Internal Affairs investigation into the incident.
