UPDATE Press Release: Officer Involved Shooting

August 15, 2018

On May 24, 2018, State Attorney Campbell sent a letter that there was no violation of Florida law and that no charges against Officer Damien Pearson were appropriate in this case. On May 30, 2018, a Special Investigation (S.I. 18-04) was initiated to determine whether Officer Pearson's actions were in compliance with Tallahassee Police Department policy.

On August 2, 2018, Officer Pearson was notified via Memorandum 18-265 that S.I. 18-04 had been completed with the following findings:

• General Order 60 Response to Resistance – Not in Compliance
• General Order 70 Firearms/ Less – lethal Firearms –In Compliance

Chief DeLeo met with Officer Pearson, his PBA Representative, and Deputy Chief Furuseth on August 7th to discuss the investigation and potential corrective action.

This afternoon, Chief DeLeo informed Officer Pearson that he was being terminated from the Tallahassee Police Department based on the violation of General Order 60 Response to Resistance, specifically the Deadly Force Guidelines.

Chief DeLeo stated, "After reviewing the investigation, evaluating all the available evidence, and meeting with Officer Pearson, I am supporting the investigative findings that based on the totality of the evidence that it was not objectively reasonable to believe there was an imminent threat of great bodily harm or death at the time that Officer Pearson fired his weapon."

"We must hold ourselves to the highest standard when making the decision to use deadly force. In this case, the officer's actions were not consistent with the Tallahassee Police Department's values and policies therefore he will no longer be a member of our organization." said DeLeo.

Video 1

Video 2

Final Report

The reports have been redacted in accordance with Florida Statutes 985.04 (1) ,119.071(2)(e) & 119.0071(5)(k).