Cop shoots unarmed metally ill woman in the head

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Dorado DA clears cop who killed mentally ill woman
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By Cynthia Hubert and Chelsea Phua
chubert@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 30, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Placerville Police Officer Nick Maurer got the call at 10:15 on a Sunday morning in March: A mentally ill patient had stolen an ambulance from the local hospital and was on the move.

Four minutes later, Linda Carol Clark of Folsom was dead from a bullet Maurer fired as he and two other officers confronted her in the driveway of a private home.

Maurer feared for his life and the public's safety that day and was justified in killing Clark, the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office said in a report released Thursday.

District Attorney Vern Pierson concluded that Maurer did not engage in criminal conduct when he shot and killed Clark, 39, of Folsom, in a case that sparked debate about whether police used excessive force against a woman who was clearly disturbed.

"Based upon the totality of the evidence and the legal standards guiding us, we find that Officer Maurer's use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances," the report states.

Police said Maurer shot in self-defense as Clark drove toward him. A witness has disputed that account, saying the ambulance was stopped when shots were fired.

Pierson, in an interview, said it's not uncommon for eyewitness accounts to differ.

"What a witness sees or hears may only be a portion of the incident and may only be just one part of the picture," the report says.

Pierson said his office set aside the witness accounts, including that of the three officers, and re-created the crime scene based on physical evidence, such as the placement of bullet casings and Maurer's location when he fired.

Pierson said the re-enactment was most consistent with Maurer's account that the ambulance was moving when he fired.

A second reconstruction, put together by outside experts, came to similar conclusions and placed Maurer closer to the ambulance, according to the report.

The dead woman's father, Marty Hansen, said he met with Pierson this week and got a "courtesy preview" of the 50-page report. Hansen said he remains unconvinced that Maurer was "reasonable" in shooting his daughter.

"There are holes in their reasoning," he said, adding "It seems obvious to me" the officer could have saved her.

Linda Clark was being held involuntarily as a danger to herself when she fled Marshall Medical Center in Placerville in an ambulance on March 28. She led officers on a short chase before pulling into a steep driveway on Cedar Ravine Road.

According to an earlier statement by Police Chief George Nielsen, officers parked cruisers behind the ambulance and repeatedly told Clark to surrender. One officer hit Clark with a Taser after she put the ambulance in reverse and rammed patrol cars. The Taser was ineffective and Clark drove toward Maurer, who was in front of the vehicle, Nielsen said. Maurer fired five shots, one of them fatal, as he "sidestepped to the left," the report says.

Maurer told investigators that when he saw Clark crashing into the cruisers, he thought "She's going to kill somebody," the report says.

Fourteen seconds elapsed between the time Maurer made a radio call that Clark was "ramming police vehicles" and a second one reporting shots had been fired, according to the report.

In a June interview, the owner of the home where the confrontation took place told The Bee that he watched the surreal scene play out, and disputed Nielsen's description of events. Philip Darnell said Clark never appeared to be a direct threat to officers, that no officer appeared to be in front of the ambulance, and that the vehicle appeared to be stopped, its wheels embedded against an embankment, when shots were fired.

Another officer on the scene also said Maurer fired his gun after the ambulance was stopped, according to the report. But "the physical evidence appears inconsistent with both of these statements," the report says.

According to the report, that officer also said that, based on her conduct, he perceived Clark to be a danger. "He states that if Officer Maurer had not fired, he would have shot to stop her from driving off and endangering the public," the report says.

The Police Department is just one agency under the microscope in the case. Marshall hospital has been cited for failures to follow state and federal regulations in treating Clark, who had a history of psychiatric illness. El Dorado County Mental Health also is being investigated.



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