Missouri officer won't be prosecuted in shooting

Tuesday, January 24, 2006
STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- The attorney general's office says a Ste. Genevieve police officer who shot and killed a mentally ill man in November will not be prosecuted. Dennis P. Heberlie III, 47, was killed Nov. 3 at the mobile home near Ste. Genevieve where he lived with his mother.

Police had been called to a gas station because of a complaint that Heberlie, a paranoid schizophrenic, was bothering an attendant and pursued him when he drove away.

The officer who shot Heberlie, Michael J. Coon, 33, had been placed on paid administrative leave. A spokesman for Attorney General Joy Nixon said Saturday that Coon will not be prosecuted.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and a special prosecutor with the attorney general's office investigated the shooting at the request of police and Ste. Genevieve County prosecutor Carl Kinsky.

Coon told investigators that Heberlie punched him twice in the face and pummeled his back. Coon said he shot Heberlie in the chest after Heberlie had beaten the officer to the floor and was hovering over him.

The report said a Ste. Genevieve County sheriff's deputy who went to the home with Coon confirmed his account.

But Malcom Montgomery, a lawyer hired by the family, said Heberlie's sister and niece said the shooting was unprovoked and that Heberlie was trying to flee from the officer rather than attacking him.

"The family believes this is a stupefying abuse of discretion on the part of the attorney general's office," Montgomery said. "This decision means if you have a uniform on, you can do anything without fear of prosecution."

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com