A Fort Collins police officer was justified in shooting a man who admitted he was “acting like a fool” the night the officer shot him in the abdomen.
Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson said today that Officer Michael Crosland believed his life was being threatened — as well as the lives of the other officers with him — by 41-year-old Scott Raymond Mendias on Nov. 25 in downtown Fort Collins.
Mendias tried pulled to pull a toy gun — a Colt 1911 Airsoft pistol — from his waistband after he was pepper-sprayed by another officer. Crosland shot Mendias once with his weapon, according to a letter from Abrahamson to Fort Collins Police Chief John Hutto.
Crosland told investigators that Mendias had told them the pistol was a toy but he worried that Mendias was “tricking them” in order to get a shot off.
Mendias was taken to Medical Center of the Rockies for treatment. The following day a Fort Collins police detective interviewed Mendias at the hospital, where he admitted he was “acting like a fool” and got shot by the officers, Abrahamson said.
Prior to the shooting, three officers — including Crosland — responded to a report of a fight in downtown Fort Collins. They found a man lying on the ground and unresponsive. He was later determined to be drunk, Abrahamson said.
After clearing that scene, the officers learned that a 911 caller had seen a “crazy” man with curly, dark brown hair wearing a plastic child’s fireman hat loading a gun.
The man — later identified as Mendias — tried to break a surfboard and then sat in the doorway of the Nicol Building, 528 S. College Ave., and smoked a cigarette.
The three officers told Mendias to show them his hands. He told officers he had a toy gun and he began to move forward.
The weapon appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun in his waistband, Abrahamson said. The officers continued to give commands and one of the officers tried to subdue Mendias with peppery spray but it proved ineffective.
Mendias continued to be argumentative and aggressive and at one point he threw his fireman’s hat to the ground and reached for the gun in his waistband, Abrahamson said.
“Officer Crosland, given all of the circumstances and the behavior of Mr. Mendias, believed that his life and those of his fellow officers were in immediate risk of harm and death. Based upon the totality of the circumstances, I find that the degree of physical force used by Officer Mike Crosland was justified” under Colorado law, Abrahamson said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
