The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office charged a second-degree sheriff’s deputy Monday with second-degree murder for the murder of an unarmed man in May, a rare instance of criminal charges brought against an officer for actions at work.
Deputy Aaron Russell, 23, is accused of shooting Nicholas Bils, 36, while fleeing officers after escaping from a California park ranger’s car on May 1.
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement Monday that the office had made the decision to press charges after conducting a thorough review of the facts in the case.
He said that California state law allowed officers to use deadly force only when deemed necessary to defend against imminent death threats or serious injury to officers or others.
“When he takes his life, we must make decisions based on facts and laws, and not those that are influenced by the status of the accused as a peace officer or the status of the victim,” he said. “Every person must be responsible before the law.”
Russell, who was removed from office after the shooting, was in custody Monday and was scheduled to be tried Tuesday in a San Diego court, on bail of $ 1 million. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and up to life in prison.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. Barbara Medina, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, declined to provide further details on the case.
Mr. Bils, who was shot in the back, had mental illness, according to an interview with his mother, Kathleen Bils, which was published by NBC affiliate KNSD-TV in San Diego. In the interview, Ms. Bils said that the police told her that her son had been putting golf balls in a San Diego park when rangers approached him and told him that he was unable to get his dog off the leash and that the park was closed because of the coronavirus.
Detectives told Ms. Bils that her son had hit a golf club near the rangers, leading to their arrest for assault with a deadly weapon. When they put him in a vehicle to take him to the county jail, he escaped through open windows, he said in the interview.
The District Attorney’s Office said there was a surveillance video of the episode, but would not release the footage or more details about the shooting to the public because doing so could jeopardize Mr. Russell’s right to a fair trial. The video is expected to be presented as evidence during court proceedings, the office said in its statement.
