Prosecutor rules officer, deputy fired justifiably

A Stevens County sheriff’s deputy and a Chewelah police officer justifiably shot a man to death in May when he ran at them with a pistol, county Prosecutor Jerry Wetle ruled Friday.

Wetle declined to file charges against Deputy John Bowers or Officer Travis Frizzell, who shot 47-year-old Donald L. Hobrecht to death in a Chewelah-area home on May 19.

Hobrecht had gone to the home on Flowery Trail Road, claiming three men were trying to kill him.

Wetle’s report indicates Hobrecht threatened the officers with a semiautomatic pistol but didn’t fire any shots.

Hobrecht had cocaine in his possession when he died, and his daughters confirmed that he had been using crack cocaine for several months, according to the prosecutor’s written decision.

Michael Wiyrick told The Spokesman-Review that Hobrecht had a handgun when he pounded on Wiyrick’s door about 3 a.m.

“He really freaked me out,” Wiyrick said. “He wasn’t drunk or anything. He was just extremely scared, like paranoid scared, and he really wanted me to call the police.”

Wiyrick sent his wife next door to call for help while he got out his rifle and took cover with Hobrecht.

Wetle said Wiyrick told authorities he left the house when officers arrived, and told Hobrecht he also should go outside and talk to the officers.

Instead, Wetle wrote, Hobrecht ran down a hallway to a closet.

Frizzell and Bowers entered the home and three times announced themselves as “sheriff’s office” and “police.” Then, according to Wetle, Hobrecht said something like, “If you come back here, I’m going to shoot you,” or, “I’m going to run out there and shoot you.”

Frizzell continued to order Hobrecht to come out of the closet with his hands up, Wetle said. Then Bowers heard Frizzell say, “Drop the gun,” several times.

Next, the prosecutor stated, Bowers heard Hobrecht running toward them. When Hobrecht came into view near the end of the hallway, he was “running in a hunched-over position and had a pistol in his right hand,” Wetle said.

He said Bowers fired four times when he saw Hobrecht turn toward him and “bring the pistol up to point it at Deputy Bowers.” Frizzell fired two shots, and Hobrecht continued past the officers, collapsing on the dining room floor, according to Wetle’s ruling. He said Hobrecht died of “multiple gunshot wounds to the trunk.”

Hobrecht’s Hi-Point semiautomatic pistol was found on the living room floor, near the end of the hallway, Wetle said.

The prosecutor’s ruling is not based on self-defense, but on state laws that protect officers from prosecution when they use deadly force to protect the public.

In deciding whether someone poses a “threat of serious physical harm” to others, officers may consider whether they were threatened, Wetle said.

Also, the prosecutor stated, officers can’t be held criminally liable for using deadly force if they have a good-faith belief that their action was justifiable.

Bowers and Frizzell were justified in believing Hobrecht posed a “threat of serious physical harm,” and they used reasonable force to stop him, Wetle concluded.