Special prosecutor reviewing deadly CPD shooting
A local prosecutor is reviewing the investigation into a deadly officer-involved shooting in Columbia.
Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight tells ABC 17 News he forwarded the investigation into Clarence E. Coats Jr.’s death to Callaway County prosecutor Chris Wilson.
Sgt. Shawn Griggs with the Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control tells ABC 17 News that the agency handed over the case on July 18 to Knight. Griggs said investigators followed up on 30 leads in the case that involved a Columbia police officer shooting and killing Coats on May 13.
Columbia police said they responded to the 100 block of Oak Street that afternoon for reports of a man firing a gun and threatening people. A standoff ensued, and ended when a police officer shot Coats in the 600 block of Garth Avenue.
Coats was allegedly shooting at officers with a rifle from atop a building on Garth Avenue when an officer returned fire. Coats died at the hospital later that night. His sister told ABC 17 News that Coats struggled with mental illness, and had no premeditated hate toward law enforcement.
Knight often appoints a special prosecutor to review cases of officer-involved shootings that result in death. Since 2015, those prosecutors have cleared law enforcement agents of any charges, ruling their conduct was lawful.
Knight told ABC 17 News that in a small jurisdiction, prosecutors often work closely with the law enforcement officers at the center of an investigation like this one. The appointment of a special prosecutor is intended to avoid any issues with conflict of interest, Knight said.
ABC 17 News reported last night that Wilson had cleared two officers involved in a shooting in January. Wilson wrote that Troy Bateman, the man officers had just pulled over and the suspect in an assault on a Highway Patrol trooper, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and that none of the CPD officers bullets hit him.
