DA: No criminal charges against Wichita police officer in shooting of J.P. Quintero

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Friday that no criminal charges will be filed against the Wichita police officer who shot and killed John Paul Quintero during a confrontation in January 2015.

The case has drawn significant attention because Quintero, 23, was unarmed and reportedly holding his hands in the air when the officer, a woman, fired an military-style rifle twice at him on Jan. 3, striking him in the buttocks.

The FBI is looking into the shooting, it said last year, to determine whether any civil rights violations occurred. And Quintero’s father has filed a federal lawsuit, suing the Wichita Police Department and others for $10 million in damages over his son’s death.

The officer who shot Quintero was one of two who responded to the home of some of Quintero’s family members at 554 N. Oliver that evening to handle a 911 report over a disturbance with a knife.

Police have said Quintero was belligerent and threatening officers, failed to follow orders and was reaching for his waistband when the female officer fired.

Quintero’s father, who was standing in the driveway of the home with Quintero when the shooting happened, has said his son had his back turned to police when he was shot.

Bennett, during a news conference called Friday afternoon to discuss his findings in the case, said the officer acted reasonably in using deadly force to subdue Quintero, in part because she thought he still had the knife and because he did not react to stun gun shocks that had been used to try to subdue him.

He said his office spent 14 months reviewing witness and law enforcement statements, videos and evidence in the case. The findings are laid out in a 30-page report.

Under Kansas law, a person can be immune from prosecution if he or she is acting in self-defense or in defense of another person.

“The bottom line is … when he (Quintero) did not respond to the Taser as one would expect and instead made a motion toward his waist, the officer believed he had the weapon still and that — being steps away from both her and her partner — (he) posed lethal threat to her partner,” Bennett said.

“My analysis is fairly simple: Can I prove that a crime occurred beyond a reasonable doubt? … In this case I have concluded that I cannot,” he said. “No criminal charges will be filed against the officer in this case.”

Bennett said he contacted and offered to meet with Quintero’s family to discuss his findings prior to Friday’s announcement. But, he said, the offer was declined.

Quintero’s father, Santiago, said Friday that though he expected Bennett to rule the way he did, he “still had that little hope that they would do the right thing.”

“I’m still hoping for the FBI to do the right thing,” he said. “Maybe they will see the things in a different way. Maybe they will get justice for him.”

Thomas Bowers, Santiago Quintero’s lawyer, called Friday’s decision “a tragedy.”

“It’s amazing and disheartening that they’re still continuing to do the wrong thing in the city,” he said. “You … want to believe that justice takes care of every situation, but obviously justice is still limited to those in law enforcement.

“What happened was a crime, and they were shielded by the badge.”

The name of the officer involved in the shooting has not been disclosed publicly.

What happened

Bennett, in discussing his findings, said the events that led up to the shooting began a few days before. He said Quintero had been celebrating his birthday by buying and consuming alcohol.

An autopsy showed Quintero had marijuana, alcohol and methamphetamine in his system. His blood alcohol level was .241, three times the legal limit to drive.

In the hours before the shooting, Quintero “was intoxicated” and “engaged in a physical altercation with members of his own family” at the house on North Oliver, Bennett said.

Quintero’s family called 911 twice when he fetched a hunting-style knife and began brandishing it, Bennett said.

The family also called Quintero’s father, asking him to pick up his son. After the father arrived, he and Quintero stepped out of the house, he said.

When the officers — a man and a woman — arrived, Bennett said they knew only that a man was drunk, that a knife fight had occurred and that a man carrying a knife had left the house but “was trying to force his way back in.”

“One of the officers … makes the determination that based on the information they have it looks like to her that they are going to be engaged in some sort of a standoff” where “she’s going to need some sort of weapon that’s going to put them in a position to have some distance from the suspect,” Bennett said.

Bennett said when the officers approached the house, Quintero and his father were in the driveway, sitting in a Chevy Tahoe. Quintero’s father was “utterly compliant” with commands from police, he said; Quintero, meanwhile, was “at times compliant. He was at times argumentative.”

“He put his hands up to his shoulders. He put his hands down. … He put his hands against the Tahoe. He then turned back around and engaged the officer — very intermittent, inconsistent throughout,” Bennett said.

Around that time, Quintero’s father yelled at his son “to just do what they say,” Bennett said.

The male officer used a stun gun for about five seconds on Quintero to try to subdue him, Bennett said. He did not fall to the ground as the female officer expected, he said, and instead stepped forward and dropped his hands to his waist. He was six to eight steps away at the time.

“She believes he still has the knife, and she fires two shots,” Bennett said, summarizing the officer’s statements, “and Mr. Quintero went to the ground.”

Quintero suffered extensive internal injuries, underwent surgery at a Wichita hospital and went into cardiopulmonary arrest, according to his autopsy report. He was pronounced dead about six hours after the shooting.

Bennett said Friday that several people with different vantage points witnessed the shooting, and while some accounts conflicted slightly, none were substantively different.

In addition to reviewing statements, video and the evidence collected, Bennett said he considered Quintero’s toxicology screen, which showed the alcohol and drug intoxication, before making a decision.

He also conferred with the FBI, which opened a inquiry into the case last year, and the United States Attorney’s Office to ensure that he had “all of the facts that anyone who investigated this case might have uncovered,” he said.

“I won’t make a finding until I’ve satisfied myself personally that every aspect of the case has been investigated, and I’m satisfied that I know what that is,” he said. “And that I won’t charge someone or clear someone simply because of the position they hold in this community or the place for whom they work.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 2:43 PM with the headline "DA: No criminal charges against Wichita police officer in shooting of J.P. Quintero."