SC County deputy cleared in Aptos teen’s death

On Friday, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office released its findings of an investigation into the deadly shooting of 15-year-old Luke Smith in Corralitos last November.

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell said Deputy Chris Vigil, has been cleared.

“Officer Chris Vigil should not and is not criminally liable for the round that he fired and killed Luke Smith,” Rosell said.

Officers and deputies were called out to a home Smith shared with his father and uncle in Corralitos on November 19 at about 3 a.m. Investigators said Smith got into a verbal argument with his father and uncle, later stabbing both of them and running out of the home.

The DA’s office released more details about the initial incident on Friday explaining Smith attacked the Cal Fire truck that responded to the home to help his father and uncle. Smith was later found in the 300 block of Pioneer Rd. where deputies and officers from Watsonville and Capitola tried to negotiate with him.

Investigators said during that negotiation, Smith ran toward a neighboring home, prompting a shelter-in-place for local residents.

Officers were able to locate Smith minutes later between a nearby fence, where he was still armed with a knife. Investigators said three forms of non-lethal force were used as they tried to stop Smith from getting away, including a Taser, a K9 and a 40mm non-lethal round.

Investigators said Smith lunged at the K9 officer while holding the knife. That’s when Vigil fired one round from an AR-15, hitting the teen in the chest. Lifesaving efforts failed and Smith died at the scene.

The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office asked the District Attorney’s Office to investigate the shooting. During the DA’s investigation, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office convened a Serious Incident Review Board, tasked with improving its response to critical incidents, though not all were because of the Smith case.

Below are the findings and recommendations.

Finding 1: The Sheriff’s Office should improve supervision and coordination at a critical incident.
— Recommendation 1.1: The officer-in-charge at a critical incident should be designated and identified on the radio.
— Recommendation 1.2: A supervisor should respond to a critical incident to assume command and control.
— Recommendation 1.3: Other law enforcement agencies should play a support role when responding to Sheriff’s Office requests for assistance.
— Recommendation 1.4: Deputies should respond to assist other law enforcement agencies only when requested.
— Recommendation 1.5: Deputies should play a support role when responding to requests for assistance by other law enforcement agencies.

Finding 2: The Sheriff’s Office should improve its abilities to manage the use of a canine at a critical incident.
— Recommendation 2.1: Provide training to deputies and supervisors concerning the appropriate use of a canine on persons under the influence of hallucinogens, experiencing a mental health crisis, or armed with a weapon.
— Recommendation 2.2: The officer-in-charge at a critical incident should identify the objective of using a canine and consult with the canine handler prior to deployment whenever there is time to safely do so.

Finding 3.0: The use of the patrol rifle should be monitored by a supervisor.
— Recommendation 3.1: A deputy should announce intent to deploy a patrol rifle and/or less-lethal shotgun on the radio and receive an acknowledgement from dispatch, who will notify the supervisor.

Finding 4.0: Life-saving efforts of injured suspects should not be unnecessarily delayed.
— Recommendation 4.1: Medical personnel should be requested to stage in a safe location near a critical incident that may involve the use of deadly force.
— Recommendation 4.2: The application of restraints should not delay or interfere with lifesaving efforts and should be removed if they do.

Finding 5.0: The Sheriff’s Office should provide training to improve its abilities to respond to critical incidents.
— Recommendation 5.1: Develop a reality-based use of force training program that includes lecture, scenarios and demonstrated proficiencies to prepare deputies and supervisors to respond to dynamic incidents as a team.
— Recommendation 5.2: Integrate training including arrest and control tactics, chemical spray, impact weapons, less lethal options, deadly force, canine, containment strategies, de-escalation strategies, tactical disengagement, incident supervision and medical care.
— Recommendation 5.3: Deputies and supervisors should train in uniform and use radios to make scenario training as realistic as possible.
— Recommendation 5.4: Include a commitment statement about the duty to preserve life at use of force training.
— Recommendation 5.5: The Training Manager shall conduct an annual assessment of the tools, tactics and training for the Operations Bureau to develop a training plan that reflects best law enforcement practices.

The Smith family contributed to those findings. Their biggest concern was making sure life-saving efforts weren’t delayed.

“We received a lot of comments about that in the course of getting community feedback and feedback from the family and feedback from others,” Chief Deputy Craig Wilson said. “When we examined that, what we found is that it’s not necessary to either handcuff or retain the handcuffs if it’s going to cause a delay in life saving efforts.”

In Smith’s case, he wasn’t handcuffed after he was shot but he was still holding a knife. That’s when officers used non-lethal force for about a minute before he was given emergency medical care. While it’s something not normally addressed in training, community members feel it could have a nationwide impact in the future.

“Possibly one of the most landmark issues that came out of this, that might impact law enforcement all across the United States, is the un-handcuffing of people at the time that they’re injured,” said Keith McHenry with Food Not Bombs. “We see over and over on social media, videos of police shootings where you just wonder why is the person handcuffed while they are supposedly trying to save their life.”

The Sheriff’s Office is developing Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (ICAT) training scenarios. According to the Sheriff’s Office, it trains officers on “how to respond to volatile situations in which emotionally distressed persons are behaving erratically and often dangerously but do not possess a firearm.” It says reducing the use of deadly force, building community trust and protecting officers from physical, emotional and legal harm are the cornerstones of ICAT.

At the same time, the department now has two full-time mental health liaisons, helping deputies with service calls, providing crisis assessment and intervention services. Deputies are also undergoing Crisis Intervention Training.

“Nobody feels good about this case,” Sheriff Jim hart said. “We don’t ever want a call for service to end this way. This case has taken a tremendous toll on the family, it’s taken a toll on the community and it’s taken a toll on the Sheriff’s Office. Nobody wins in these types of tragic cases.”