Sept. 18, 2019 11:00p
(WGTD)---The Mt. Pleasant police officer who shot and killed a teenager last June won’t face charges and will be reinstated. Sgt. Eric Giese acted in self-defense, according to Racine County District Attorney Tricia Hanson who released her report Wednesday night.
Hanson met for over an hour with members of Ty’ Rese West’s family. West’s father, Dwight Person, emerged from the courthouse to say that he’s not buying it. "I want a thorough investigation done and I also want to see Eric Giese locked up," he said without taking questions from reporters.
According to Hanson's report, the fatal shots were fired as Giese purportedly was trying to prevent West, who had stumbled to the ground during a short foot chase, from reaching a gun he had dropped.
Giese told investigators that he had stepped on West’s hand while straddling his body. When it appeared West was gaining the upper hand in the struggle, Giese said he stepped back, pulled out his gun and fired.
Initially, during the foot chase, Giese tried to taze West, but the prongs didn't stick.
There’s no body cam footage of the incident—Giese said he didn’t have time to turn it on.
According to Hanson’s report, West had been in Kenosha hours earlier that evening, and was a passenger in a stolen car that had been stopped by police. All of the occupants were arrested—except West, who fled and apparently made it back to Racine on a bicycle.
That’s when Giese, on patrol, came across a bicyclist without lights, and tried unsuccessfully to pull him over.
West eventually ditched the bike and began to run. The fatal shooting occurred about a minute-and-a-half after the encounter began.
Hanson’s report indicates that West, even though he was only 18 when he died, already had numerous contacts with police. As a middle-school student, West reportedly brought a pellet gun to school. Two years ago, West was a passenger in a car that was involved in a drive-by shooting. A month before he was shot, West was convicted of operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. Two weeks before he died, West’s fingerprints turned up in a house that had been burglarized.
Hanson concluded in her report that as a convicted felon in possession of a firearm West had plenty of reasons to run that night.
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