CONCORD, N.H. —
State investigators said Tuesday that a fatal police shooting in Thornton last year was justified.
Officials from the New Hampshire attorney general's office said Thornton police Officer Matthew Yao was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed 37-year-old Ethan Freeman in October 2020.
"All of the other evidence gathered from the investigation supports the conclusion that Officer Yao did reasonably believe that he faced the imminent use of deadly physical force from Mr. Freeman at the time that the officer fired his pistol," said Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinkley.
At a briefing on Tuesday, officials displayed body camera video from Yao that captured three interactions between him and Freeman that day, including the fatal encounter at Freeman's apartment.
Officials said the body cam was critical in the case because they were able to match what the officer said to investigators with what was actually seen on the video.
At the apartment, officials said, Yao encountered a naked, bloody and irrational Freeman who, while inside, was holding a broken piece of furniture. In the video, Freeman threatens to kill Yao, jumps out a window and, while unarmed, advances on him.
"Officer Yao believed that when Mr. Freeman, who he heard had threatened his life, ultimately reached him, he would attempt to take his gun and shoot him," Hinckley said.
Slavshit
Sandshit
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This isn't a jab at the cop by any means, he seemed like he was doing his best. I'm just wondering. Isn't this the type of scenario tasers are for? The guy didn't look like he had a weapon and he was approaching slowly. What escalated this situation from non-lethal to leathal? Is there a protocol for that? Like is he supposed to just shoot him instead of I dunno, walking backwards? He really just didn't seem all that dangerous.
I live in Canada and I've had to evade more threatening bums than this one with no gun. That's not a flex, it's just pretty easy to out-maneuver someone who's that fucked up. But I dunno, maybe if I had a gun I'd just pop em and be done with it.
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Tasers are great when you've got back up, but the failure rate is high enough not to risk it alone. (especially vs juiced up crackheads)
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I heard that cops should have their tasers on their one hand while pistols wielded on another
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Literally never happens
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