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Lane County D.A. Rules Police Shooting Justified

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The Lane County district attorney announced Tuesday a Springfield police officer was justified in the use of deadly force when he shot and killed Stacy William Kenny on March 31st, 2019.

D.A. Patty Perlow identified the officer who fired his weapon as Sergeant Rick A. Lewis. Her decision to find the shooting lawful was based on the testimony of police and witnesses on the scene and 911 tape which was recorded throughout much of the incident. Perlow says the emergency call was made by Kenny as he was being chased by police. 911 dispatch kept the call open and the incident was recorded until the electric car crashed.

Following a forced traffic stop, Perlow says Sgt. Lewis entered Kenny’s car through the passenger side to retrieve the subject. She says, that is when Kenny hit the gas.

“Officer Lewis sees that the vehicle is going to crash and he yells, ‘stop the car, you’re going to kill us both.’ And there was no response. Sgt. Lewis fired four shots, three of them went into the body of Mr. Kenny. Again, no response. He uh, flinched. And that’s when Sgt. Lewis fired two more shots into Mr. Kenny’s head.”

Perlow says Kenny, who had a history of mental illness, died at the scene.  The D.A.'s office and Kenny's family identify Kenny as male. But court records show Kenny legally changed her name (from Patrick to Stacy) and gender in Lane County Court on Sept. 20, 2018.

This is the third police shooting in Lane County this year.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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