Investigate: Deputy shootings should prompt scrutiny
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For the third time in a span of five years, the Roane County Sheriff's Department is dealing with the investigation of a fatal officer-involved shooting. According to a statement released to a few other media outlets Monday by Sheriff Philip Dever, this most recent death was, in his estimation, justified.
According to published reports, Dever said of the Saturday shooting by a deputy who was wearing a body cam, that the actions were "warranted, appropriate and necessary." But, Dever's statement said the West Virginia State Police will investigate the incident, and that the deputy is on leave.
And that is as much as we know about this case. Our own calls to the department were met with no response -- not even the release of the statement some news outlets say they received.
We do know the same has happened all too recently. Twice.
In December 2021, U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston approved a $700,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed against the Roane County Commission after Roane County Deputy Michael King shot and killed a man who was reported to have been spinning tires and throwing rocks onto a caller's property.
"We were prepared to show that Deputy King shot Timmy in the head with a shotgun at point-blank range while Timmy was lying on the ground," said Booth Goodwin, a former U.S. attorney representing the man's family, said at the time.
King also shot and killed a man in October 2020, in an incident described by attorneys as "eerily similar" to the 2019 death.
But King was reportedly not wearing his body cam during either of those instances. However, published reports indicate a grand jury decided not to indict King in those shootings.
During that trial an attorney representing the family of King's 2019 victim said, "We hope that this settlement will finally serve as a wake-up call to the Sheriff and Roane County Commission …"
Perhaps it did. And it is certainly possible that an investigation will bear out what Dever says, that this latest incident was necessary. It is still part of what is becoming an unsettlingly regular occurrence in Roane County, and while the State Police are investigating this single incident it might be time to open an investigation into the hiring and training practices of the department as a whole.
Those who sign up to protect and serve do a job most of us could never understand. We are grateful for them. It is essential, then, that Roane County residents know they are being served by a sheriff's department that can stand up to the scrutiny an external investigation must bring.