Deadly Force

[USMC Chuter]

A violent argument, a car crash, a tense standoff and four rifle shots ended the life of a Meridian man Wednesday, the third Treasure Valley death this year linked to domestic violence.
The incident is still under investigation. But Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney provided some details of the events that led Sgt. Ron Santucci to shoot Jonathan DiPaola, 35, four times in front of the home of his ex-wife.

During a press conference Thursday, Raney said events unfolded like this:

About 4:45 p.m. an argument between DiPaola and his ex-wife started, then escalated at her home in the 400 block of East State Avenue in Meridian. DiPaola then rammed his pickup truck into his ex-wife’s parked pickup truck.

At some point, DiPaola took weapons from his truck and went into the house. After a heated exchange, the ex-wife grew concerned and called police just before 5 p.m.

A neighbor saw DiPaola with a gun on the front porch and also called police.

“They knew this was a tense situation,” Raney said.

When Meridian police arrived, they tried to talk to DiPaola, but the situation escalated again and police asked for help from Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

A deputy and a Meridian officer talked on and off with DiPaola by cell phone for 45 minutes.

At one point, DiPaola came out of the house with a semi-automatic gun in the rear waistband of his pants. DiPaola reached back toward the gun and brought his hand forward quickly.

Then DiPaola went back inside the house, and negotiations continued. The deputy and officer “made repeated pleas for Mr. DiPaola to discuss rationally the situation,” Raney said.

DiPaola came out of the house again and walked rapidly toward the officers with a look described as “deliberate,” “stoic” and a “blank stare,” Raney said.

Santucci then fired his .223 Colt rifle, hitting DiPaola four times in the neck, chest and shoulder, killing him. One of the bullets punctured DiPaola’s lung, said Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg.

Another deputy, Charles Roath, 29, fired a shotgun loaded with a beanbag round, but it's unclear whether he hit DiPaola, Raney said.

Raney said DiPaola had the semi-automatic weapon when he was shot, and the gun was found underneath his body.

There is no evidence that Dipaola fired the weapon. Raney would not say whether DiPaola pointed his gun at the officers.

DiPaola was handcuffed and officers attempted to administer first aid, but “quickly it was obvious that was pointless,” Raney said.

Both deputies are on paid administrative leave, which is routine Sheriff's Office policy.

Raney did say it appears that the deputies responded to a legitimate threat. However, he deferred the decision to the Incident Command Team investigation.

“We don’t employ robots with badges. We employ human beings,” Raney said. “We wish there was a different outcome to this, but we didn’t make those choices.”

Santucci was closest to DiPaola, and therefore “was the most threatened,” Raney said.

Santucci was armed with a rifle, and Roath was armed with a shotgun loaded with beanbag rounds. Having various types of weapons allows officers to use the “least amount of force possible” to end the standoff, Raney said.

“If he had come out of the house with no weapon and wanted to fight, the beanbag would have been the right choice,” he said. “We couldn’t resolve it with a beanbag.”

DiPaola’s ex-wife was not injured seriously on Wednesday, Raney said.

She left the home before the shooting, he said. The couple’s two young children were out of town during the incident, Raney said.

Authorities are not releasing the ex-wife’s name. However, Statesman records show DiPaola married Tiffany Presnell in 1992.

Canyon County court records show the couple divorced in July 2005. DiPaola was ordered to pay $551 a month in child support in 2005.

Meridian Police Chief Bill Musser said his officers responded to previous calls to the home. Musser would not elaborate.

DiPaola was arrested twice on misdemeanor charges of failure to appear, Raney said. However, details were not made available.

DiPaola worked as an officer at the Idaho Correctional Center between November 2002 and January 2006, said ICC spokesman Michael Trant. He also previously worked in the Idaho Statesman’s circulation department between 2000 and 2002, company officials said.

Tiffany DiPaola also had worked as a corrections officer.

The shooting is apparently the first officer-involved shooting in Meridian in recent memory.

The last time Ada deputies were involved in a shooting was in 2002 in Downtown Boise. The last shooting near Meridian was in 1994 when a man ignored orders to drop his weapon. The man was shot by Ada County sheriff’s deputies.

Santucci, 37, has been with the Sheriff’s Office for four years and Roath, 29, has been with the office for three years. Santucci worked for 12 years in law enforcement with other departments before coming to Ada County.

Earlier this year, Santucci intentionally drove into the back of Michael Werlinger’s truck to stop him from crossing the interstate median near Linder Road.

No one was injured, and Santucci acted correctly in ending a high-speed chase through both Ada and Canyon counties, Raney said.

[Batgirl]

Based on the description of what happened, it seems clear that Sgt. Santucci responded correctly given the situation. I hope the incident investigation is completed quickly.

[USMC Chuter]

Man Forces Police to Shoot Him

BOISE -- Police shot and killed a 40-year-old Boise man near the Fred Meyer Store on Overland and Five Mile roads after a brief standoff this morning.

At 9:07 a.m., police dispatch received a call of an assault with a deadly weapon at a Boise home. A woman in the home claimed her ex-son-in-law, Tyler Lowrey, threatened her with a handgun. When police arrived at the home the suspect was gone.

At 9:26 a.m., the suspect was spotted running behind the Fred Meyer Store. The man had a hangun in his hand.

Boise Police say the suspect was uncooperative and about 16 patrol cars, a total of 30 officers, took up positions around the store and blocked off Five Mile and Overland roads.

"All of the sudden I saw a guy with white tennis shoes on and Levi jeans, and I saw that he had a gun," witness Toni Wells said.

Customers were kept inside the Fred Meyer during the standoff.

A SWAT team was brought in. Negotiations were just underway when shots rang out.

Police say the suspect refused to obey officer commands to put down his weapon.

Witnesses reported hearing between 20 and 30 shots ring out.

"He was sitting there for quite a little while, then all of a sudden I see his hand go in the air, and when he did that they shot him," witness William Bowkett said.

"I saw several officers go up towards him," Wells said. "They started going up towards him. They had shields. And then he did something and they backed off. And then I heard about 30 rounds go off."

Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson says six officers fired rounds at the suspect after he raised his handgun and made a threatening motion at officers. CPR was administered to the man, but he died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

Masterson said the man was overheard just moments before the shooting saying he was "not going back to prison."

A Critical Incident Task Force is now interviewing officers and witnesses to piece together exactly what happened.

Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney says three of the officers involved in the shooting were from his department, the other three were with Boise Police.

The Ada County coroner did an autopsy on the victim and found that eight bullets struck him in the chest, abdomen and extremities.