OLYMPIA — A police officer who shot and injured two men he says repeatedly threatened him during a late-night encounter on a dark street was justified in the shooting, and the men have been charged with assault, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
At a news conference, Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said Officer Ryan Donald “had an actual, good faith fear that he was being assaulted and that he could suffer serious injury as a result of that assault” during the May 21 encounter in Olympia.
“I don’t find any evidence at all that he had a malicious intent or an unlawful intent at the time that he used this force,” he said.
Tunheim’s decision to not seek criminal charges against the officer comes after the completion of an investigation of the shooting conducted by a team of detectives from several agencies.
Donald has been on administrative leave since the shooting that injured Bryson Chaplin, 21, and Andre Thompson, 24, both of whom have criminal histories in Clark County.
“But for the hostile acts of Mr. Chaplin and Mr. Thompson, these shootings would not have occurred,” Tunheim said.
The men will appear in court Sept. 22. Chaplin has been charged with two counts of felony assault against Donald, and one count of misdemeanor assault against a Safeway clerk he is accused of throwing beer at. Thompson has been charged with two counts of felony assault against Donald.
The men’s attorney, David Beninger, has previously said Chaplin is currently paralyzed from the waist down. Beninger did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Donald, who is white, encountered the two men, brothers who are both black, after being called in on a report of an attempt to steal beer from a grocery store by two men carrying skateboards. Police officials have said race was not a factor, but the shooting set off a series of protests in Olympia, the state capital.
Saxon Rodgers, an attorney for Donald, said his client was elated by the news, but he’s upset that he’s been portrayed as a racist.
“He shot these people because they attacked him,” Rodgers said.
