CHESTERFIELD, Va. — A U.S. appeals court ruled a Chesterfield officer who fatally shot a hatchet-wielding man in 2023 is not entitled to qualified immunity, WWBT reported.
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The incident began when Charles Byers attempted to break into homes after being released from a hospital during a mental health crisis. A Chesterfield officer arrived, and after spotting him holding a hatchet, drew her handgun and ordered the Byers to drop it, WWBT reported.
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Officer Gordon Painter arrived at the scene soon after. He then also began ordering Byers to drop the hatchet as Byers approached him.
Video shows the first officer switching to a TASER. Byers stopped approaching the officers but refused to drop the hatchet. He began to walk backwards, still holding the weapon.
Byers continued to walk backwards away from the officers. A TASER deployment was ineffective. After Byers contined to ignore instructions to drop the hatchet, Painter fired multiple shots, fatally striking Byers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s denialof qualified immunity for Painter,allowing a lawsuit against him to proceed,The court found the alleged use of force could be considered “unreasonable” under the Fourth Amendment.
“Neither the allegations in the complaint nor the body camera video indicates that Byers ever moved toward the officers with the hatchet once he began backing away from them,” the appeals court said. “Similarly, neither the allegations nor the video suggests that Byers took any action to throw the hatchet at the officers or to use it in another threatening manner.”
The court stated that Byers was at least 25 feet away from the officers and backing away when Painter fired. It concluded that Byers “did not pose a threat to the officers or to others in the moments immediately before he was shot.”
In 2024, the Chesterfield County Police Department stated that it stood by the actions of its officers in the incident.
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