{"id":179645,"date":"2020-12-15T15:25:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T23:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eugeneweekly.com\/?p=180522"},"modified":"2020-12-15T15:25:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T23:25:54","slug":"lane-county-da-says-nov-30-use-of-deadly-force-was-lawful-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/15\/lane-county-da-says-nov-30-use-of-deadly-force-was-lawful-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane County DA Says Nov. 30 Use of Deadly Force Was \u2018Lawful Response\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Nov. 30, a Eugene Police Department officer shot Muhsin Sharif, a person of color, while responding to a domestic violence call.\u00a0 On Dec. 15, the Lane County Deputy District Attorney\u2019s office issued a press release on the investigation on the use of deadly force calling it a &#8220;lawful response.&#8221; The release says Sharif had violated a restraining order and allegedly committed assault and strangulation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the investigation by the Lane Inter-Agency Deadly Force Investigative Team (IDFIT) summarized in the release, Eugene police officers say Sharif had told them that he would kill them. He ran with a knife toward Officer Ryan Trullinger, who then shot at Sharif four times. Trullinger told investigators that he thought Sharif would stab him or someone else and feared for his life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Sharif was shot and was lying on the ground, Eugene police yelled at him to drop his knife, but he asked police to take it from him because he said he couldn\u2019t drop it. Police officers continued to tell Sharif to drop the knife and he responded, \u201cI can\u2019t move. I can\u2019t move.\u201d Then officers Tased him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The investigation shows that Sharif was shot in the left hip and upper left chest. Sharif survived his wounds and received medical care at PeaceHealth\u2019s Riverbend Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eugene police have charged Sharif with four felonies, and he is currently held in Lane County Jail. According to the family, Sharif was taken to jail while he was still recovering. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/justice-for-muhsin-sharif?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=m_pd%20share-sheet&amp;fbclid=IwAR354MjFgNbkUj4sEZMbRZAB7iwedS8wbgtocAOLteoEVf2RBMwlA3voFYs\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GoFundMe has been set up by Sharif\u2019s family to help him get legal representation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The investigation concludes that based on interviews and video evidence that the use of deadly force by Trullinger and Rankin was a \u201clawful response\u201d to Sharif advancing towards them with a knife.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lane County DDA released an officer\u2019s body cam and dashcam. (The video is graphic and viewer discretion is advised.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-vimeo\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/491365864\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><b>Below is the full press release:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On November 30, 2020, at approximately 10:21 a.m., Eugene Police received a report from a Lane County Deputy District Attorney (DDA) that a victim had contacted him via text and reported \u201cHe beat me up.\u00a0 He\u2019s here.\u201d\u00a0 The DDA reported the message was from a recent victim from a previous violation of a Pennsylvania Restraining Order against Muhsin Sharif.\u00a0 The DDA reported he had not heard from the victim in approximately 10 minutes and believed she was in an active dispute and unable to use her phone.\u00a0 EPD officers located the address of the victim and made contact. The victim reported Sharif had just left her residence.\u00a0 She stated Sharif may be armed with a knife, had made statements about fighting the police and potentially killing himself if the police were involved.\u00a0 The victim provided a physical description of Sharif as a 26-year-old mixed race adult, approximately 6\u201901 tall with an athletic build wearing a gray sweater, white shirt and green beanie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the conversation with the victim, EPD officers developed probable cause to believe Sharif had again violated his restraining order and committed the crimes of Assault and Strangulation constituting domestic violence while their minor child was present.\u00a0 Oregon law provides for mandatory arrest of a suspect under these circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0At approximately 11:57 a.m., Eugene Police Patrol units and plain clothes officers located Sharif in the Washington\/Jefferson Park and established surveillance there.\u00a0 At approximately 12:01 pm, Eugene Police officers attempted to contact Sharif in the park and he fled on foot. \u00a0 The foot pursuit tracked westbound along 1st , south then west in the Jefferson Alley, south on Madison and then eastbound into the ally between Builder\u2019s Electric and Oakshire Brewery.\u00a0 During the foot pursuit, Eugene Police personnel observed Sharif was armed with a knife as he ran and heard him yelling \u201cI will kill you\u201d repeatedly as he ran.\u00a0 Officers pursued him with lights, sirens and loud speakers. \u00a0 One officer on recording is heard yelling, \u201cStop, drop the knife.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After entering the alley between Oakshire Brewery and Builder\u2019s Electric, Sharif ran toward the southeast corner of a parking lot behind Oakshire.\u00a0 Within seconds of running into the parking area, Sharif quickly turned around before advancing toward the first Eugene Police officer that had entered the alley behind him.\u00a0 Officer Ryan Trullinger, who has been with EPD for four and a half years, observed the parking lot was enclosed, came to a stop in the alleyway several yards from Sharif and began to give him commands to \u201cStop\u201d and to \u201cDrop the Knife\u201d as Sharif advanced quickly toward him.\u00a0 There was a clear path out of the alley to the passenger side of Officer Trullinger\u2019s patrol vehicle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharif ignored Officer Trullinger\u2019s commands and quickly advanced toward the driver\u2019s side of Officer Trullinger\u2019s patrol vehicle.\u00a0 Sharif had the knife raised in his right hand and was yelling at Officer Trullinger.\u00a0 When Sharif reached the front driver\u2019s corner of the patrol vehicle he accelerated toward Officer Trullinger as Officer Trullinger retreated, circling the rear of his vehicle.\u00a0 As Sharif cleared the rear corner of the patrol vehicle, Officer Trullinger fired his Glock 9 mm pistol four times while accelerating his retreat.\u00a0 Officer Trullinger later stated in his interview that he feared Sharif was going to stab him or someone else, and was in fear for his life.\u00a0 Officer Trullinger said he stopped shooting when Sharif fell to the ground as he perceived the threat was over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within seconds of Officer Trullinger entering the alleyway, Eugene Police Officer Bo Rankin, who has been with EPD for fourteen years, entered the alleyway and was coming to a stop when he observed Sharif appear from the front driver\u2019s side area of Officer Trullinger\u2019s patrol vehicle.\u00a0 As Officer Rankin exited his patrol vehicle, without having put the vehicle in park, he observed Sharif advancing quickly toward him with the knife raised and said in his interview he feared he or another officer would be stabbed.\u00a0 Officer Rankin fired his Glock 9 mm pistol four times, nearly simultaneously with Officer Trullinger.\u00a0 Officer Rankin stopped shooting when Sharif fell to the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharif was struck two times, once in the upper left chest and once in his left hip.\u00a0 Sharif fell to the ground facedown with his head pointed towards the west.\u00a0 Officer Rankin\u2019s patrol vehicle was rolling and stopped with the front bumper area above Sharif\u2019s head and shoulders, but the vehicle did not roll on him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharif was lying on his stomach still refusing to drop the knife.\u00a0 For several seconds Eugene Police Officers directed him to drop the knife stating they wanted to administer first aid but could not until he complied.\u00a0 Sharif said he couldn\u2019t drop the knife, though his right hand was unencumbered, and that officers should take it from him. EPD Officer Alex Swindling deployed his Tazer to Sharif which caused him to drop the knife.\u00a0 Immediately after Sharif was no longer a threat, Medics were called into the scene while Eugene Police Officers Matt Pizzola, Kristen Cardwell, and Naivasha Tester began emergency first aide to stop Sharif\u2019s bleeding.\u00a0 Sharif was then transported to Riverbend Emergency Room by Emergency Medical Personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following is a summary timeline. Times are approximate, taken directly from CAD:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 10:24:33 DDA reports receiving a text message from Samantha Ceritlli stating, \u201cHe beat me up. He\u2019s here.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 10:33:07 Victim\u2019s cell phone is pinged to determine her location.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 10:48:26 Victim reports her actual location via DDA.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 10:58:33 Victim is asked to meet responding officers at the door to the complex.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 11:01:48 Pennsylvania Restraining Order confirmed and sent to EPD dispatch.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 11:10:20 EPD Patrol units meet up with victim.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 11:55:05 EPD Patrols are advised PC exists for Strangulation involving Abuse Prevention Act (APA) factors and a Violation of the Restraining Order (VRO.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 11:56:31 Sharif is tracked to Washington Jefferson Park.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 11:58:48 Sharif is located in Washington Jefferson Park.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:01:47 Sharif runs from EPD units at Washington Jefferson Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:03:22 officers on scene reported \u201cShots fired\u201d \u201cMedics Code 3\u201d \u201cSuspect Down\u201d \u201cOfficers ok\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:03:52 officers reported Sharif was in custody with wounds to his chest.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:04:54 officers reported first aid and Sharif was conscious.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:06:47 officers reported second bullet hole in left hip and administering first aid.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:09:08 Medics arrived at the scene.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 12:14:07 (approximately) Medics departed with Sharif to Riverbend ER.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investigators from the Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team (IDFIT) responded to the scene and took over the use of deadly force incident investigation.\u00a0 Detectives from Oregon State Police, Lane County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Springfield Police Department and Florence Police Department all participated in the investigation, led by OSP Detective Dusty Sprague.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These events are captured on multiple videos.\u00a0 Because there are pending criminal charges against Muhsin Sharif, to protect his trial rights, only video of the actual use of force is being released at this time.\u00a0 The first video is from Officer Trullinger\u2019s body worn camera.\u00a0 The second video is from Officer Rankin\u2019s in-car video.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based upon the interviews of the eye and ear witnesses, and the video evidence, the use of deadly force by Officers Trullinger and Rankin was a lawful response to the use of deadly force by Muhsin Sharif against the officers.\u00a0 Sharif was closing in on Officer Trullinger with the knife raised when both officers fired their weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both officers were uninjured and Mr. Sharif survived his wounds. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Nov. 30, a Eugene Police Department officer shot Muhsin Sharif, a person of color, while responding to a domestic violence call.\u00a0 On Dec. 15, \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eugeneweekly.com\/2020\/12\/15\/lane-county-da-says-nov-30-use-of-deadly-force-was-lawful-response\/\">Continue reading\u00a0<span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,117,101,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-eugene-police-department","category-ew-extra","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}