Phoenix police: 2014 fatal shooting of Michelle Cusseaux was 'outside' policy

An internal panel at the Phoenix Police Department has ruled that the fatal shooting of a mentally ill woman last year by an officer fell outside of department policy.

The decision comes more than a year after the August 2014 death of 50-year-old Michelle Cusseaux, a woman shot while police were trying to serve a mental-health pickup.

Sgt. Percy Dupra fired at Cusseaux after police said she opened her door with a claw hammer raised above her head.

According to Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump, the recommendation by the department’s Use of Force Board was approved by Chief Joe Yahner and will now be forwarded to the department’s Disciplinary Review Board.

That board will make a discipline recommendation for Dupra that could include  suspension, demotion or termination.

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Cusseaux’s death has sparked several  bouts of community outcry in the year since, with critics challenging both the department’s use-of-force policies and training to deal with mentally ill individuals.

In a particularly dramatic display, protesters marched Cusseaux’s casket through downtown Phoenix weeks after the shooting, calling for an outside agency to investigate the death.

Phoenix police have responded with widespread reforms, including the creation of a Mental Health Advisory Board and later a seven-member police unit dedicated to crisis intervention.

Each officer-involved shooting in Phoenix launches two parallel investigations: one to determine whether a criminal act was committed and the other to review whether the force was in line with agency policy.

Then-Phoenix Police Chief Daniel Garcia turned over the criminal side of the investigation to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The decision, he said, was prompted by speaking with Cusseaux’s mother, Frances Garrett.

County Attorney Bill Montgomery in March declined to file criminal charges against Dupra. Montgomery said the use of force was justified, and that Cusseaux had drugs and trace amounts of alcohol in her system at the time of the incident.

Phoenix police’s Use of Force Board is made up of three community members and three department employees. The department’s Disciplinary Review Board consists of two community members and four department employees.

“The DRB will review the facts and make a recommendation as to the appropriate level of discipline,” Crump said in a  statement.

Dupra may then appeal the decision to the city’s Civil Service Board.

Garrett, Cusseaux’s mother, could not be reached Thursday.

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, who has represented family members, said they are "moving closer to justice in this case."

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"But we’re not in the clear yet," he said. "The family is on pins and needles with respect to the findings of the disciplinary board."

Councilman Michael Nowakowski, chairman of the city's public safety and veteran's subcommittee, praised the board’s recommendation.

“I feel they made the right decision now,” he said.

Nowakowski urged the public’s patience throughout the disciplinary phase of proceedings.

“Sometimes we overreact, and that muddies the vision of what’s going on,” he said. “This is a process. So far, I believe in the process, and hopefully the next phase of it will work out.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the fact that drugs and alcohol were found in Cusseaux's system justified the use of force. The substances did not prompt this finding.