The Iowa Department of Justice released a ruling on the officer involved shooting incident of Jeremy Berg, 45, in rural Martelle Aug. 31. In the ruling, the department of justice notes that the officer’s use of force was legally justified.
“Officers in this situation were confronted with a person who was behaving in a threatening manner and was armed with a knife that could have caused serious injury or death to any person including officers,” said Douglas D. Hammerand, assistant attorney general for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. “When Berg pulled the knife, he kept the knife out the entire time. The officers made repeated efforts to de-escalate the situation by giving multiple commands to drop the knife and comply with the officers.
“In addition, the officers deployed less lethal options on five separate occasions (a taser was deployed three times and a less lethal shotgun with bean bags was fired twice), but they were unable to subdue Berg, or get him to drop the knife. If Berg would have stopped and unarmed himself there would have been no need for the use of lethal force. Because of Berg’s actions in quickly advancing towards the officers with a knife raised in his hand, they had no other reasonable choice but to shoot Berg. Otherwise, the officers or innocent by-standers would have been put in harm’s way.
“The actions of Deputy James Rickels, Deputy Tim Miller, Sgt. Nick Brokaw, Officer Gabe Humphrey and Officer Tyler Hunt were entirely legally justified. The decision to fire at Berg was reasonable under the circumstances. Prior to discharging their weapons, the officers were faced with a deadly threat solely created by Jeremy Berg. Berg was provided every opportunity to end the confrontation peacefully. Instead, Berg continued the threat by charging at the officers with a knife in his hand.”
The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation investigated the incident, and a short report was issued on the incident with the ruling.
Officers responded to a call of a structure on fire in rural Martelle at 8 p.m. Aug. 31. Several fire departments responded to the call, as did deputies James Rickels and Tim Miller from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. While law enforcement was en route, they had information that Berg was trying to go into the burning building and talking about dying in the fire.
Rickels arrived at 8:17 a.m. and located Berg. Rickels asked Berg what happened, but he responded he was not sure. Rickels asked if Berg had used drugs, to which Berg did not respond. Rickels instructed Berg to remain seated until an ambulance could check him out.
Berg did not comply, and got up off the ground. Rickels attempted to restrain Berg, but was unable to. Berg then pulled a knife from his pocket. Rickels asked Berg to put the knife down several times, and Berg did not comply. Family members also encouraged Berg to put the knife down and he said “no.”
Rickels reported the presence of the knife to dispatch, and then proceeded to use non-lethal force, administering a taser and tased Berg. Berg returned to the ground, but removed the probes of the taser and then returned to standing.
Deputy Miller arrived at 8:23 p.m., and Rickels used his taser a second time, but the device appeared to have no effect on Berg. Berg advanced with the knife in his hands toward the deputies and was told to stop. Berg stopped, but would not lower the knife. A standoff ensued. Firefighter Kevin Steele began dialogue with Berg to try and get him to drop the knife so they could get him help.
Sgt. Nick Brokaw, Officer Tyler Hunt and officer Gabe Humphrey from Anamosa Police Department arrived at 8:30 p.m., and Berg remained with the knife in his hand.
Steele continued to try to get Berg to drop the knife, but Berg did not comply. Officers then made the decision to fire a less than lethal shotgun with bean bags in an attempt to get Berg to drop the knife. Steele also utilized a taser again. Neither seemed to have an effect on Berg, and he began to run toward a house.
Officers pursued Berg. Berg then turned around, gave a yell, raised the knife in his right hand and charged the officers.
It was at that point those officers fearing for their safety or others fired their service weapons. Rickels, Miller, Brokaw, Hunt and Humphrey fired multiple shots at Berg. Berg fell to the ground, and was moving for a short period of time. Berg still had the knife in his hand. Eventually officers were able to remove the knife and began providing medical care.
Officers use of force judged reasonable in Jones County incident
September 23, 2021