Deschutes DA: Deputy legally justified in shooting Bend car theft suspect
John Hummel reveals deputy fired 5 shots into car, 3 striking Adam Gilliam
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Deschutes County sheriff's deputy was legally justified in firing five shots into the car of a car theft suspect who was driving toward and threatening to hit him and several other deputies on Nov. 29 at Bend's Cascade Village Shopping Center, District Attorney John Hummel ruled Friday.
Hummel held a news conference to announce his findings in the case, laying out the sequence of events and revealing that three of the five shots fired by Deputy Clint Baltzor struck Adam Gilliam, 29, one a grazing wound, minutes after he allegedly stole a car belonging to the Shepherd's House homeless center on Northeast Division Street.
Minutes after starting his shift around 5:45 p.m., Baltzor heard a radio call that a man who had been "causing problems" at the Shepherd's House stole a car belonging to the shelter. and it was heading north on Division street, toward Third Street. Baltzor left the sheriff's office in his patrol car and headed south.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Hummel said, Baltzor was southbound at the intersection of Highway 20 and Empire Avenue when he spotted the car heading north on Highway 20, made a U-turn and began to follow it, joined soon by Deputy Megan Lymath as they passed the sheriff's office.
Gilliam stopped the stolen car moments later and the two deputies approached, guns drawn. Baltzar yelled, "Stop! Hands up!" but Gilliam took off again and the chase resumed, Hummel said. The suspect stopped at the red light at Highway 20 and Robal Lane, then turned right into the shopping center.
Due to heavy Black Friday shopping traffic and the snowy, icy roads, Baltzor requested from supervisors and got permission to use the PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique), in which a patrol car strikes a fleeing car in the rear quarter-panel, causing it to turn sideways and stop.
"Additionally, Deputy Baltzor knew that if Gilliam successfully made it through the mall he would enter Highway 97 which is the most heavily traveled road in Deschutes County," the DA said.
Baltzor then asked Lymath to perform the maneuver, because his car was not appropriate for it, Hummel said.
Lymath's PIT maneuver was successful, Hummel said, and Gilliam spun out and stopped as it approached an access road behind the PetSmart store, he said. Two other deputies, Danny Graham and Joe Delance, were in another patrol car, behind Baltzor's car, as was Deputy Stacy Crawford in another car.
Baltzor drove up and made contact with Gilliam's car to keep him from driving off. He then got out, approached Gilliam, still in the car, and yelled to "Stop, put your hands up!" But Baltzor later recalled Gilliam's "'1,000-yard stare and irrational actions,'" indicating to him likely drug use, though Hummel said it likely had to do with "symptoms of Mr. Gilliam's mental health status."
Gilliam began to back up his car, and Baltzor considered shooting, but held off due to Lymath and members of the public in the cross-fire of a shot, Hummel said.
After Gilliam abruptly stopped again, Crawford ran past Baltzor with his gun drawn and yelled, "Stop or you'll be shot!" Hummel said.
But Gilliam, drove forward and Baltzor said the car was coming toward him, and possibly other deputies.
Hummel said Baltzor moved to the passenger side of Gilliam's car and fired five rounds through the car windows, striking him three times: in the left side of his neck, through his right shoulder blade, and a third likely causing a grazing wound atop his head.
All of this happened in the 25 seconds between the PIT maneuver and a radio call of "shots fired," Hummel said.
The wounded Gilliam kept going, turning left onto the access road behind the PetSmart store, followed by Crawford, then Baltzor in their cars. After about 100 feet, Gilliam stopped and jumped out of the car. Crawford tackled Gilliam, followed immediately by medical aid by all five deputies on scene.
Gilliam was taken to St. Charles Bend, then transfered Dec. 9 to the county jail, where he remains, held on $30,000 bail.
Hummel outlined the state self-defense law that restricts the use of deadly force, then said Baltzor said he feared for the safety of three deputies near the car as he drove forward on snow and ice, as well as the safety of the nearby shoppers.
"Based on all the available evidence, Deputy Baltzor's belief that Gilliam was about to use deadly physical force against Deputies Crawford, Graham, and/or Delance is objectively reasonable," Hummel wrote. "Because of this, Deputy Baltzor's decision to use deadly physical force against Gilliam was authorized by Oregon's self-defense law."
