PLATTSMOUTH — A Cass County deputy had six seconds to decide what to do when 23-year-old Austin Baier charged at him during a traffic stop in September, according to a Nebraska State Patrol investigator.
Deputy Tyler Reiff pulled out his handgun and shot Baier five times, killing him.ÌýIt's possible he didn't knowingly decide how many times to fire his weapon, that the incident went by so fast his brain couldn't tell his finger to stop pulling the trigger quick enough.Ìý
"Six seconds is not a lot," investigator Cory Townsend said.
Newly released interviews and physical evidence presented to a Cass County grand jury in March detail the State Patrol's investigation into the altercation in Louisville last fall. The Journal Star reviewed 300 pages of testimony presented during the two-day hearing.Ìý
Grand juries are called to determine whether formal charges should be filed in any in-custody death in the state, as required by state law.
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In the end, the grand jury cleared Reiff, 26, in the shooting.
In proceedings, jurors asked Townsend a number of questions about lethal force. Did Reiff have other means to stop Baier, who Reiff believed was charging at him in an attempt to get his gun? Was shooting him five times necessary?Â
The events leading up to the altercation began just before 7 p.m. on Sept. 21, when a man called the Cass County Sheriff's Office to say a car was spinning around in circles in the front lawn of his home east of Louisville.
James Group told the grand jury he got a close look at the driver, Baier.
"I can still see it, very vividly," he said. "You know, windows rolled up, sitting here, and he looked at me. And you noticed the eyes maybe dilated more than — I mean, it was like, just a stare at me."
And then Baier sped off.Ìý
A group of teenage girls walking at a nearby park said in written statements that Baier almost hit them, and another person called 911 to report the driver. During the investigation that followed, at least six people told the State Patrol they saw Baier driving erratically.Ìý
Three deputies were on duty at the time of the first call. Reiff, who had been a deputy a few years, was the closest to Louisville, which doesn't have its own police department.
Reiff first tried to stop Baier after seeing him blow through a stop sign near the town's football field, but Baier continued to drive slowly and eventually turned to the left as if to make a U-turn before completely stopping next to Reiff's cruiser near First and Cherry streets.
And then Baier got out of his car.
A camera facing the inside of Reiff's cruiser captured video of the deputy attempting to radio in their location, but he stopped. He opened his door as he placed his hand on his holster and asked Baier what he was doing. As the deputy closed his car's door, video shows Reiff pointing the gun and yelling for Baier to get down as the deputy moves back. The audio from Baier is hard to hear, but Townsend believes he told the deputy "no" before charging.Ìý
The five shots were fired when Baier got to within a couple feet of the deputy.
Area residents who heard the commotion and went outside told patrol investigators that they only saw the deputy calling in for help and putting pressure on Baier's wounds.
Reiff told investigators he feared for his life.
"I believe (Reiff)," Townsend told the jury. "And some of the things I've told you in this — I'm not trying to be his advocate — just trying to give you the facts."
Townsend said the deputy's other forms of available defense were a baton and pepper spray.
The problem with using a baton, Townsend told jurors, is that it takes time to get it out of its holder, extend it and get in position to use it. The problem with pepper spray is that when used at close range, it could spray back into the deputy's face.
Asked if, in his opinion, the deputy should have shot more than once, Townsend said Reiff probably didn't realize he fired five times.
"When we think about the decision-making, to break them down on your critical incidents, you kind of have to slow down your whole thought process or how we look at this," Townsend said.
"... He started an action, a physical action of firing his weapon. And then he’s going to fire it until that threat is ceased. But he has to recognize that. He has to recognize that the threat has stopped. And then the whole thought process, even though it’s happening pretty fast, it still has to go to his finger or his hands to make it stop."
Forty seconds elapsed between the moment Reiff first attempted to stop Baier and when he told dispatchers Baier had been shot, according to the audio.
The only video investigators had is from the camera facing inside Reiff's car. The deputy reported in April and again in July that he had problems with his front-facing dash cam, according to testimony in the transcripts.Ìý
Townsend believed Reiff was in the right to pull out his weapon, because once Baier fled, the incident became a felony stop, he said. Asked if officers are trained to shoot to kill, Townsend said there's no such thing as a warning shot.Ìý
"I’m only firing my weapon when I fear for my life," he said. "If I fear for my life, I have cause and I am legally allowed to fire my weapon."
Reiff's prior actions never generated a report of use of excessive force or aggression, said Cass County Sheriff's Lt. Lawrence Burke, according to testimony. Townsend said Reiff had pulled his gun out during a few other felony stops, but never fired his weapon.
Coworkers and friends who testified before the grand jury described Baier as a friendly person who was generally happy, but also said his demeanor had changed in the months leading up to the shooting and that he may have been living with undiagnosed depression.
Baier and his long-term girlfriend had broken up on Jan. 31, she testified. When they first met, she told the jury, Baier was sweet and would do anything for anyone. But his attitude toward life changed after graduating from high school and issues between he and his family worsened. He had a hard time holding a job. He drank occasionally, smoked marijuana daily and possibly tried meth, transcripts say.Ìý
Baier told a coworker about six months after the breakup with his girlfriend that he felt lost. He tried getting medicine to help his ADHD, but later said the medication he was taking felt wrong.Ìý
"He said his brain was going a thousand miles an hour all the time," Christopher Pool told the jury.
Baier was a dependable kitchen employee when he was hired at Casey's General Store, Pool said, But about a week before the incident, Baier became agitated at work and acted out of character.
All said they were surprised to learn about the altercation.Ìý
The grand jury recommended officers be equipped with Tasers and that Cass County should hire one to two more officers per shift, "as there was no reasonable backup for Deputy Reiff."