Lima PD has now ID'ed the trigger puller.

And he's got blood on his hands already, from 2000.

All emphasis was added by me.
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LPD identifies officer responsible for fatal shooting
Greg Sowinski | gsowinski@limanews.com - 01.10.2008

LIMA — After the name of the Lima Police Department SWAT team officer responsible for his sister's death was released Wednesday, Ivory Austin said the biggest question he wants answered is why it happened.

The officer, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, is the same officer who gave the command to use deadly force during the department's last fatal shooting in 2000 at the Lima Rescue Home. On Friday, Chavalia was the SWAT team officer who fired the fatal shots that killed 26-year-old Tarika Wilson during a drug raid at 218 E. Third St.

Wilson was shot twice in the torso. Wilson's 1-year-old son, Sincere, also was shot in the shoulder and hand.

Chavalia, 52, is a 31-year veteran of the department and has served on the SWAT team for 22 years. He is the former commander of the team but lost that title when another officer, Chip Protsman, was promoted to lieutenant, giving him the higher rank.

Chavalia remains on administrative leave as standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting. Chavalia, whose job assignment before the shooting was the second-shift supervisor, has the third-most seniority, behind Chief Greg Garlock and Maj. Richard Shade, according to police records.

Austin said he doesn't know Chavalia.

“This is just the start now. Now I want to know why,” he said.

Police have yet to sit down with Austin and his family to tell them what happened, Austin said.

Lima 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn declined to comment.

Police officials have not released details about the shooting, other than to say it happened during a drug raid. Wilson's shooting has created an outcry in the city's black community over the death of the young black mother at the hands of a police officer.

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann will be in Lima on Wednesday to talk about the shooting.

Police were raiding the house looking for Anthony Terry, 31, with whom they have had other run-ins with in the past, including an incident in which he tried to use a weapon against another police officer more than 10 years ago, police said.

Terry also has a criminal past that has sent him to prison.

The raid was deemed “high-risk” because of various circumstances, including the potential that children might be in the house. Wilson's six children were inside along with her and Terry.

During the fatal shooing at the Lima Rescue Home on Aug. 23, 2000, Chavalia gave the command to Officer Kelly Ricker to fire a fatal shot after he saw a knife in Michael Hildebrandt's hand and other nonlethal attempts to incapacitate Hildebrandt failed. Hildebrandt reportedly suffered from mental illness.

That shooting ended a six-hour standoff with police. It also occurred during a tense situation that included a fire set by Hildebrandt burning inside the 8-foot-by-10-foot room.

During that shooting, Chavalia fired at least four rounds of nonlethal beanbags, trying to incapacitate Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt, who was white and clothed only in underwear and a cord wrapped around his waist, continued to reach for his side, where it was believed he had a knife.

Chavalia ran out of beanbags, and Hildebrand was spotted with the knife.

“At that point, he yelled for Officer Ricker to shoot, and he yelled knife,” according to a police report.

An Allen County grand jury reviewed the fatal shooting and cleared Chavalia and Ricker of criminal charges. Both men also were cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice, who investigated Hildebrandt's death and whether officers violated his civil rights. An internal police investigation found Chavalia and Ricker did not violate the department's use-of-force policy.

Following the 2000 incident, The Lima News reviewed Chavalia's personnel file, which included praise and recognition for his work with the SWAT team.

“These operations are very prone to involve violent individuals. The sergeant displays very good judgment in the leadership of his team for the safe and successful completion of the operations,” according to an efficiency report from 1992.

Chavalia also has taken numerous courses on self-defense and tactics on high-stress and dangerous situations, the records said at the time.

He also was praised for his community service, including raising money and clothing donations for flood victims in Des Moines, Iowa. He drove the items to Iowa on his own time in his own car, records reported.
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I think that the Lima News MAY have just screwed this cop.

Here's why:

It's likely that the cops are going to say something about this being a high-stress situation, which it is, and how the possibility exists to hit the wrong person, which is true. Having done this type of thing myself while in the Corps, and again during militia training sessions, I can tell you that when the adrenaline starts flowing and your body is in that mode, it's REAL easy to shoot the wrong person.

Which is why SWAT should only be used for it's original purpose: hostage situations and barricaded suspects.

Anyway, back to my point. The cops will say how it's such a dangerous, high-risk, high-stress environment, and now the paper has just handed pretty much EVERYONE a club to beat the cops on the head with.

I can hear it now:

"A raid is always very stressful, risky, etc. etc."

"Yeah, but your officer has had training SPECIFICALLY in how to deal with that sort of thing."

So either the training was faulty, or the officer just wanted to kill a black. At least, that's the reasoning that will be used.

The hardcopy version of this story had a pic of the cop in question. Don't know why the e-version didn't.