Authorities are reconsidering charges against Paradise police officer Patrick Feaster in connection with the shooting of a motorist on Thanksgiving. The motorist, 26-year-old Andrew Thomas, died Saturday at Enloe Medical Center.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Thomas’ death raises the question of whether or not Feaster acted with criminal negligence when he shot Thomas in the neck.
Feaster maintains that his weapon fired accidentally. An examination by the state Department of Justice found no defects or evidence of malfunction in the pistol. Ramsey said that crux of the investigation rests on two points. Whether Feaster was criminally negligent when he placed his finger on the weapon’s trigger, and when he allowed about 11 minutes to pass before telling other officers that he may have shot Thomas.
Feaster could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
“Officers make mistakes,” Ramsey said. “This is obviously a mistake. It was a deadly mistake. Whether it was a criminally deadly mistake I think is yet to be determined.”
Ramsey said the results of a yet to be scheduled autopsy will help shape the next steps.
The incident began just before midnight on Nov 25. Feaster gave chase after spying Thomas leave a bar parking lot with the headlights on his vehicle switched off. Thomas allegedly ran a traffic light before the SUV he was driving struck a median and overturned. Thomas’ estranged wife, 23-year-old Darien Ehorn, was ejected from the vehicle and was killed. Feaster arrived at the scene seconds after the crash. Dash-cam video (see below) shows Feaster gun drawn approaching the vehicle resting on the driver’s side. Just as Thomas is hoisting himself from the wreck, Feaster fires, and Thomas crumples back into the vehicle. Thomas had a blood alcohol level of 0.15.
Separately, Paradise police Lt. Stephen Rowe said that an internal affairs review of the incident will take an unknown amount of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZkGx8ZVy4k
