WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita-area police officer will not be charged with a crime for shooting a man walking toward him and refusing to drop a weapon that was later found to be a replica BB gun, the local prosecutor announced Monday.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said that under Kansas law, the Goddard police officer, whose name has not been released, is immune from prosecution over the death in February of 39-year-old Michael James Trask, of Lake Afton.
Bennett issued a 16-page report noting that state law protects an officer from being prosecuted for using deadly force when the officer “reasonably believes” it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to the officer or another person. The shooting occurred about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Goddard.
Bennett's report said the officer tried to stop Trask for a traffic violation when a short pursuit began. After the vehicle eventually stopped and Trask left his vehicle with what appeared to be a gun, the officer repeatedly told him to drop the weapon, the report said.
Trask refused and continued walking toward the officer in what the report called a “deliberate” manner. The officer then shot at him eight times, hitting him twice.
A woman who said she was Trask's wife later called dispatchers and said he was suicidal and armed with a loaded gun, according to the report.
“When the officer made the decision to pull the trigger, he was doing so in self-defense,” Bennett told reporters during a Zoom briefing.
Bennett said his office received the case about a month ago and authorities had to wait on the results of Trask's autopsy, which was done in July.