In a statement, Hummel said: “Adam Gilliam’s decision to attempt to escape from sheriff’s deputies who took him into custody constituted a crime. However, the mere fact of committing a crime should never, standing alone, result in a person being shot by law enforcement.
"Mr. Gilliam’s decision to drive a car in a dangerous manner toward Deputy Baltzor and other deputies is what resulted in shots being fired. Fortunately for all involved, Deputy Baltzor and the other involved deputies were unharmed, and Adam Gilliam, while shot, survived and is recovering.”
Gilliam, of John Day, is due to enter a plea Jan. 8 to an eight-count indictment -- two of them felony charges, for car theft and attempting to elude police, as well as misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, four counts of recklessly endangering and criminal driving with a suspended or revoked license.
Full text of Hummel's statement:
TO: Residents of Deschutes County
FROM: John Hummel, Deschutes County District Attorney
DATE: December 27, 2019
RE: Law Enforcement Use of Force Incident on November 29, 2019
INTRODUCTION
On November 29, 2019, at 6:08 PM, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Clint Baltzor intentionally shot Adam Gilliam. Deputy Baltzor’s decision to shoot Mr. Gilliam was legally justified; thus I will not initiate criminal charges against him.
FACTS
On the evening of the incident, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Clint Baltzor started his shift at approximately 5:45 PM. A few minutes after he arrived at the main Sheriff’s Office on the north end of Bend, he heard a call on his radio that a male had been causing problems at the Shepherd’s House on NE Division Street in Bend, and then stole a car belonging to the Shepherd’s House. This man turned out to be 29-year-old Adam Gilliam. The radio report said the car was last seen heading northbound on Division Street towards Third Street. This information came from the reporting party, an employee at Shepherd’s House, who watched Adam Gilliam leave in the car. Deputy Baltzor left the Sheriff’s Office and got into his patrol car and headed south to try to find the car.
When Deputy Baltzor reached the intersection of Highway 20 and Empire Avenue at 6:04 p.m., he spotted the stolen car heading northbound on Highway 20, executed a U-turn, began following it, and shortly thereafter turned on his overhead lights and siren. Approximately 1000 feet after Deputy Baltzor began his pursuit he passed the Sheriff’s Office at which point Deputy Sheriff Megan Lymath joined the pursuit by pulling her car behind Deputy Baltzor’s. Deputy Lymath immediately turned on her overhead lights and siren.
A few hundred feet after Deputy Lymath joined the pursuit, Gilliam stopped the car he was driving. Deputies Baltzor and Lymath immediately got out of their cars and approached the stolen car with their guns drawn. Deputy Baltzor yelled: “Stop, hands up!” Gilliam then drove off and the deputies quickly got back in their cars and continued the pursuit.
A few hundred feet after Gilliam fled from this first stop, he stopped at the red traffic light at the corner of Highway 20 and Robal Lane, but when the light turned green he continued to flee the pursuing deputies by turning right on Robal Lane into the Cascade Village Shopping Center.
At this point Deputy Baltzor radioed for supervisor approval to conduct a pursuit intervention technique (PIT maneuver). A PIT maneuver is a technique law enforcement officers are trained in and involves a pursuing car striking a fleeing car in the rear quarter panel, forcing the fleeing car to turn sideways abruptly, causing the driver to lose control and stop.
Deputy Baltzor requested approval for a PIT maneuver because of the heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the mall due to it being Black Friday, which was especially dangerous due to the snow and ice on the ground. Additionally, Deputy Baltzor knew that if Gilliam successfully made it through the mall he would enter Highway 97 which is the most heavily traveled road in Deschutes County.
Supervisor approval was provided for the PIT maneuver and Deputy Baltzor radioed to Deputy Lymath that she should drive in front of his patrol vehicle and execute the PIT maneuver because his vehicle was an SUV which is an inappropriate vehicle to perform a PIT maneuver.
Deputy Lymath drove in front of Deputy Baltzor’s vehicle and as Gilliam approached the access road behind the rear of the PetSmart store in the Cascade Village Shopping Center she pulled her car alongside Gilliam’s car and executed the PIT maneuver. The PIT maneuver was successful: the fleeing car spun out and stopped.
