Sacto 9-1-1: El Dorado DA: Officer justified in fatal shooting of mentally ill woman

By Cynthia Hubert and Chelsea Phua
chubert@sacbee.com

A Placerville police officer feared for his life and was justified in killing a mentally ill woman who fled in an ambulance from a local hospital in March, the El Dorado County District Attorney has found.

District Attorney Vern Pierson concluded that Officer Nick Maurer did not engage in criminal conduct when he shot and killed Linda Carol Clark of Folsom as she sat in an ambulance in the driveway of a Placerville home on March 28, The Bee has learned.

In a lengthy report investigating the shooting of the Folsom woman, Pierson determined that "based upon the totality of the evidence" and legal standards, the officer's "use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances," says the report, released to The Bee on Thursday afternoon.

Police have said that Clark tried to run over officers with the vehicle, prompting them to shoot in self-defense. An eyewitness has disputed that account.

In an interview with The Bee, Pierson said eyewitness accounts are not always reliable. "When people go through traumatic events, they often have a perception of what happened and what they saw" that is contradictory to physical evidence.

He said investigators set aside eyewitness accounts, including that of the officer, and focused solely on physical evidence such as gun shell casings, skid marks and a re-creation of the crime scene.

The dead woman's father, Marty Hansen, said he met with Pierson and investigator James Clinchard earlier this week and got a preview of the report. Based on the meeting and other information that he has collected, he said he remains unconvinced that Maurer was "reasonable" in shooting his daughter.

"I believe there are holes in their reasoning," he said.

To read more about the report, see tomorrow's Bee.