A Yakima police officer was justified in fatally shooting a man who was stabbing another man, Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Hagarty announced Thursday afternoon.
Hagarty said he made the decision after reviewing the case file, including video from Officer Joel Hansen's patrol car that Hagarty said showed Hansen's actions from arrival on scene to opening fire on the suspect.
Such reviews are a routine part of officer-involved shootings.
Hansen was the first officer to respond to a fight between the suspect, Yueri Acevedo Cisneros, and the stabbing victim, Julio Cesar Zamora-Cortes, 21, on the morning of Jan. 30. Zamora-Cortes was on the ground, with Acevedo Cisneros sitting on his back. The incident occurred in the 1100 block of South Fourth Avenue.
Hansen saw Acevedo Cisneros repeatedly stabbing Zamora-Cortes and ordered him to stop, authorities said.
Acevedo Cisneros briefly looked at Hansen and then resumed stabbing the victim, prompting the officer to fire two rounds.
Acevedo Cisneros fell off the victim but kept clutching the knife, which Hansen kicked away before handcuffing him, investigators said.
The account was corroborated by witnesses, who said they had unsuccessfully tried to stop Acevedo Cisneros' attack before Hansen arrived.
The motive for the attack was unclear.
A friend of the dead man said Acevedo Cisneros was visiting Yakima from Seattle. He said Acevedo Cisneros had planned to return to Seattle on Saturday but delayed the trip because a wheel on his vehicle was wobbling.
The friend, who declined to be identified, said Zamora-Cortes offered to let Acevedo Cisneros stay overnight at his house so the wheel problem could be looked at the next morning.
Zamora-Cortes lives in a small house on the back of a lot next to the duplex where the shooting occurred.
Hagarty said he found the shooting was justified under state law because Acevedo Cisneros was actively engaged in a violent felony that put Zamora-Cortes at risk of death and could have posed additional harm to those around him.
Hansen, 33, has been on the force for four years. He remains on routine paid leave pending completion of the police department's administrative review, Lt. Mike Merryman said.
The conclusions reached in that review are not expected to differ from Hagarty's finding.
The stabbing victim, who had 159 knife wounds, continues to recover, Merryman said. He had to undergo open heart surgery at a Yakima hospital because one of the wounds nicked his heart.
The incident was the fourth fatal shooting by a Yakima police officer since 2003. Before that, the last officer-involved fatal shooting was in 1975.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