After executing the PIT maneuver Deputy Lymath’s patrol car was located a few feet to the east of Gilliam’s car and Deputy Baltzor’s patrol vehicle was located a few feet to the west of Gilliam’s car. Behind Deputy Baltzor’s patrol car was a Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle with Deputies Danny Graham and Joe Delance inside and a Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle driven by Deputy Stacy Crawford.
Deputy Baltzor immediately drove his car forward and made contact with Gilliam’s car to prevent the car from driving off. He then got out of his car, drew his gun, approached Gilliam who was still in his car, made eye contact with Gilliam, and yelled: “Stop, put your hands up!” Deputy Baltzor said Gilliam did not look to be functioning properly and, due to Gilliam’s “thousand-yard stare” and irrational actions, he believed him to be under the influence of a central nervous system stimulant.[1]
Gilliam then started backing up his car. Deputy Baltzor was concerned that Gilliam might strike Deputy Lymath who was behind Gilliam’s car so he considered shooting Gilliam – but he held off because Deputy Lymath and members of the public were in the cross fire of the shot. Gilliam then abruptly stopped his car. Deputy Crawford then ran past Deputy Baltzor with his gun drawn and yelled: “Stop or you’ll be shot!” Deputy Baltzor then approached Gilliam’s car with Deputy Crawford.
Deputy Crawford approached the driver’s side window and ordered Gilliam to stop. Gilliam started to drive forward, turning in the direction of Deputy Crawford and Deputy Baltzor. When Gilliam drove forward Deputy Baltzor lost sight of Deputy Crawford, because he was focused on the car that was coming toward him. Deputy Baltzor also did not know the proximity of Deputies Delance and Graham, but he knew they were in the road way behind and to the west of him, which is the direction Gilliam’s car was pointed when it started to move forward. In fact, Deputy Graham was in the road way to the west / southwest of Gilliam’s vehicle and Deputy Delance had positioned himself behind Deputy Baltzor.
Deputy Baltzor was able to move to the passenger side of Gilliam’s car as it drove forward and then fired five rounds through the car windows at Gilliam, striking him three times (one round went through the left side of his neck, one round went through his right shoulder blade and a third round was likely responsible for a grazing wound on the top of his head). There were approximately 25 seconds between the PIT maneuver being completed and a radio call of “shots fired.”
Gilliam then turned his car left (south) onto the access road behind the PetSmart store. Deputies Baltzor and Crawford jumped into their cars and followed Gilliam with Crawford in the lead. After traveling approximately 100 feet, Gilliam’s car stopped and he jumped out. Deputy Crawford tackled Gilliam. Medical assistance was then immediately rendered by Deputy Crawford, Deputy Baltzor, Deputy Delance, Deputy Graham and Deputy Lymath.
Bend Fire and Rescue were called at 6:08 p.m. and arrived on scene at 6:13 p.m. EMTs took over the on-scene medical treatment of Gilliam and transported him to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend at 6:31 p.m.
Gilliam was discharged from the hospital to the custody of the Bend Police Department on December 9th. He is currently lodged in the Deschutes County Jail.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
There is no question that Deputy Baltzor shot Adam Gilliam. The only question is whether he was justified in doing so. In other words, to prove Deputy Baltzor guilty of assaulting Gilliam, the state would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not justified in his use of deadly physical force. ORS 161.055; State v. Waller, 22 Or App 299 (1975).
- Oregon’s Self-Defense Law
Oregon Revised Statutes 161.209 and 161.219 constitute Oregon’s law regarding the use of deadly physical force against another person. This law applies equally to law enforcement and the general public. These statutes authorize a person to use physical force against a person: “[F]or self-defense or to defend a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force, and the person may use a degree of force which the person reasonably believes to be necessary for the purpose.”
These statutes restrict the use of deadly physical force against another person to situations where the person is: “committing or attempting to commit a felony involving the use or threatened imminent use of physical force against a person; or * * * using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force against a person.”
Deputy Baltzor says that when Mr. Gilliam drove his car forward on snow and ice with two deputies approaching him with guns drawn and yelling at him to stop that he feared for the immediate safety of deputies Crawford, Graham, and Delance, and for the general safety of the shopping public at the mall.
Specifically, Deputy Baltzor says that he feared deputies Crawford, Graham, and/or Delance would be struck by Gilliam’s car. Deputy Baltzor’s fear was informed by the fact Gilliam had been repeatedly ordered to stop by law enforcement yet failed to do so, Gilliam’s stolen car had been struck by Deputy Lymath’s car in a PIT maneuver yet he continued to drive, snow and ice covered the roadway, it was dark, Gilliam seemed to be impaired, and most relevantly, he drove in the direction of three law enforcement deputies.
