Sarah Okeson

News-Leader

A Springfield police officer who says he meant to fire his Taser, not his department-issued Glock handgun, has been charged with a misdemeanor in the shooting of a fleeing panhandler.

Jason L. Shuck, 36, was charged Wednesday with misdemeanor third-degree assault in the May 9 shooting near a neighborhood Walmart. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail.

"The best explanation that I have is that my ... brain was saying Taser and ... but my body moved faster than my brain," Shuck told an investigator, according to the probable cause statement filed in Greene County Circuit Court.

Police Chief Paul Williams said Shuck remains an employee of the Springfield police on paid administrative leave. Williams said Shuck, like any officer according to policy, might remain on the force even if he is convicted of the misdemeanor.

Williams said he has not made a final decision about Shuck's employment.

"The internal investigation is separate from the criminal investigation, and it is in process," Williams said.

Shuck and his attorney could not be reached for comment.

Eric David Butts, 27, who had been seeking money outside the neighborhood Walmart at 1320 S. Glenstone Ave. was shot after confronted by Shuck and after Butts started running away. He was hit in the lower back.

Butts, who has been diagnosed with mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has suffered serious intestinal injuries. He is a convicted burglar who had served time in prison and was wanted on a warrant for failure to appear in court on a parole violation.

The shooting has left Butts unable to use the bathroom normally, at least temporarily. A colostomy bag collects his intestinal wastes.

Butts' attorney, Joshua Roberts, said the misdemeanor charge is "appropriate given all the facts and circumstances of the incident."

On May 21, Roberts sent Mayor Bob Stephens,Williams and Shuck a letter, telling them he had been retained to represent Butts in any civil legal claims for his injuries. No lawsuit is yet filed.

Darrell Moore, who reviewed police shootings during his 12 years as the county's top prosecutor, said he can't recall another case in the last three decades where a police officer in Greene County was criminally charged for an officer-involved shooting.

"I think it sends a good message to the public that law enforcement and prosecutors believe that law enforcement officers should be held to the same standard as civilians when it comes to deadly force — that it should be justified," Moore said.

Dan Patterson, the Greene County prosecuting attorney, said Shuck was charged with a misdemeanor, not a felony, because the investigation pointed toward criminal negligence.

"The evidence in this case did not show a 'conscious disregard' of the risk but rather a 'failure to be aware' of the risk — the standard for criminal negligence and thus the class A misdemeanor of assault in the third degree," Patterson said.

Only seven prior cases of a suspect being mistakenly shot with a handgun instead of a Taser have been documented, according to the probable cause statement. That's out of about 2.2 million uses of a Taser.

"Statistically, the chance of something like this happening is very, very, very low," said Steve Ijames, a former assistant police chief in Springfield who now is a consultant on police force issues.

Shuck carried his department-issued Glock semiautomatic on his right side and his Taser on his left side. He had to reach across his body with his right hand to draw the Taser which weighed only about a third as much as the handgun.

According to court documents, Shuck was familiar with Butts as "a known police character."

The Springfield police reporting system showed that Butts "had been involved in assaults, burglaries, warrants and stealing, as well as numerous other incidents," Shuck told an investigator questioning him about the shooting.

Shuck is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 11. He received a meritorious service award from the police department in 2013 for disarming a subject who was attempting to commit suicide with a shotgun in his mouth.

Shuck's intent to use his Taser is noted in the probable cause statement used to charge him.

"Officer Shuck yelled for Butts to stop running at that time and received no response," according to the statement. "Officer Shuck then pulled the trigger and heard the loud report of a gunshot."

Butts told police that Shuck apologized after the shooting.

"I'm sorry Butts, I thought I reached for my Taser," Shuck told him, according to the probable cause statement. "…I didn't know that I reached for my gun, I thought I had my Taser."

Ijames called Springfield's training in the use of Tasers premier.

He said, "Springfield's Taser training is as good as any in the country."

A 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that defines reasonable use of force by police applies in cases like Butts'. That case says that the reasonableness of use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene rather than with 20/20 hindsight.

A 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case, Tennessee v. Garner, said deadly force may not be used unless it is necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. The case was filed by the father of a 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed by the Memphis police.