JoCo Attorney’s Office clears ICPD officers in shooting
Lang
6/14/19
The Johnson County Attorney’s Office has cleared two officers involved in the shooting of a burglary suspect last month.
In a Friday news release, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness says her investigation has concluded that Iowa City Police officers involved in the May 9th shooting acted with reasonable force in defending themselves and others.
According to arrest records, at approximately 2:30am that morning 34-year-old Michael Cintron-Caceres fled from ICPD officers who were investigating two burglaries at Pizza Hut on Keokuk Street and The Second Act on Olympic Court. Cintron-Caceres jumped two fences to enter a secured lot of Big Ten Rentals on Boyrum Street, where he hid in a truck. When found, Cintron-Caceres started the truck and used it to smash into vehicles and equipment in the lot. ICPD officers’ verbal commands, deployment of the police canine and shooting a Taser were ineffective in getting Cintron-Caceres to stop. An ICPD officer fired his weapon at Cintron-Caceres, but he continued to ram the truck. Only after a second officer shot at Cintron-Caceres did Cintron-Caceres halt his action. Two of the officers’ bullets struck Cintron-Caceres, hitting his right and left shoulders.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) conducted an investigation into the shooting at the request of ICPD. The DCI submitted its findings to Lyness to determine whether the officers’ actions were justified as reasonable force.
During the investigation Lyness reviewed the written reports of the officers; the body-worn camera and squad car audio and video of officers on the scene; the surveillance video from Big Ten Rentals’ lot where the shooting occurred; the reports from the DCI agents; the total station diagram of the Big Ten Rentals lot; and the interviews of Cintron-Caceres and ICPD Officers Alex Stricker and Travis Neeld. Lyness also toured the area of the shooting.
Based on the review of these materials, Lyness concluded that Cintron-Caceres’ actions posed a clear risk to the life and safety of the police officers and that the ICPD officers used the level of force necessary to protect themselves, other officers and the public.
Lyness’ full report is available at http://www.johnson-county.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=26277.
Surveillance video is available at https://youtu.be/d7YVM5zCi04.
