Wyoming's Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) finally released its report on the officer involved shooting of a Laramie man last November.
Despite refusing previous media requests for the document, the DCI finally agreed to provide the report that was used to determine whether charges should have been filed against Albany County Deputy Derek Colling. That's the officer who shot three times and killed 39-year old Robbie Ramirez during an altercation following a traffic stop.
Ramirez, who suffered from mental illness, was unarmed. The report spends a great deal of time focused on Ramirez's numerous contacts with law enforcement and his mental illness. It also describes his recent attempts at buying a gun. It does mention Deputy Collings killing of two people as an officer in Las Vegas, but it doesn't examine the fact that he was fired for beating an onlooker.
Colling told the DCI that after pulling Ramirez over, the two got into an altercation with video showing Ramirez wildly swinging at Colling. Colling told DCI that Ramirez didn't actually make contact with his head or body, but feared he would be knocked unconscious and then killed. Colling said he tried a Taser and unsuccessfully kicked Ramirez in the groin but after that felt he had no other choice but to shoot him. He then said he held Ramirez down on the ground and he and another officer eventually handcuffed him.
DCI said Collings version of the incident was supported by body camera and dash cam video despite the body cam becoming disabled and much of the incident occurring outside the view of the dash cam. Ramirez's mother recently called the report "one sided."
