No criminal charges will be filed in a use-of-force case at the jail in 2022 in which an inmate died, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said.
There is insufficient evidence to win a conviction in the death of Wade Welch, Conover said Thursday at a news conference.
"We will not be seeking criminal charges in this incident against the corrections officers that were involved," she said. "There is not sufficient evidence to reach a substantial likelihood of conviction ... That's our standard when we seek criminal charges against someone."
Welch, 37, died in August 2022 after he was repeatedly tased during a prolonged fight with corrections officers at the Pima County jail. Welch was restrained during some of the times a stun gun was used on him.
The fight started after corrections officers tried to move Welch from one housing unit to another, a review of the incident by the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team said. The team, made up from law enforcement agencies across the county, investigates officer-involved deaths.
John McMahon, a deputy chief and chief information officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, was brought in by Conover as an expert on use-of-force issues for the case and to speak at the news conference. His 34-year experience includes previously acting as the commanding officer of the LAPD use-of-force review division. He has been "responsible for the proper review and disposition of more than 6,000 uses of force cases," including both officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, Conover said.
McMahon was brought because of his "sense of fairness" in an attempt to "inject as much independence and neutrality" as possible, Conover said coupled with a lack of institutional knowledge within her office.
"When we were first faced as a new administration with an officer-involved shooting, as I've mentioned before, the last trial that we could find in Pima County Superior Court stemmed from events occurring in 1989-1990," she said. "It wasn't just that those people from those cases didn't work here anymore, literally no one from that case was alive anymore and so I didn't have any local experts with recent trial experience on how to develop a process here for my new administration on how to deal with such complex-and-difficult cases."
Body camera footage released by the incident team, and discussed at the news conference, shows correctional officers first attempting to transfer Welch. He was initially cooperative, McMahon says, up until the point they open his cell door. Welch then became "noncompliant" and provided what McMahon called "passive resistance" when he put his hands in the air in protest.
Welch's behavior escalated to what McMahon called "active resistance" because he "puts his arms down" and moved away from the officers. He began "physically resisting" officers, eventually escalating to being "physically combative," McMahon said.
The first time Welch was Tased was ineffective, McMahon said.
Welch continued to be "physically violent," McMahon said. Several corrections officers fought to get him on the ground, eventually doing so by applying pressure and weight to his arms, legs and body, McMahon said.
Welch can be heard screaming that he needs to go to the hospital, that he has a heart condition and cannot breathe.
"You're killing me," he yells at one point during the fighting, the video shows. Welch had been jailed a day prior on charges related to domestic violence.
A Taser is used on Welch twice more. Then a "drive stun" — a shock with a hand-held device rather than one with prongs — was used "in an effort to gain compliance," before Welch as handcuffed and a spit hood placed over his head, McMahon says.
McMahon said drive stunning is when "the mechanism in which the Taser no longer has any cartridges in it, doesn't have any neuromuscular incapacitation effect on an individual and is merely a pain compliance technique to overcome resistance."
He said the use of the device and the Taser at this point in the fight was in compliance with their training, along with state and federal law. McMahon wanted "everyone to take note" that the officers for not kicking, striking, punching or "escalating their own behavior" throughout the fight with Welch.
"The officers' actions are proportionately in response to what Mr. Welch is doing," he said. " And not one (time) did I hear an officer utter profanity... I thought that was very reflective of the officers' professionalism and compassion they were trying to put forth in dealing with Mr. Welch."
In the video, Welch is handcuffed and "resists being placed" into a restraint chair. He was drive stunned an additional time. McMahon said the use of the Taser continued to be ineffective.
Welch tried to get up from the restraint chair and officers Tased him again. McMahon said, even when he was handcuffed, the use-of-force complied with the officers' training and was consistent with state and federal law."
McMahon and Conover both said medical assistance was requested immediately.
"It was not an optional choice for these officers, they were obligated to take physical control of Mr. Welch and they had to overcome his violent resistance," McMahon said. "The actions of these custodial officers based on any reasonable officers' training . . . is objectively reasonable under the law and that was ultimately my conclusion and my opinion that I put forth to (Conover and Pima County)."
In addition to bodycam footage, Conover said she had to consider Welch's autopsy report, which deemed the death a homicide, but listed four contributing factors in his death: physical resistance, cardiovascular disease, obesity and methamphetamine toxicity.
"With those two factors combined, we are not at a substantial likelihood of conviction and that's where the conclusion rests today," she said. She continued, saying whether or not correctional officers could have "done better" does not mean a crime was committed.
Conover acknowledged a civil lawsuit over the death is pending, but said her office has to refrain from commenting on specifics.
"My heart is full of sadness at the amount of grief involved for this large family," Conover said Thursday. "A family who has lost a loved one, the amount of grief cannot even be contemplated. Am I aware of it, is it a factor? Absolutely. And in spite of that, I have to proceed deliberatively."
The civil attorneys representing Welch's family were at the news conference.
"We're disappointed, and our clients are disappointed in the decision, but we're going to assure them that we'll be seeking justice for the family despite the county attorney's position," said Amy Hernandez, one of the two attorneys representing the family. "The lawsuit's already been filed."
