Cape & Islands News

Bulletin: DA clears Yarmouth police officer in shooting

 Brazilian was killed in July 27 confrontation

District Attorney Michael O'Keefe sits next to Yarmouth Police Chief Michael Almonte at Friday's press conference. At the bottom is shown the displays offered at the conference. Peter Robbins photos.

"There will be no further official action by this office in respect for this case"

"...no reasonable fact finder could conclude that the officer in discharging his weapon... had an unreasonable apprehension of great bodily harm..."

By James Kinsella 

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe has found that Yarmouth Police Officer Christopher Van Ness was justified in shooting and killing Brazilian national Andre Luiz de Castro Martins.

On the early morning of Sunday, July 27, Van Ness used his service weapon to fire at least three shots at Martins, who had been driving an automobile at a high rate of speed and who failed to stop for the officer.

Although Van Ness had stopped his cruiser in an attempt to block the automobile and gotten out, O'Keefe said Martins did not stop but continued to try to maneuver his car.

The district attorney said the officer had good reason to fear imminent great bodily harm or death from being crushed against his cruiser or run over by the automobile, and was justified by reason of self-defense in shooting Martins.

One of the shots perforated Martins' heart and a lung, killing him.

To convict Van Ness of a crime, O'Keefe said, the state would bear the burden of showing that the right of self-defense didn't exist, and must disprove that right beyond a reasonable doubt. Neither, he said, was supported by the evidence.

On the way out of the press conference DA O'Keefe was asked why he reported last year's theift of guns from his house to the State Police rather than Sandwich Police where he lived. He replied, "Grow up."

O'Keefe discussed his findings in a press conference held Friday at the Hyannis offices of the Crime Prevention and Control unit, which conducts investigations for the district attorney's office. A thick report about the shooting was distributed at the press conference.

According to the report, the incident began on the early morning of July 27, when Van Ness, who was on duty near Bayview Beach, noticed a vehicle traveling on Bayview Street at a high rate of speed.

The report said this is what happened next:

Van Ness got into his cruiser and pursued the vehicle, which he said was traveling at about 70 miles per hour through a 30-mph zone. He turned on his lights and siren to pursue the car, which ran a stop sign at Park Avenue and Glenwood Street. He radioed the station that he was trying to stop the car, a black Lincoln, on Harbor Road, heading toward Baxter Avenue.

"No, I'm going to run away.
I'm going to run away…
I'm not going to let them catch me."         - Andre Martin

An officer in another cruiser heard the transmission, approached the intersection of Route 28 and Baxter Avenue, turned on her lights and placed her cruiser so as to be visible to northbound vehicles on Baxter.

Van Ness said the Lincoln braked, turned onto the lawn at 41 Baxter Avenue and continued to turn left, as if to reverse direction. Van Ness said he then drove onto the lawn and pushed the Lincoln from behind with his cruiser's push bar. The Lincoln slid away from the front of the cruiser. He said both vehicles then stopped.

The officer said the Lincoln came to rest facing him and the cruiser. Van Ness said he got out of the cruiser, stood next to his door, drew his weapon, and ordered his driver to show his hands and stop.

Then, according to the report, "Van Ness stated that the operator seemed to pause a 'second' and that he could see the operator's eyes and that the 'eyes had a crazed look.' The officer stated that, 'He gunned it right at me.' The officer stated that he took a 'step back toward my cruiser.' Officer Van Ness stated that he then thought, 'He's going to kill me. He's going to crush me.' He stated that at that moment, he was concerned that he was going to be crushed between the driver's side of the Lincoln and the cruiser which was to his right side.

"Van Ness fired his weapon into the driver's side window," the report states. "He then fired two more shots. He believes he fired a total of three rounds."

According to the report, the Lincoln continued southbound on Baxter, coming to rest 246 feet down the road.

A woman (Camilla Campos, who was Martins' girlfriend and the mother of his two children) got out of the car, screaming for help. Van Ness handcuffed the woman, told her she was being detained, and then looked into the vehicle, where he saw Martins gurgling and bleeding. Van Ness told the female officer, who had arrived on foot, to get a first aid kit, and then believes he radioed for an ambulance.

According to the report, Campos told police that she and Martins were going home when he said that someone was behind him, and that it was the police.

Then, according to the report, she said, "If it's the cops, let it be."

She said that he then said, "I'm not going back to jail," and stepped on the gas. The officer then put on his siren.

Campos pleaded with him to stop, saying it wasn't worth it. She said he told her, 'No, I'm going to run away. I'm going to run away… I'm not going to let them catch me."

She said Martins turned into a yard and hit a police officer. (At the press conference, O'Keefe said the blow was a glancing one.) She then looked past Martins to see an officer at his side, and then the officer shot Martins.

Martins was pronounced dead in the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital. He lacked vital signs upon arrival at the hospital.

Forensic evidence shows that a bullet entered the left lateral back of Martins, and exited on the chest front. According to the report, the bullet perforated the heart and a lung.

Forensic evidence shows that a bullet entered the left lateral back of Martins, and exited on the chest front. According to the report, the bullet perforated the heart and lungs.An accident reconstruction report based on the location of the Van Ness's cruiser and the tire markings of Martins' vehicle said that the officer would have been within a confined five-foot space between the two vehicles when he fired the shots.

A toxicology report shows that Martins recently had been smoking marijuana at the time of his death. Campos said he had smoked marijuana earlier that evening and was smoking a marijuana cigarette during the car chase.

Of the two other shots that Van Ness recalls firing, one bullet skidded across the roof and wasn't found. Another went hit the rear window and was found on the rear deck.

According to the report, "the physical evidence is consistent with the operator veering right as he approached the officer and his drawn weapon. A natural human reaction is to turn away from the danger posed by the gun. As the operator veered to his right he exposed his left flank to the officer who had already committed to fire.

"The first shot hit him in the left side, penetrated his lung and heart, and exited the chest," the report states. "The second and third shots were fired after the car passed the officer. This entire sequence likely transpired in less than two seconds."

The report concludes that Martins was operating a deadly weapon, the automobile, which he was operating in a reckless manner without consideration of the lives and safety of others.

No reasonable fact finder, the report states, could find that the officer had an unreasonable apprehension of great bodily harm. To sustain legal proceedings against the officer, the district attorney's office would have to find that apprehension was unreasonable beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Therefore, there will be no further official action by this office in respect for this case," the report concludes.

During the press conference, O'Keefe expressed his condolences to the Martins family. He said he had spoken to Martins' father in Brazil and to leaders of the Brazilian community about the findings before the press conference.

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