The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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December 29, 2008

Top 10: Deadly forced justified in shooting

Police shoot Richard Vosburgh in self defense

By Dan Nienaber

MANKATO — Police officers responding to a report of an intruder in a Grove Street apartment were justified in their use of deadly force, an investigation into the death of 26-year-old Richard Thomas Vosburgh found.

Vosburgh was shot three times by Mankato police officer Jessica Ellis, who was being attacked by Vosburgh just after midnight on Dec. 31, 2007. After several weeks of investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Blue Earth County Attorney Ross Arneson decided no criminal charges would be filed.

Vosburgh already had been fighting with two other officers before Ellis arrived at the second-floor apartment at 120 Grove St. He had been shot at least twice with a Taser device, taken a Taser gun from one of the other officers and attempted to use it, and hit all three officers several times before Ellis shot him at close range in the chest and stomach.

All three officers reported Vosburgh didn’t respond at all when hit with Taser prongs, which usually cause people to fall to the floor and lose the ability to resist for several seconds. During interviews with BCA investigators, the two officers who arrived first, David Blackstock and Adam Gray, described an exhausting fight that left them both fatigued by the time Ellis arrived.

A woman living in the apartment called police to report a naked intruder at 11:50 p.m. Dec. 30. She and her roommate, who was already in the apartment, were able to lock themselves in a bedroom. Both women reported they had been assaulted by the intruder, who turned out to be Vosburgh.

After the shooting, Mankato Public Safety Director Jerry Huettl said he was proud of his officers and confident deadly force was justified.

“Nothing I’ve seen and nothing I believe will come out shows anything different could have been done,” Huettl said at the time.

Vosburgh’s family said they were concerned he had been using methamphetamine before the incident. The investigation showed he had marijuana in his system, but no other illegal drugs.

Vosburgh was being treated for a bipolar disorder and had been prescribed drugs. One of the drugs, Abilify, has a side effect that makes it easier for users to become dangerously overheated and dehydrated, the BCA report said.

The BCA reports did not say if Vosburgh had overdosed on the prescribed medicine or if had not been using it.

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