Wichita cop’s deadly force appropriate in Zehring shooting, DA finds

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Wednesday that a Wichita police officer was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed a 30-year-old man who charged a sheriff’s deputy with a knife during a car stop in April.

Police and investigators’ accounts indicate David M. Zehring ignored commands by law enforcement to stop his advance and was not affected by two Taser shocks just seconds before “aggressively approaching” one of two Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputies with an object raised in his hands. That object later was determined to be a knife, Bennett said.

The Wichita police officer drew his weapon and fired, striking Zehring several times early on April 10 in the 200 block of South Mount Carmel, which is near Meridian and Maple. He died later at a hospital after being transported by emergency medical services.

Dash cam videos mounted on two sheriff’s deputies patrol cars that captured the moments leading up to the shooting support his findings, Bennett said Wednesday during a news conference announcing the results of an investigation into the shooting. Bennett showed both clips – 10 to 15 seconds each – to news media who attended.

The footage shows Zehring exiting the Impala and walking toward the police patrol car then drawing an object from the torso-region of his body after confronting law enforcement. Zehring then appears to run toward one of the deputies after being hit twice by Tasers.

“This is a situation where it wasn’t a real tough call,” Bennett said. “The video is very clear in terms of what Mr. Zehring was doing that the prompted response of the law enforcement officer to discharge his weapon.”

Authorities recovered the knife and another knife after the shooting that had hung concealed on a necklace around Zehring’s neck, Bennett said. Several knives, including a smatchet – a type of fighting knife – a small samurai sword and a combat knife, were found in the Impala, he said.

“He (Zehring) conducted himself that evening and had himself armed as if he were someone anticipating some sort of confrontation,” Bennett said. The police officer fired, he said, “because he really believed that Mr. Zehring imposed an imminent threat – a lethal threat – to the sheriff’s deputy.”

Zehring was shot shortly after 2:30 a.m. April 10 after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase that started in the area of 15th Street and Gow in Wichita.

According to a report released by Bennett’s office that details his findings:

Zehring that night had used a flashlight “in a strobing fashion” to get the attention of the Wichita police officer who was on routine patrol as Zehring’s car and the squad car were stopped at the intersection. When the officer pulled alongside Zehring’s car, Zehring identified himself as a security and weapons company employee and asked for the officer’s badge number.

The officer noted Zehring may be impaired and decided to pull forward to collect the Impala’s tag number, but Zehring drove away. The officer followed, flipping on his emergency lights when Zehring allegedly failed to signal a turn at 13th and Pleasant View. When Zehring refused to stop, the officer turned on his siren and a pursuit ensued. Speeds topped 75 mph at times.

The chase continued south on McLean, then onto Meridian and Maple and ended when Zehring turned onto Mount Carmel and stopped the Impala. Authorities had used spike strips to try to deflate the car’s tires. When Zehring got out of the car, the officer saw the 30-year-old pull out and manipulate an object then heard the click of a blade opening.

“Jacket pocket, pants pockets, it’s hard to tell” exactly from where Zehring pulled the knife, Bennett said Wednesday. “But he has drawn something and is manipulating it, and it looks like he’s opening something” to the officer.

Two sheriff’s deputies who had joined the police officer in the pursuit deployed Tasers to try to subdue Zehring who ignored commands to “Stop! Stop!” and approached the police officer, according to the report. But the shocks were ineffective.

When Zehring “stepped at” one of the deputies with an object in his hand, the officer – an eight-year veteran of the force – noticed it was a knife and fired multiple shots from his handgun, Bennett said.

“There’s a number of shots in the first volley,” Bennett said, referencing the dash cam footage of the shooting. The law enforcement officers and Zehring “begin to step out of the scene of the camera at that point. A second later, there are three more very quick shots in succession and Zehring falls out” of view of the cameras, he said.

Bennett said neighbors of Zehring’s who were interviewed after the shooting told investigators that Zehring had started making “increasingly disturbing and distressing comments” around the neighborhood in the weeks before his death, including statements about the police department being disbanded and that “the CIA was watching him.”

Neighbors also told investigators that Zehring had talked of confronting a uniformed police officer he felt was committing “treason” against him and warned that the officer’s patrol car soon would experience a “mechanical malfunction,” according to Bennett’s report.

Bennett also noted that while the exact cause of Zehring’s behavior may never be known, family indicated Zehring “had deteriorated or certainly changed” after he suffered a head injury in a traffic accident.

This story was originally published November 19, 2014 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Wichita cop’s deadly force appropriate in Zehring shooting, DA finds."