Based on all the available evidence, Deputy Baltzor’s belief that Gilliam was about to use deadly physical force against Deputies Crawford, Graham, and/or Delance is objectively reasonable. Because of this, Deputy Baltzor’s decision to use deadly physical force against Gilliam was authorized by Oregon’s self-defense law.
- Oregon’s Use of Force to Effectuate an Arrest Law
Because the use of deadly physical force in this case occurred during an attempted arrest, in addition to Oregon’s self-defense law, Oregon’s law regarding the use of force during arrests must be considered in this analysis. ORS 161.239 provides in pertinent part that a peace officer may use deadly physical force when a person attempts to commit escape in the first degree or to defend another person from the use or threatened imminent use of deadly physical force.
- Escape in the first degree
First, Mr. Gilliam was committing the crime of escape in the first degree at the time Deputy Baltzor used deadly physical force against him. Escape in the first degree is committed when a "person uses or threatens to use a dangerous or deadly weapon escaping from custody[.]" ORS 162.165(1)(b).
When Deputy Baltzor and Deputy Crawford approached Mr. Gilliam’s car with their guns drawn and Deputy Crawford yelled: “Stop or you’ll be shot!” they had taken him into legal custody. See State v. Davis, 360 Or 201,207 (2016) (explaining that custody for purposes of escape occurs when a police officer "has lawfully asserted authority to control a person’s freedom in the course of carrying out an arrest, that is, in the course of taking a person into custody to answer for a crime").
Deputy Baltzor’s belief that Mr. Gilliam was attempting to drive away despite the deputies’ having taken him into custody was a reasonable belief. See ORS 161.245 (defining "reasonable belief' to mean an officer's "reasonable belief in facts or circumstances which if true would in law constitute an offense").
And, based on the manner Mr. Gilliam was driving the car and the proximity of Deputies Crawford, Graham and Delance to the car, the car was a dangerous weapon within the meaning of the statute. State v. Hill, 298 Or 270 (1984).
For these reasons, it’s clear that Mr. Gilliam was committing the crime of escape in the first degree at the time Deputy Baltzor used deadly physical force against him. As a result, the state could not disprove this justification for the shooting beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Defending another person from the use or threatened use of deadly physical force
For the same reasons articulated in the self-defense analysis, Deputy Baltzor’s belief that Gilliam was about to use deadly physical force against Deputies Crawford, Graham, and/or Delance was objectively reasonable. Because of this, Deputy Baltzor’s decision to use deadly physical force against Gilliam was authorized by Oregon’s use of deadly physical force in making an arrest law (ORS 161.239).
- Legal Analysis Conclusion
Because Deputy Baltzor’s decision to shoot Mr. Gilliam was authorized by Oregon’s self-defense law, and Oregon’s use of deadly physical force in making an arrest law, I will not initiate criminal charges against him.
LEGAL CHARGES
Upon his discharge from the hospital Adam Gilliam was charged with the following crimes: Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Police Officer, Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle, Recklessly Endangering Another Person (four counts), Reckless Driving and Driving While Suspended or Revoked.
Adam Gilliam is presumed innocent of these charges and has the right to contest the allegations against him.
CONCLUSION
Adam Gilliam’s decision to attempt to escape from sheriff’s deputies who were attempting to arrest him constituted a crime. However, the mere fact of committing a crime should never, standing alone, result in a person being shot by law enforcement. Mr. Gilliam’s decision to drive a car in a dangerous manner toward Deputies Baltzor, Crawford, Graham, and Delance is what resulted in shots being fired.
Fortunately for all involved, the law enforcement deputies were unharmed, and Adam Gilliam, while shot, survived and is recovering.
The Tri-County Major Incident Team, led by Oregon State Police Detective Sergeant Robles, with the Bend Police Department as the lead agency on this investigation, conducted a thorough and professional investigation and provided me all the evidence I required to conduct my legal analysis.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Gunnels assisted me in my review and his experience and insight were invaluable.
Please contact me if you have questions about my decision.
[1] The mannerisms observed by Deputy Baltzor were most likely symptoms of Mr. Gilliam’s mental health status.
