A Fairbanks police officer will not be charged for fatally shooting a man last summer.
Fairbanks Police Chief Eric Jewkes said Friday that, while the shooting was regrettable, the findings of an Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions investigation of the downtown shooting of James Robert Richards Jr. found that police Sgt. Gregory Foster took reasonable actions.
Jewkes punctuated his briefing by playing a pair of videos of officers responding to reports of an armed man at a South Cushman Street motel on Aug. 30.
Jewkes underscored the number of times police officers called out to Richards to stop and put down his weapon.
Richards seemed unfazed by Tasers fired at him and continued to walk north on South Cushman.
When Richards took an elderly man by the arm and seemed to be using him as a shield, Foster shot Richards twice in the head, killing him.
“These officers go out to protect and preserve life every single day,” Jewkes said. “Unfortunately, on this day, it required them to take a life.”
Jewkes said the videos provide a window in the chaotic events dispatchers and police often find themselves.
He used the release of a report into the shooting by the state Office of Special Prosecutions to praise his team’s professionalism.
The investigation found Gregory’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances and no charges would follow.
