Files detail fatal police shooting

from the Oregonian

OREGON CITY -- During the final moments of Fouad Kaady's life, he growled like a wild animal, bared his teeth and told two officers he was going to kill them.

By all accounts, Kaady had behaved bizarrely Sept. 8, the day he died after the officers fired seven shots into the burned, bleeding body of the naked 27-year-old man.

Based on transcripts of interviews officers gave investigators, documents released Monday by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office described the events leading up to the 2 p.m. shooting.

Sandy police Officer William J. Bergin and Clackamas County sheriff's Deputy David E. Willard first encountered Kaady naked and sitting cross-legged on the edge of 362nd Avenue north of Sandy. Kaady, whose head was down, was "kind of just sitting there rocking," Bergin said. Willard described him as "catatonic."

Officers couldn't tell whether he had a gun but could see he was burned and bloody. They were unsure of Kaady's mental condition or whether he had used drugs. Willard said he tried to assure Kaady they were there to assist him.

"I said, 'Sir, we're gonna get you some help,' " Willard said. "I'm sort of assessing him physically. . . . I decide I'm not gonna let this man leave here again 'cause we'd heard about some pretty bizarre behavior. But secondly . . . I need to get this man medical help."

The officers told Kaady to move to a grassy area beside the road and lie on his stomach, or he would be shot with a stun gun. When Kaady did not do so, both officers fired their Tasers. The shocks didn't stop Kaady.

"I started to get scared about the kind of strength I was seeing," Willard said.

As Willard tried to reload his Taser, he said, Kaady started running toward him screaming, "I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you."

Added Bergin: "(Kaady) was growling like a wild animal."

Kaady jumped on top of Bergin's squad car. Both officers aimed their handguns at Kaady, and Willard ordered him off.

Kaady, growling and making clawlike moves with his hands, turned toward Willard.

"When it appeared he was going to jump off the car at me, I fired," said Willard, who pulled the trigger three times.

Bergin said he did not know where Willard had put a shotgun. He feared Kaady might be going for the weapon. He fired five times. Kaady, less than 10 feet away, was hit seven times.

Moments later, a paramedic arrived. Kaady growled as she checked him, Willard said.

"Looking right at me and growling," Willard said.

The report also said:

* The state medical examiner's office said Kaady's erratic behavior could be the result of shock, but an injury to his head was minor and not likely the cause. Because of federal privacy laws, officials would not release the results of drug tests on Kaady's blood. However, his family said he had THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system at the time of his death. Friends and other witnesses called before the grand jury said Kaady smoked marijuana, including on the morning of the day he died.

* Rudd McGarity, a store owner in Fairview, said Kaady was a regular customer, often stopping at his shop to buy cigarettes. The day Kaady died, McGarity told investigators, Kaady came into the store just before 10 a.m. looking "a little frazzled. . . . He had the look of somebody that just lost his family." Another friend, Sara Maness, 24, of Northwest Portland, told investigators that Kaady was acting as though he "lost it" the two to three weeks before the shooting. "It was just like he totally tripped out."

* Security guards and construction workers at Mount Hood Community College told investigators that just before 7 a.m. the day of the shooting, Kaady was doing 360-degree burnouts, accelerating at high speeds, and drove his pickup off a three-foot embankment. One witness said Kaady stuck eight cigarettes in his mouth and lit them all.