911 call and bodycam footage released from officer-involved shooting that killed 46-year-old

The release from IFPD, including the 911 call, body camera footage and explanations of the incident. | Idaho Falls Police Department IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Police Department has released the 911 call and body camera footage from an officer-involved shooting on Aug. 19 that left a 46-year-old man dead. According to a news release from the Idaho Falls Police Department, officers responded around 10:11 p.m. for a report of a man armed with a gun causing a disturbance. In the 911 call, the reporting party states that the man, identified as 46-year-old Derrand Zimmerman, had been acting erratically, making suicidal statements, and left the apartment, located on the 100 block of Clubhouse Circle, armed with a gun to get beer. RELATED | Coroner identifies Idaho Falls man killed in Tuesday shootout The reporting party repeatedly stated that Zimmerman was extremely inebriated in the 911 call. In a phone call with a responding patrol officer, the caller says Zimmerman had pointed the gun at her at some point before he left the apartment. She told police there were also three children with her. The scene of the officer involved shooting on Aug. 19. | Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com Listen to the audio and watch the officers’ body camera footage in the player above. Officers responded to the area, looking for Zimmerman. Soon, the reporting party called 911 again, saying that Zimmerman was pounding on her door trying to get inside. Dispatch advised the caller and children inside the apartment to stay inside and shelter away from the door. Officers located Zimmerman outside the apartment on the second floor and tried to speak with him, asking him to come down the stairs peacefully. Around 10:50 p.m., one of the officers, Sgt. Gabe Klepich, tried to send his police K9, who is certified in apprehension and narcotics detection, after Zimmerman, who was at the top of the stairs. Klepich sent the K9, but the dog did not go up the stairs. Klepich tried a second time to send the K9, and this time, the dog went up the stairs, but did not bite or apprehend Zimmerman. Klepich told Zimmerman to keep his hands where he could see them and recalled his K9. According to Idaho Falls Police Chief Bryce Johnson, the K9s are “exceptionally well trained,” but don’t recognize firearms as threats the way people might. “As you watch the video, the K9 can’t recognize the gun in his hand as a threat. That’s not something that the K9s are trained to do,” Johnson says. “The K9 is looking for punching, fighting, running, some sort of physical aggression other than a gun in the hand.” Because Zimmerman wasn’t being outwardly aggressive, the K9 did not detect an immediate threat. “The K9 doesn’t see running, fighting, stuff like that. So the K9 doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do, and comes back down to the officer’s command,” Johnson says. “K9s are independent thinking creatures that make their own decisions, as much as we train them.” Zimmerman is then seen in the video holding a gun in his right hand and begins to make threatening statements. He then fired a shot toward officers. Klepich and IFPD Officer Dustin Cook returned fire with their service weapons, striking Zimmerman multiple times. Klepich fired his gun three times, and Cook fired his gun four times. Several other officers were on scene, including two carrying 40 mm launchers, deploying a non-lethal projectile. “Given how the situation unfolded, there was not an opportunity to use those less lethal options,” says the release. The shot fired by Zimmerman appears to have ricocheted and changed direction, impacting the siding of the building inches from where Klepich was standing. No officers, nor the K9, were injured during the incident. A bullet hole in the frame and siding of an apartment building from an officer-involved shooting. | Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com x EMS personnel from Idaho Falls Fire arrived on scene at 10:53 p.m., provided medical aid, and transported Zimmerman to the hospital, where he was declared dead. “The incident is being investigated by the East Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce, which is a team of investigators and professional staff from local law enforcement agencies who investigate police use of force and other critical incidents,” the release says. “For this incident, the Rexburg Police Department is leading the investigation with assistance from other regional law enforcement agencies. IFPD has and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation, but takes no part in conducting the investigation.” The Bonneville County Prosecutor’s Office will review the investigation to determine whether the officers’ actions were justified under the law. The prosecutor is expected to release his decision at the end of the investigation. IFPD says Klepich has been an Idaho Falls police officer for 23 years and a patrol sergeant for 3 1/2 years. He is a Master K9 Instructor and High-Liability Instructor and was a SWAT operator and sniper for over a decade. He and his K9 have been partners for the last nine years. Cook has been with the Idaho Falls Police Department for 17 years, with 10 years before that serving as a law enforcement officer at other agencies in Eastern Idaho. Cook is a High Liability Instructor, a Master Firearms Instructor, and a member of the IFPD SWAT Team. Cook was also involved in an officer-involved shooting in Nov. 2022. RELATED | Prosecutor says officer-involved shooting was self-defense, releases report detailing incident “As is standard practice for IFPD, the names of the involved officers, individuals, and body camera footage has not been released by our agency until this point to allow investigators time to complete necessary steps in the investigation, including interviews with involved officers and others, notification of next of kin, among other steps,” the release says. According to IFPD, Zimmerman was a 46-year-old man living with a friend in Idaho Falls for a few months and lived in various locations around the United States. Johnson has met with his family to share body camera footage, the 911 call, and available information regarding the incident. Johnson says this is the fourth time a suspect has shot at IFPD officers in the last two years. “It must be luck or the grace of God, but I am so grateful that none of my officers have been hit,” Johnson says.The post 911 call and bodycam footage released from officer-involved shooting that killed 46-year-old appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com