PAISLEY — A Lake County sheriff's deputy will not faces charges in the shooting of an unarmed woman during a traffic stop last year, according to the State Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

A grand jury determined that deputy Richard Palmer believed his life was in danger in the early hours of Oct. 11, 2016, when a fleeing motorist parked in a dimly lit area of Paisley, stepped out of her vehicle and approached him with an unknown dark object in her hand. He assumed the object was a gun.

Palmer then shot Robin Pearson before he determining that the object was a cell phone.

According to a document obtained from the State Attorney’s Office, the grand jury foreman stated that while they do not blame Pearson for what happened, she was responsible for creating the situation.

“Had she stopped her car, stayed seated in her car, or followed deputy Palmer’s orders to stop when she got out of her car, there is no doubt that the shooting would have never occurred,” the foreman stated in his concluding remarks.

According to a copy of the grand jury document as well as prior interviews with the sheriff’s office, Palmer had been responding to a noise complaint in the Lake Kathryn area of Paisley about 12:20 a.m., lowering the window on his squad car so he could hear better.

When he saw Pearson run a stop sign, he yelled at her through her open window to stop. Pearson kept driving before pulling into a nearby yard that had no street lights or any ambient lighting around.

Palmer testified that after he pulled up in the yard and got out of his vehicle, he saw Pearson place something in her pocket before she got out and began quickly walking toward him.

A dash cam video shows her initially walking toward the deputy with her hands up before dropping her hands.

The deputy testified Pearson ignored his commands to stop and pulled something out of her pocket, which he perceived to be a gun, and he fired one shot. He approached the fallen Pearson and determined the object was a cell phone, then used her jacket to stop the bleeding.

Pearson was treated for a gunshot wound at a hospital and released.

Sheriff’s officials have never said where Pearson was shot, but a resident of the property told the Daily Commercial that she appeared to have been shot in the leg.

Pearson admitted to officials she was using the cell phone at the time of the stop, which was confirmed through an examination, the grand jury added.

Walter Forgie, supervisor of the State Attorney’s Office in Lake County, said she also would not be charged in the case.

“While there is arguably a basis to suggest she could have conceivably committed a crime, there was no investigation of such a crime by law enforcement and emergency personnel given the nature of the scene following the shooting,” Forgie said.

Forgie said it is typically left up to his office to review an officer-involved shooting to determine what, if any, charges will be filed. But he said that under the circumstances, they felt it appropriate to present the case to a grand jury and allow them to determine whether or not criminal charges were warranted.

The 52-year-old Pearson has initiated legal action against the sheriff's office in the case, a sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday.