Special prosecutor will decide whether to charge deputy who fatally shot Sedalia woman
The decision on whether to charge a Pettis County sheriff’s deputy in the June killing of a 25-year-old Sedalia woman during a traffic stop has been handed over to a special prosecutor.
Hannah Fizer was fatally shot by the officer after she was pulled over the evening of June 13. The name of the deputy who shot her has not been released.
The investigation into Fizer’s death was completed Thursday by the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control and handed over to the Pettis County Prosecutor, Phillip Sawyer, on Friday.
After evaluating the reports, Sawyer announced Tuesday that in order to protect the “ethics and integrity of the investigation,” he requested that the court appoint independent counsel to review the use of force in the case and determine whether prosecution is necessary.
“Pettis County and families of those involved deserve the confidence to know that this matter was handled independently and competently by an individual with no ties to the jurisdiction that I serve,” Sawyer wrote in a Tuesday statement.
Stephen Sokoloff, General Counsel for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services, was appointed to the case Tuesday afternoon, Sawyer said.
There is no timeline on when the review will be complete. Sawyer said the investigative materials “contain many parts,” and will probably take Sokoloff some time to review.
Included in the material is restaurant surveillance footage that captured the shooting and the traffic stop.
Fizer stopped her car at about 10 p.m. between two restaurants near the 3500 block of West Broadway Boulevard in Sedalia. Family and friends say she was driving to her job at an Eagle Stop convenience store when she was pulled over.
The deputy said Fizer refused to identify herself when she was stopped. According to the highway patrol, she told the deputy she was armed with a gun and was going to shoot him.
In search warrants, a Highway Patrol investigator described the restaurant video as showing the deputy make contact with Fizer before drawing his gun. Fizer, who had been pulled over for speeding and careless driving, is seen moving inside her silver 2015 Hyundai Elantra. Then, the deputy fires his weapon.
The Star has not obtained or viewed the video. Such evidence is normally closed to public view during an active investigation.
No body camera or dash camera footage exists of the incident, as Pettis County deputies are not equipped with the technology, the sheriff has said. However, Fizer may also have recorded part of the incident herself.
The deputy involved in the shooting also indicated Fizer said she was recording the traffic stop, search warrants revealed. Her cell phone, a Samsung, was found on the floor of the passenger side of her car after her death.
Investigators said Fizer, who was declared dead at the scene at 10:34 p.m., appeared to have multiple gunshot wounds. Troopers located five spent shell casings near the driver’s door.
No gun was found in her car. Fizer’s family has stood by their initial doubt of the official narrative. It was unlike Fizer, whom family and friends have described as kind and caring, to threaten to shoot a deputy, they said.
