No police video in Sedalia woman’s death; sheriff says bodycams used before tech issues
After a Pettis County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a Sedlia woman Saturday, community members have asked whether the shooting was captured on video.
That question remains to be answered as the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the incident at the request of the county’s sheriff, is trying to track down any video of the shooting that left 25-year-old Hannah Fizer dead.
If video is obtained, it won’t come from the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Kevin Bond on Monday said deputies are not equipped with body cameras and their vehicles do not record video.
In an interview Tuesday with The Star, Bond said the sheriff’s office obtained some body cameras — 10 of them, he believed — about three years ago with excess money available at the end of that year.
But the sheriff’s office had technical difficulties with the equipment and its data storage, which included a hard drive failure that deleted videos. The devices were used for about a year but then were not replaced, Bond said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Missouri Highway Patrol said investigators found no weapon inside the car driven by Fizer.
Investigators continued to process evidence in the shooting, Bell said. An autopsy on Fizer was planned for Wednesday.
In the meantime, the highway patrol asked anyone with video or who witnessed the shooting to step forward.
On Sunday, Fizer’s relatives said they doubted the official narrative that Fizer told the deputy she was armed and threatened to shoot him. Several relatives said she never carried a firearm.
Asked to comment on the determination Fizer was not armed, the sheriff said the highway patrol continued to investigate the shooting and “more facts would be brought out” about what unfolded.
“Officers have to make split second decisions,” Bond said. “The investigation obviously will determine if that decision was correct or not.”
The highway patrol called the Fizer investigation a priority. But it could be up to a month before all reports are complete and information is compiled to send to the district attorney, who will determine if anyone will be charged.
‘Everybody so upset’
Fizer was driving to her job at an Eagle Stop convenience store and was pulled over on U.S. Highway 50, according to the highway patrol. She stopped near the Asian Buffet and Lemaire’s Cajun Catfish and Seafood House.
During the traffic stop, Fizer was “not compliant” and refused to identify herself, according to the highway patrol. Fizer threatened to shoot him, the patrol said, citing a preliminary investigation.
The incident “escalated” and the deputy shot Fizer, the patrol said. She died a short time later; the deputy was not injured.
With the size of the sheriff’s office’s staff, it is common for Pettis County deputies to conduct traffic stops by themselves, Bond said. He has 32 full-time deputies, 14 of whom work on the streets; the others work in the courthouse and jail.
Bond said he would like to equip his deputies with body cameras, but called it a “sizable cost,” especially for the storage of videos. He noted there were a number of needs of the office, such as making sure deputies’ vehicles run properly.
The sheriff’s office was looking to apply for a grant earlier this year to partially fund the purchase of body cameras. But even if the sheriff’s office had applied for the grant, deputies would not have received the gear by now, Bond said.
While saying body cameras are gear the office “should have,” Bond said there is not a requirement for law enforcement officers to wear body cameras in Missouri. Should that change, he said, it would be a “guiding factor” to obtaining them.
It remained unclear Tuesday why the situation with Fizer escalated into a shooting.
Those who knew Fizer recalled Tuesday how her smile lit up a room.
“She made everything better,” said Jennifer Archambault, 37, manager at the Muddy Creek Eagle Stop where Fizer worked.
Melissa Rath, 35, another one of Fizer’s managers, believed the deputy could have used a stun gun instead of his firearm.
“That’s what’s got everybody so upset,” said another one of Fizer’s colleagues, Tammy Halferty, 56. “I mean, getting pulled over for a traffic stop and maybe she did refuse to identify herself and whatever, that still doesn’t justify killing somebody.”
Over the past two days, many customers have been coming into the Eagle Stop asking how the employees are doing. They expressed anger at Fizer’s death.
Halferty and State Fair Eagle Stop manager Roni Edde, 34, saw Fizer about 8 p.m. Saturday as she waited in line to fill up her gas tank.
She was in good spirits, Edde said. He recalled how Fizer popped inside the store to say, “Hey girl.”
“And by 10 o’clock, she was dead,” Halferty said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 5:23 PM.
