Sheriff Addresses Deputy-Involved Shooting

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gary Saddelmayer, Jim Rose and you. On this May twenty sixth,
investigation continues into the deputy invault fatal shooting in the
middle of the night last Thursday night, Deputy Jesse Rock
fired his weapon and an individual in a car was

(00:20):
hit and later died on the way or at the hospital.
And of course Deputy Rock is on the paid leave
of pending the investigation. And that's basically what we know.
And I want to get Sheriff Hansen to come on
and flesh it out a little bit this morning. Aaron,
good morning, great to have you on.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I don't know how much you can say, but can
you tell us basically what happened there? We know it
was a firearms investigation.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well obviously, first of all, you know, we do whatever
we can in terms of policy and training. The intent
and the hope is that we never have an investigation
or police interaction that results in a fatal in custody outcome.
But unfortunately it does happen in our industry, and when
the outcome does turn out that way, it's been our

(01:10):
obligation to conduct a fair, an honest investigation. In this case,
we're very fortunate to have the police department in Nebraska
State Patrol assisting us at BCSO is the lead investigator agency,
but we are very thankful for their assistance. So, and
I'd also like to say, you know, we know the
Ibraheim family in a community, it's a tough time. Anytime

(01:34):
you have a fatal in custody incident, it's painful, it's tough,
and the best we can do is be professional and
try to reveal as much as we can. But at
the same time, we do not want to upend do process,
the grand jury process, because that's that's public policy. So
bottom line is this gary on in the early morning
hours a Thursday, May twenty second Sergeant Jeff Ronk, who

(01:59):
is a super Seiser Telberty night shift Special Operations Group,
and two other deputies. They had a variety of assignments
that evening which led them into investigations either in the
western part of the county or in the eastern part
of the county. But ultimately at two thirty three they

(02:20):
were investigating an ongoing firearms investigation which led them into
forty eighth in prop Sergeant Ronk encountered an SUV and
maroon suv at that location, contact was made with multiple
individuals add or around the vehicle. Many individuals fled, one

(02:42):
individual at least did not. Shots were fired by Sergeant
Ronk and unfortunately that young man, JANETI Ibraheim, did not
survive those injuries. Two firearms were located in the vehicle.
The entirety of the incident was captured on body camera video.

(03:03):
And so yesterday we did interview. Sergeant Ronkey submitted to
a voluntary interview with investigators. Now it's the job of
investigators to work together, pull together all this evidence, try
to sync it up with each other. We do have
other witness interviews as well, and ultimately present the case

(03:23):
to the county attorney for initial recommendation on charges or
lack the rowth, but then ultimately offer a complete package
to an un paneled grand jury. Down the road, is.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
That agency policy or as a state law regarding en
custody deaths, that they go automatically to a grand jury that.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
State law and state law also mandates that there must
be other agencies other than the agency that was involved
in the incident working together, and those are I think
the original intent was to ensure there's transparency and multiple
sets of eyes looking at It's interesting when you look
in Nebraska, we're very unique. Most states do not have

(04:10):
an automatic grand jury public policy. Most states do not
necessarily mandate multiple law enforcement agencies reviewing and in custody death.
At the same time, I do think that this process,
although it is there's a lot of moving parts to it.
It does unfortunately require holding back at certain evidence. But

(04:35):
I do think it gives that multi layered review that
ultimately gives the public peace of mind and confidence in
the end product.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, well, you mentioned grief certainly in the Ibrahim family,
but also a tough time for the Rock family. You know,
we don't we don't have most of us ever have
any personal experience because we're not law enforcement people. But
that's got to be a tough deal for a lot
of horsbent officer.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's tough all the way around. It's tough for everybody.
And when I say our community, I mean everybody from
our from our community that was directly impacted in terms
of friends and relatives of the deceased, members of the
law enforcement community, people that were directly involved or work
in this, in this culture, in the greater community at large,

(05:22):
our entire county, and so That's why, you know, I
see it as my obligation. You have to approach these
things very methodically. You have to make sure that you
are pushing past reactions that are not, you know, evidence based.
You need to allow the evidence and the facts to

(05:42):
guide the investigations to a professional and honest conclusion.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Should this be and I'm just being Devil's advocate here,
maybe for the Abraham family, I don't know what they'll say,
but should this investigation be led by an agency other
than Douglas County Shriff?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think the Douglas Kenny Sheriff's Office similar to the
Oma Police Department. We've got internal yeah, we do our internal, yes,
But I think in terms of the criminal it's very
similar to what you would see in the Omah Police
Department of the Nebraska State Patrol. When you are an
agency large enough and you have an investigative division skilled

(06:24):
enough to be able to be the lead investigator and
be assisted by similarly skilled agencies, I do think that
is that is probably the best scenario that you can have.
And I'm more than competent in our investigators, and I'm
more than competent in the other agencies that are assisting
us in the investigation. It will be fair and partial.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right from your experience, what approximate ballpark would you put
on a timeline for this investigation.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
You know, timelines are tough because then people hold you
to it. I think I will tell you this. I
I think, especially now that we have the interview of
Sergeant Ronk in the rearview mirror, I do believe that
I'm hopeful that sometime this week we will at least
be able to have a preliminary report to be able

(07:15):
to provide to Douglas County Attorney Don Klin in order
for his office to give an initial opinion with regard
to criminality or lack thereof. And remember that's the process.
I mean, the county attorney can charge or not charge
based on what they see. Now that does not necessarily

(07:37):
negate the grand jury process unless unless there is a
criminal charge that comes from the county attorney. So again
there's multiple layers of review ultimately ending in completely independent
citizens on an umpandled grand jury having final say.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Very good Triff, thanks always going to have you on.
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson