Report: Third officer was getting ready to shoot Finicum

According to the 360-page investigation summary released by Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, another officer was getting ready to shoot Robert “LaVoy” Finicum in that fateful Jan. 26 encounter.

Although the surveillance videos only shows two officers surrounding Finicum in the moments before he was shot along Highway 395 in Harney County, there were four officers in close proximity.

Two Oregon State Police officer shot and killed Finicum, one was getting ready to deploy a Taser, and the fourth was getting ready to shoot, telling investigators: “At that point, I made the decision to shoot.”

He had already clicked the safety off his gun when the other two officers fired shots and Finicum fell to the ground.

All of the officers describe their split-second decisions to pull the trigger. One officer said he saw Finicum’s “right hand dig inside his jacket pocket.”

“The Oregon State Police troopers have been briefed and were aware that Mr. Finicum was carrying a handgun on his left side,” Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson said at Tuesday’s news conference.

Officers found a loaded gun in the pocket Finicum was reaching. The officers describe serious concern, especially for one of the officers who is in view of the truck and Finicum, in what they call “a very dangerous position.”

“I was exposed to the truck, and I could sense that,” one officer said. “I could feel that. At that point, I believe that if I didn’t engage Mr. Finicum, (…) that officer probably would have been shot.”

Finicum had disobeyed commands at the first stop and didn’t get out of his car. According to testimony, the officers were about to launch gas canisters into the car to force the occupants out when the car sped away, toward the roadblock.

“I thought he was going to ram one of the vehicles,” one officer said.

After the shooting, the officers said they called an ambulance “almost immediately” but had to wait for the other occupiers to be taken into custody first.

According to the documents, officials had planned to arrest the occupiers a week earlier in Grant County, but then decided against it because of the alleged connection between Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer and the occupiers.

NewsChannel 21’s Wanda Moore is continuing to go through the 360 pages of documents to find new details. You can also read them online.

Here’s the rest of Thursday’s Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office announcement:

“We were assisted with the investigation by other member agencies of the Central Oregon Tri-County Major Incident Team.

“These records (360 pages) include only those reports that have been authorized for release and do not contain all reports, records, or documentation related to this investigation. We are releasing these reports in an effort to be transparent and provide the public with information currently available.

“As was stated during the press conference, there are on-going federal and state investigations and reports that are pertinent to those investigations will not be released. Information that is subject to the on-going investigations or offers identifying information to officers (which has not been authorized for release at this time) has been redacted from these reports.

“The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is continuing our investigation into elements of the incident and wish to thank the pubic for their patience and understanding in this complex endeavor. Ultimately our entire investigation will be subject to legal review and the rule of law.”

Documents are available at http://sheriff.deschutes.org/Media/OIS-Updates/