Kansas Trooper Cleared in Fatal Shooting
Associated Press - Fri 07:48 AM 04/27/2012
Investigators have cleared a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man last year.
Investigators have cleared a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man last year.
Ottawa County Attorney Betty Mick said Thursday that trooper Justin Rohr was justified in shooting 56-year-old Larry Dean Smith of Delphos last October. A Kansas Bureau of Investigation found that Smith fired first during a confrontation in a heavily wooded area near Delphos.
Smith was scheduled to appear in Saline County District Court the day he was shot. He was facing prison time on 10 drug-related charges. He had been released from prison nine months earlier.
Mick said her office has closed the investigation into the shooting.
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Associated Press Information from: The Salina Journal
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risingr
Friday 27 April 2012 10:13 Report this comment
Thank heavens for the KBI, which is able to conduct impartial investigations and use common sense. If this had gone to trial in local court there's no telling how a liberal judge would have ruled.
pops67401
Friday 27 April 2012 12:29 Report this comment
Glad they were cleared, that guy was a nut!! And he put countless others in danger that day.
Iamgonnagetu
Friday 27 April 2012 13:36 Report this comment
No gun was ever found so what did the Guy fire at him with? Another case of law enforcement protecting their brotherhood. Lay people should investigate and you would not see the same result in alot of these cases.
DougSmith
Friday 27 April 2012 13:59 Report this comment
The Salina Journal article reported "A shotgun and a spent shell were found where the man had been positioned." @ lamgonnagetu-- There is a brotherhood with law enforcement- it's called staying alive when some crazy guy is shooting at you. Law enforcement puts their lives on the line every day, and I'm for one glad that this trooper got to go home to his family that night. But if this guy would have taken out a innocent by-stander, that would be okay?? These cops haters just make me mad. They are people with families just like you. Don't break the law, and you won't ever have to have to deal with them.
Farmer
Friday 27 April 2012 19:21 Report this comment
I agree with Doug Smith.
smokeyvalley
Friday 27 April 2012 19:34 Report this comment
Doug...that is Iamgonnagetu way of getting attention. You will see it in most of his posts. He's getting worse. Come back in the AM and see his posse jump on the bandwagon to try and bring your comments down. Enjoy the read! I am sure we will read how the gun was planted by 'The Company' in his next few posts.
Iamgonnagetu
Friday 27 April 2012 22:53 Report this comment
I have more insight than any of you would know about law enforcement. It seems unusual when this occurred none of the people who saw the deceased saw him carrying any weapon let alone a shot gun. Now we fast forward and all of a sudden a shot gun is found. Another interesting point none of the citizens around heard any shots but the highway patrols. This is why if there was a citizen board who investigated these things the truth would surface. The same type of thing occurred in the stand off some months ago where the Guy was killed. Again the investigation was questionable. Law enforcement is a dangerous job and whoever enters it fully understands what can happen.
Ksomething
Saturday 28 April 2012 08:19 Report this comment
So where did the recovered gun come from? So I guess all the people on scene are part of the cover up? Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire, the Medical Examiner? All of who saw the shotgun. Everyone interviewed said he was carrying something but was too far away to tell what it was. I think the only insight you have about law enforcement is the back of a patrol car or reruns of CSI. And yes, being in law enforcement is dangerous and we all accept the risk. Even risking our necks for ungrateful people like you.
Iamgonnagetu
Saturday 28 April 2012 19:10 Report this comment
Ksomething thanks for showing your true colors in attacking me. I could do the same but this is neither the time or place. On another story people give names of people you did not do a good job of protecting. I beloved a bias citizen group should investigate matters like this. They would not be loyal to anyone. Seems to me more and more questionable things like this keep coming up time and again. Hopefully someone will run against you and we can vote you out of office. Until then we will be working on trying to get citizen commissions to over look local law enforcement and to do any needed investigation.
RONNIEMUR
Monday 30 April 2012 06:34 Report this comment
@Imgonna...There was a gun recovere there and the attorney's office from which the incident occurred was also involved in the investigation, so your accusation that there was no gun found and that the KBI is solely investigating another law enforcement agency's employee are both skewed. You may be prejudice against police hut at some point you have to ask yourself if your accusations are based on facts or prejudice.
GETALIFE674
Monday 30 April 2012 08:31 Report this comment
Ronnie better read his statement again. He never said anything about not finding a gun. His comments were no one saw the gun carrying a shotgun or hear a shot other than the the shot that killed the guy. I remember there being reported only one shot now they say he was hit by 2 shots. At a time like this stories get mixed up I can understand that but there are to many cases of shootings being investigated lately. Used to be if a shooting was justified life went on. I do agree that investigations should be conducted by non lawenforcement lay people which des not include lawyers.
GETALIFE674
Monday 30 April 2012 08:39 Report this comment
Iamgonna I do not think ksomething is the sheriff responding and you made a mistake assuming so. If he is in fact then he should not have attacked you like the other two idiots doug and smokey valley. Smokey valley has been a loud mouth with little logical things to say on here and likes to edge people on for their own personal enjoyment. Dougie evidently is in law enforcement and thinks there are no dirty cops in the world and the police at times do not plant evidence to make a case. The world is not that perfect. Only a small percentage everywhere does things like this but it sure puts a poor light on those doing their jobs right and risking their lives every day.
RONNIEMUR
Monday 30 April 2012 10:44 Report this comment
@gtalife... On April 27th, 2012 at 13:36 "imgonnagetu" posted " No gun was ever found so what did the Guy fire at him with?". You must have skipped reading that comment.
Iamgonnagetu
Monday 30 April 2012 14:49 Report this comment
Ronnie that was the first reports then law enforcement went into being tight lipped. Its called damage control.
RONNIEMUR
Monday 30 April 2012 17:13 Report this comment
@iamgonna...I don't question that you believed what's you said. Can you cite the article or source where you read that? Maybe that was the first tidbit you heard/read, but how exactly do you know the source of that info and what (other than a general prejudice) make you think that the police weren't tight lipped in the first place. Again, there is a question as to your understanding of law enforcement. Officers have a responsibility when it comes to information dissemination and they are required to be what some would call tight lipped. Not because they are hiding anything, but because that is what is required if them.