Commerce City police officers were “justified in using deadly force” in the fatal shooting of a jail escapee, according to an investigative report.
Four officers have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting death of 42-year-old Phillip Michael Boldin on May 6, the Adams County District Attorney’s Office has ruled.
The fatal shooting happened just after midnight at a trailer park in the 6900 block of Colorado Highway 2 when police opened fire on an SUV.
A woman in the vehicle, identified as Jennifer Perrin, was wounded in the right knee, the DA’s report said.
Boldin had been wanted since September on an escape warrant after he walked away from a court-ordered halfway house in Boulder County.
About six hours before the shooting police got a tip that a red Chevrolet Suburban, which Boldin was known to drive, was parked at a trailer in Commerce City. Officers arrived and waited until Boldin came out and left Perrin just after midnight.
When police moved in, with lights flashing, to stop them, the driver, Boldin, rammed a patrol car, injuring an officer, the report said.
As the SUV rammed the patrol car, officers, fearing for the safety of the officer in the car as well as their own safety, opened fire, the report found.
Officer Nicholas Carr fired his service hand gun, a .45 caliber Glock 21, at the SUV.
The Suburban hit the patrol car a second time, before driving forward, hitting a fence, and then heading down a pedestrian walkway and careening off otwo trailers.
Carr, fearing for the safety of other officers who were positioned on foot, fired again at the SUV. Carr fired six shots in all.
Officer Kevin Wood, armed with a duty rifle, fired eight rounds at the SUV during the incident.
Officer John Walkinshaw fired his duty hand gun, a .40 caliber Beretta, once at the SUV. Officer Jason Gilmore, armed with an AR-15 rifle, fired four rounds.
The SUV crashed into a shed and then a trailer, knocking the mobile home off its foundation.
Boldin was killed by a single shot to the head, according to the Adams County Coroner’s Office. He also suffered multiple shrapnel wounds from the hail of bullets, as well as blunt force trauma from the SUV collisions. Toxicology tests revealed several drugs in his system, including amphetamine, cocaine opiates, Oxycodone and “cannabinoid.”
All four officers were dressed in uniform and the patrol car that pulled up to Boldin’s SUV had its emergency lights flashing, the report found.
“Boldin’s response was to ram the patrol car then speed off down a sidewalk where other officers were located,” the report said.
Boldin disregarded several verbal commands to stop the SUV and instead drove “aggressively.”
The report concluded: “Under these facts, Officers Carr, Wood, Gilmore and Walkinshaw justifiably feared for their own safety, as well as the safety of other officers.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
