COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The El Paso County District Attorney's Office said it will not charge an officer who shot at someone driving away in his police cruiser, despite determining the shooting was unjustified.
Officer Brandon Lowe shot and hurt a suspect in May 2022 after responding to a call about a person with a weapon in an apartment parking lot on E. Arvada Street in Colorado Springs.
According to the DA's report, the suspect was threatening people with a knife. When Lowe arrived, the report says the suspect hit him with a metal walking cane, got into Lowe's police cruiser, and drove away. The report says Lowe called for backup and fired three rounds as the suspect drove away, hitting him in the hand and shoulder.
The suspect is accused of a murder that happened before this incident. But the report says Lowe did not know that at the time.
The DA's office said it won't charge Lowe because of a conflict within the law concerning the appropriate legal standard to use when an officer fires a weapon but does not kill someone.
The report says the law provides officers who utilize force that does not result in death "an extremely wide latitude."
9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said he's still surprised there are no charges at all.
"The officer could've been charged with lesser charges like illegal discharge of a weapon, reckless endangerment," he said. "The report does mention nobody else was in the line of fire and that is important."
Colorado Springs Police said that Lowe resigned from the department in December.
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