Witnesses describe scene in Springfield commercial area where police killed suspect

Two Springfield officers stabbed Wednesday by a suspect later shot and killed by police have been released from the hospital and are recovering at home, Lt. George Crolly said Thursday, July 31.

The midafternoon shooting of the suspect took place in a busy commercial area on Gateway Street. Witnesses on Thursday described how bystanders were near the police activity.

One witness told Lookout Eugene-Springfield there was a period of several minutes when the suspect stood in the street before taking off on foot — with several officers giving chase. Another said the chase appeared to end at a car wash with “pop” sounds that possibly were gunshots.

Authorities, however, have released few details, as the shooting launches a countywide protocol for deadly force events that involves administrative leave, described by Crolly as “critical incident leave,” for the unnamed Springfield officer who shot the suspect.

The suspect’s name has also not been released, and Crolly on Thursday said the names of the injured officers were not immediately being released.

For the shooting, “the sheriff’s office is the primary investigating agency … in coordination with the DA’s office,” said Sgt. Tim Wallace, a spokesperson for the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, referring to the district attorney’s office.

Witnesses describe police gathering, then giving chase

One witness, Desirae Gale-Ibsen, said she and her mother were eating at a Panda Express restaurant watching police gathering for about 10 minutes near a person who then took off on foot.

After the suspect suddenly took off, “there was about 15 cops chasing the person,” Gale-Ibsen said, with the person running north toward a Starbucks.

Samantha Brophy, a manager at Denny’s by Kruse Way — roughly 400 feet north of the Panda Express — said she was on shift when she saw a fire truck and other law enforcement officers gathering in the Chevron parking lot, which is in front of the diner. 

When Brophy went to the parking lot to ensure the safety of her customers and staff, she saw police running across Gateway Street, toward Happy’s Car Wash. 

“I do believe the suspect was running across the street to the car wash and that’s when police took off after him,” Brophy said. 

She said she was still standing in the Chevron lot when she heard noises from the car wash across the street that she believed were gunshots, and nearby people started running.

Gale-Ibsen, who said she watched the events unfold from inside the restaurant, provided Lookout Eugene-Springfield a photo showing someone standing near a bus stop close to police. The person wore black leggings and what appeared to be a black tank top.

Bystander video published by local TV news stations appears to show police giving chase to someone wearing similar clothing at the car wash, though neither the photos provided by Gale-Ibsen nor the published video shows enough detail to identify the person.

While she and her mother stayed inside, others went outside the building to get a better look, Gale-Ibsen said. 

“There was multiple people surrounding and watching,” Gale-Ibsen said, adding that there were “a lot of people standing there.”

Gale-Ibsen and her mother, Desse Ibsen, said that before the foot chase, they saw a police officer who appeared to be wounded.

“He was holding his face with his hand,” Ibsen said of the officer.

Investigative process

The review process for such a police shooting is based on a county plan whose genesis goes back to a 2007 state law. A group known as the Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team, also known as IDFIT, which is staffed by investigators from multiple policing agencies, will follow special protocols to review the shooting.

For an officer who fatally shoots someone, state law describes a period of “at least” 72 hours after the shooting in which the officer may not return to duty where using deadly force might again be required.

But in Lane County and elsewhere in the state, county procedures further define the length of such required administrative leave.

In Lane County, any officer who fatally shoots someone immediately goes on administrative leave “until such time as sufficient information exists to determine the justification in the use of deadly force,” according to Lane County’s Deadly Physical Force Plan.

The officer also must stay on administrative leave until they’ve had an opportunity for mental health counseling, the plan states.

Lane County’s plan has evolved over time, but it and similar plans in other counties exist in the first place because of the 2007 state law setting forth what were at the time new requirements for investigating police uses of deadly force.

Under the 2007 law, counties must develop investigative deadly force plans, which are approved by local governments and then reviewed by the state attorney general’s office.

After a 2019 police shooting by a Springfield officer, the city settled a wrongful death lawsuit in part by agreeing to commission a report with recommendations for changing Springfield use-of-force policies and administrative review procedures.

In responding to the report, Springfield police also agreed to advocate for some changes to the protocols for the Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team team.

A recommendation from the report involved expanding the scope of an IDFIT inquiry to include “a full exploration” of tactical decisions preceding the deadly force.

The plan was amended in 2022 to break down the objectives of the investigation into two parts. First, the Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team is to determine if the use of deadly force was “objectively reasonable.”

Secondly, the team is to determine if there was a “reasonable opportunity” prior to the use of deadly force for the officer to consider alternatives to deadly force.

District Attorney Christopher Parosa in an email said his review process ultimately is similar to other cases.

“Once the IDFIT completes its investigation and presents it to me, I will review the investigation in its entirety,” Parosa said. “We do not treat officer involved cases differently than we treat any other criminal case that is referred to our office.”

One issue considered is whether to present evidence to a grand jury. It’s an issue that’s attracted attention in Multnomah County, home to Portland.

Parosa said the decision about involving a grand jury will be made based on the specific case.

“In the event there is sufficient evidence to warrant charges, the case will be taken to the Grand Jury for a determination on the formal charges,” Parosa said in an email. “We do not, however, automatically take every officer involved use of deadly force case before the Grand Jury. From my perspective, the decision to present a case to Grand Jury when you do not believe there is sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction is irresponsible.”

Lookout Eugene-Springfield reporter Grace Chinowsky contributed to this story.