Cop cleared of killing suspect with Taser; in-car video mysteriously disappears

**pacific breeze** · July 19th, 2007, 12:30 PM

Video mystery at center of Taser case
Police release 1,100 pages in Harris investigation
Lafayette News
By Quentin Young
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

The failure of an in-car video system to record a 2006 incident in which a suspect died after a Lafayette police officer shot him with a Taser formed a central question of the internal affairs investigation, according to documents released this week.

The system was installed in a police pickup truck that on Aug. 4, 2006, was driven by Officer John Harris.

Harris responded to a field north of 2000 W. South Boulder Road, where 22-year-old Louisville resident Ryan Wilson, who was suspected of growing marijuana in the area, was running from authorities.

The video system, produced by Kustom Signals Inc., should have activated automatically.

But it did not.

Apparently it was switched off.

Lafayette police Sgt. Bill Palmer, who led the internal investigation, pressed Harris on the issue during an Oct. 3, 2006, interview, a transcript of which was contained in the released documents.

“My question to you is why, if the system was working at the time, then for all the checks that we’ve done on it, the system appears to be functioning before you used it and working correctly after you used it, why the system was not on and did not record this event?” Palmer asked.

Harris’ response: “I have no idea.”

At one point, Harris’ attorney, Michael Lowe, wrote in a letter, which focused on the matter of the video system, that he felt police officials were “seeking to find some basis upon which to discipline officer Harris.”

Although the matter remains a mystery, Palmer concluded Harris had not intentionally turned the system off to avoid recording the Taser incident.

Officials announced last week that Harris was exonerated at the conclusion of the the internal investigation, which lasted more than 10 months.

Harris now is assigned to administrative duty and will be “for the foreseeable future,” said Lafayette police Chief Paul Schultz.

Asked if the reason for the assignment was related to the Taser incident, Schultz said: “I can’t discuss personnel matters.”

The documents released this week contained about 1,100 pages. They fill in details and reinforce much of what was already known about the Taser incident.

The names of undercover officers, autopsy photos and other confidential items were blacked out.

Harris said he saw a knife in Wilson’s right pants pocket even before he exited his truck and that Wilson appeared to reach toward the knife while Harris chased him on foot.

The documents make clear that, among the law enforcement officers on scene — including a pair of detectives who were the first to contact Wilson and spoke with him from across a 5-foot wide ditch — Harris was the only one who claimed to see a knife in Wilson’s pocket before the suspect was disabled.

Harris told internal affairs investigators that he fired his Taser, which delivers an electric shock, because he thought Wilson was going for the knife.

Harris thought the Taser’s prongs hit Wilson in the back of the head, according to the documents.

A police department applicant, Bryan Adair, who was riding with Harris told investigators Wilson seemed to reach for something in his right pocket.

After he was hit with the Taser, Wilson dropped immediately to the ground.

Sgt. Jay Lanphere of the Louisville Police Department arrived within seconds. He told investigators he recalled Harris say he thought Wilson had been going for “something.”

Lanphere told an investigator that “prior to attempting resuscitation of the suspect, Officer Harris had searched the pockets of the suspect and found a clip knife.”

Wilson’s mother and father separately have indicated to the City of Lafayette they intend to sue over their son’s death.