Wichita officers who shot man in call where K-9 Rooster died won’t face charges
Two officers who shot at a Wichita man who killed a police dog won’t face any criminal charges, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Friday.
During an afternoon news conference, Bennett said the question came down to reasonableness: Were the officers reasonable in firing at 25-year-old Kevin C. Perry when they saw him reach for the Ruger pistol he ultimately used to kill Rooster, a Wichita police K-9?
Bennett said in the moment Perry pulled the gun from his waistband on March 18, 2017, officers thought he was going to turn on them. Perry shot at the dog instead.
At about the same time Perry fired, the two officers pulled their triggers. Perry was struck twice. He died at a Wichita hospital less than an hour later.
“The (U.S.) Supreme Court is very explicit. ... The assessment as to the reasonableness of an officer’s decision to utilize deadly force must be made within the context in which the officer found himself or herself, not from the perspective of 20/20 hindsight,” Bennett said Friday.
Police went to Perry’s home after 911 dispatchers received a call, saying Perry had held a gun to his girlfriend’s head and threatened to shoot her then kill himself. He stepped outside with his hands up after police arrived at Lamplighter Mobile Home Park, 2320 E. MacArthur. But then he refused to follow commands and told officers he was going back into his mobile home.
Rooster’s handler, Officer Daniel Gumm, released the dog to stop Perry not knowing that Perry was armed. Perry shot at Rooster after the dog grabbed onto his leg.
“This thing that makes this really a pretty easy assessment is that he (Perry) pulled a gun out and in fact fired it,” Bennett said about his ruling.
“Officers were a matter of steps away at that time. And so for that reason there’s no charges for either officer who pulled the trigger.”
Bennett detailed his findings in a 31-page report that’s posted at www.sedgwickcounty.org/district-attorney/officer-involved-shooting-media-releases/. His office reviews officer-involved shootings in Sedgwick County and determines whether law enforcement violated any criminal laws that might make them subject to prosecution. The office does not address whether departments should review their policies in use of force cases nor does it make assessments about any civil liability that might lead to lawsuits.
Bennett said on the night that police fatally shot Perry, Perry’s girlfriend went to his home to check on him because he suffered from schizophrenia and hallucinations. Perry, he said, also owed his girlfriend money and she wanted to ask him about it. An argument that followed got physical and Perry pulled a gun. After a while, the girlfriend managed to escape and went to a neighbor’s home for help. She and the neighbor called 911, Bennett said.
When police arrived, officers started setting up around the home. Perry unexpectedly came out onto his porch and raised his hands. He walked toward officers briefly before changing his mind.
Not knowing Perry was armed, Gumm released Rooster to stop Perry from going back into the house, where it was feared he might be heading to retrieve a weapon, Bennett said. When Rooster latched onto Perry, Perry fell back onto his porch steps. As he pulled his pistol — ultimately using it to shoot Rooster in the shoulder — one of the officers saw metal and shouted “Gun!” Bennett said.
Two officers — one an 11-year veteran of the Wichita police force and the other a two-year veteran — discharged their service weapons in response at about the same time Perry fired his gun once toward the police dog. Perry’s bullet traveled downward through Rooster’s body, hitting vital organs. The dog retreated toward his handler and died almost instantly.
Two bullets hit Perry in the chest. He was pronounced dead at a Wichita hospital about 50 minutes after the shooting happened.
Bennett said one of the officers fired at Perry four times. The other fired three times. Perry had amphetamines and methamphetamine in his system when he was killed, according to his autopsy report.
Bennett said had Perry not been armed, officers could have arrested him quickly after releasing Rooster and the night “would have resolved in a far more favorable manner to everybody involved.”
Rooster, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois, served five years with the Wichita Police Department. During his time on the force, he helped seize 256 pounds of marijuana, 10 pounds of meth and $31,000 in cash. He also helped in more than two dozen SWAT deployments and apprehended at least 35 people.
He is the first Wichita police K-9 killed in the line of duty.
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 4:16 PM.
