A review has found two Anchorage police officers were justified when they fired their weapons at a suspect during a November traffic stop who allegedly pulled a gun of his own.
The Anchorage Police Department reports that the Alaska Department of Law Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals determined that the use of force by APD officers Angela Fraize and Robert Block was justified when they fired at and injured 22-year-old Kyle Swann during that traffic stop.
According to charging documents against Swann, he pulled a gun while in the back seat of an SUV being driven in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. Swann reportedly had a felony arrest warrant for failure to appear in court, and said that Swann pulled a revolver on police and told them he couldn't go back to jail. Officers Fraize and Block immediately returned fire while retreating from the vehicle, striking Swann in the elbow, police said.
The Nov. 18 incident was the fifth officer-involved shooting of the year for APD, a number that Police Chief Mark Mew described as higher than normal.
Swann was charged with four counts of felony assault in relation to the incident.