LEE, N.H. -- Attorney General Michael Delaney has determined the two Durham officers responsible for shooting former resident Steve Amazeen in December were justified in using deadly force, according to a report issued by the state Attorney General's office Wednesday.
A portion of the full report is being withheld at this time pending the conclusion of criminal prosecution against Amazeen, 45, formerly of 289 Lee Hook Road.
That case is pending at Strafford County Superior Court, where Amazeen faces a total of 16 charges, including reckless conduct and criminal threatening.
Last week, Amazeen waived his arraignment after being indicted on the charges.
The report names Durham Sgt. Jack Dalton and officer John Lavoie as the officers who fired the shots and concludes the two were legally justified in using deadly force after Amazeen "failed to obey numerous and repeated police commands," including commands to drop his weapon. Amazeen also displayed aggressive movement toward the officers, the report alleges.
New Hampshire law states a law enforcement officer is justified in using deadly force "when he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes is the imminent use of deadly force."
In this instance, Dalton and Lavoie were said to be protecting a third officer, patrolman David Carpenter, from such use of force from Amazeen.
No ballistics analysis was conducted as there were no bullets retrieved from Amazeen's body, according to the report. He was shot in the hip and shoulder and transported to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover for treatment.
Mary Amazeen, Steve Amazeen's wife, revealed during an interview with State Police and the Lee Police Department that their marriage had been strained due to finances and a death in the family. It was she who had contacted police in the early hours of Dec. 3 to report her husband was suicidal.
Also in the home at the time Amazeen fired his weapon was their 5-year-old child.
Mary Amazeen also told police that her husband suffers from depression, that his mental health had been deteriorating in the weeks before the shooting, and that he had been carrying his handgun at all times.
The report alleges Mary Amazeen told police about an argument the couple had the night of Dec. 2 that led to discussion of a divorce. At her suggestion of divorce, her husband allegedly reacted by firing his handgun into the floor of their bedroom.
He then left the house, the report states, and when another shot was heard coming from the area of a barn on their former property, Mary Amazeen called the police.Retrieved from the Lee Hook Road scene were nine .40-caliber shell casings, consistent with five cartridges missing from Dalton's weapon and four cartridges missing from Lavoie's.One discharged bullet was located in the open driver's side door of the Lee police cruiser.
Also found at the scene was Amazeen's handgun, an AMT "Backup" .380 pistol. It contained three cartridges, including one in the chamber.Officers made contact with Amazeen a short distance from his Lee Hook Road home and believed he was about to use deadly force against them. When police located him in the roadway, Amazeen was begging officers to shoot him, the report states. It goes on to explain that Amazeen also made "numerous threatening statements to use violence" and that his most aggressive behavior was displayed within 10 feet of Carpenter, whom Amazeen is said to have pointed his weapon toward.
Copyright 2013 - Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
