Ex-San Diego Deputy Set for Sentencing for Fatally Shooting Fleeing Detainee

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A former San Diego County sheriff's deputy who fatally shot an unarmed, fleeing detainee outside the downtown San Diego jail

is slated to be sentenced today.

Aaron Russell, 25, faces up to 11 years in prison for the May 1, 2020, death of Nicholas Bils, who was shot multiple times as he was running away

from police, leading to the rare decision to prosecute a law enforcement officer in a police shooting.

Russell, who had been with the department for 18 months, resigned shortly after the shooting and was later charged with second-degree murder. He

pleaded guilty last month to a voluntary manslaughter charge.

Bils, 36, was being taken to the downtown detention facility where he managed to partially slip out of handcuffs and escape from a California State

Parks officer's car.

According to witness testimony and surveillance footage, another ranger in a separate vehicle tried to get out of his truck to subdue Bils, but

he shoved the truck's door into the officer and took off running before he was shot four times in the back, arm and thigh.

Three other law enforcement officers were at the scene, but Russell was the only one to draw his firearm, according to prosecutors.

Criminal charges against Russell came as a result of a change to state law, which now holds that officers can utilize deadly force only when they

believe it's necessary to defend against the imminent threat of death or serious harm to themselves or others.

At Russell's preliminary hearing, one of his attorneys, Richard Pinckard, argued his client had a reasonable belief that Bils presented a threat to members of the public.

Though Bils wasn't carrying any weapons, Pinckard noted he had managed to slip the cuffs off one of his wrists and may have been clutching the

dangling cuff in his hand as he ran from the scene.

Pinckard said that while Bils ran, he briefly turned toward Russell with the metal object in his hand and ``Mr. Russell perceived an imminent threat.''

Other officers present at the scene of the shooting testified they didn't feel Bils presented an immediate danger to them or the general public.

As part of his plea agreement, Russell admitted he ``unreasonably believed that I or someone else was in imminent danger of being killed or

suffering great bodily injury. I actually, but unreasonably believed that the immediate use of deadly force was necessary to defend against the danger. I,

therefore, acting alone, personally used my department-issued firearm to shoot Nicholas Bils, ending his life.''

Bils' mother, Kathleen Bils, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Russell, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, the county and others in

connection with the shooting. The lawsuit remains pending.

Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.

CNS-02-07-2022 01:38