GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A prosecutor is declining to file criminal charges against a police officer who shot and killed a man last December in western Colorado.
The Daily Sentinel reports Rangely police Lt. Roy Kinney killed 58-year-old Daniel B. Pierce, who suffered from mental illness, on Dec. 10 in Rangely after a vehicular pursuit.
District Attorney Jeff Cheney said Pierce had stolen a vehicle and rammed Kinney’s police vehicle. The town’s police chief attempted to disable the vehicle by shooting a tire as Pierce tried to ram Kinney’s vehicle again.
Cheney says officer Kinney mistook that gunfire as coming from Pierce and shot Pierce.
While he noted that the police chief’s action runs counter to policies of many police departments, Cheney determined that Kinney and the police chief were entitled to defend themselves.