TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee police officer is being terminated for violating the department's deadly force guidelines during an officer-involved shooting in March.
TPD says Officer Damien Pearson was informed he was being terminated Wednesday afternoon by Police Chief Michael DeLeo.
Officer Damien Pearson was placed on paid administrative leave after the early morning shooting on March 17.
According to police, Officer Pearson approached a suspicious car early Saturday morning parked near the intersection of Jackson Bluff Road and South Lipona Road.
As Officer Pearson walked toward the car, the driver hit him and sped off. Officer Pearson tried to stop the suspect by shooting at the vehicle, but the driver managed to get away.
TPD has also released video of the incident. You can view the full video here.
On August 2, an internal TPD investigation determined that Officer Pearson violated General Order 60 Response to Resistance, specifically the Deadly Force Guidelines.
A few days later, officials say Chief DeLeo met with Officer Pearson, his PBA Representative, and Deputy Chief Furuseth on August 7 to discuss the investigation and potential corrective action.
In the end, Officer Pearson was informed of his termination on Wednesday. No charges were filed by the State Attorney in this case.
Chief DeLeo stated, "After reviewing the investigation, evaluating all the available evidence, and meeting with Officer Pearson, I am supporting the investigative findings that based on the totality of the evidence that it was not objectively reasonable to believe there was an imminent threat of great bodily harm or death at the time that Officer Pearson fired his weapon."
"We must hold ourselves to the highest standard when making the decision to use deadly force. In this case, the officer's actions were not consistent with the Tallahassee Police Department's values and policies therefore he will no longer be a member of our organization," said DeLeo.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee investigation continues into a weekend officer involved shooting.
The Tallahassee Police Department says Officer Damien Pearson approached a suspicious car early Saturday morning parked near the intersection of Jackson Bluff Road and South Lipona Road.
Police say as Pearson walked toward the car the driver hit him and sped off.
Pearson tried to stop the suspect by shooting at the vehicle but the driver got away.
Pearson was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Pearson started with TPD in 2014 and was disciplined last year for failure to follow department rules.
