Family: SR police shot unarmed man

The man shot and killed by Santa Rosa police early Monday morning was not armed and suffered from mental illness, according to family and friends.

Richard DeSantis, 30, was identified Tuesday as the man shot and killed early Monday morning after a confrontation with Santa Rosa Police.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting, confirmed Tuesday that police officers were told by dispatchers that DeSantis was bi-polar and were aware that he had mental health issues before they arrived on the scene.

But the officers said they did not know if he was armed when they confronted him in the driveway of the South Avenue duplex.

"You have to remember that even if there had been a doctor on the scene -- a clinical psychologist -- that very likely may not have changed the outcome," Santa Rosa Police Chief Ed Flint said Tuesday. "These are volatile situations."

Police said DeSantis was shot in his driveway after failing to heed police commands to stay down, and after non-lethal force failed to stop the man's charge at officers.

Monday's shooting is the second fatal shooting by Santa Rosa police since Feb. 23, and the fourth by law enforcement officers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties in the past seven weeks.

A family member of DeSantis' spoke out Tuesday, reiterating that police were told before they arrived at the South Avenue duplex that the man suffered mental illness.

"The very first words out of Patty's mouth were, 'I need to let you know my husband is having a mental crisis. He fired a shot inside but I have secured the gun,' said Barbara Tolas, the dead man's mother-in-law, referring to the 911 call made by DeSantis' wife, Patricia.

But Flint defended the actions of his officers, who first used a "non-lethal plastic projectile" in an attempt to subdue DeSantis. When DeSantis kept coming, officers on the scene fired conventional weapons, hitting him in the torso.

The Sheriff's Department released the names of four officers involved in the incident: Sgt. Jerry Soares, who has 24 years of law enforcement experience, shot a "low-lethal weapon" trying to subdue DeSantis.

Sgt. Rich Celli, with 16 years of experience, Officer Travis Menke, with two years of experience, and Officer Patricia Mann, with one year of experience, each fired their weapons after DeSantis failed to stop.

An autopsy Tuesday revealed that DeSantis was hit twice by gunfire from a rifle and a handgun.

"The preliminary cause of death to be of gunshot wounds to his upper torso," according to the sheriff's department release.

The Sheriff's Department said interviews with family members following the shooting revealed that DeSantis used psychiatric medication to battle the bi-polar disorder and "has been using methamphetamine, as well."

Flint countered any suggestion that the spate of law enforcement shootings indicates officers are prone to use deadly force.

"I think it's intellectually vacant to suggest there's any connection between these shootings," Flint said. "In fact I'm surprised we don't have more of them. In 2006, we responded to 123,245 calls for assistance in Santa Rosa -- 1,897 of those were violent offenses."

He said the vast majority of those incidents were handled without the use of force. But sometimes such force is needed.

"I know there is a segment in every community that says force is never necessary and that there should be other ways to handle these violent situations. But those people are not living in reality," Flint said.

Family and friends said there should have been a different outcome.

Tolas said when police arrived at the door of the duplex shortly after 1:15 a.m., Patricia DeSantis again told officers her husband was unarmed and that they were coming outside.

"They knew he was unarmed," Tolas said. "It'll be on the 911 tape."

Capt. Dave Edmonds of the Sheriff's Department would not comment on what was on the 911 tapes and refused to release the tapes or a transcript until the sheriff's investigation is completed.

"We're not going to respond to a request for 911 tapes right now," said Edmonds. "The case is still in the early stages of investigation."

The Sheriff's Department has denied a similar request for release of the 911 tapes related to the death of 16-year-old Jeremiah Chass of Sebastopol, who was fatally shot by sheriff's deputies during a struggle in a parked van at his family's home on March 14.

That case is being investigated by the Santa Rosa Police Department.

In a statement released shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department clarified details of the confrontation in the driveway:

"Patricia was holding the two year old child in her arms and yelling at the officers that this was a mental health problem. Not knowing if Richard was still armed, the officers ordered Richard to lie on the ground," said the release by Lieutenant Robert Giordano.

"Richard initially got down on the ground but would not stay down despite the officers repeated orders. Richard suddenly rose up and charged the officers on the west side of the driveway," the release says.

Soares hit DeSantis on the left side with the non-lethal projectile, but officers said it had little effect.

"Richard continued charging directly at the officers standing on the west side of the driveway. The officers saw that Richard was charging directly at them despite the fact that they were ordering him to the ground at gun point. They recognized that he could still be armed and they felt he was an immediate threat."

Attempts to reach Patricia DeSantis on Tuesday were unsuccessful. She and her two children and her mother-in-law were staying at a local hotel while law enforcement officials investigated the shooting scene.

Tolas said her son-in-law was diagnosed with bipolar disorder more than a year and a half ago after another incident involving Santa Rosa police.

"Police helped my daughter get Richard to a hospital on March 3, 2005. They were living in a different apartment in a different part of Santa Rosa back then. I remember the day because it was my granddaughter's birthday," Tolas said. "That was when they diagnosed him bipolar and started him on lithium."

Details of the incident could not be confirmed Tuesday.

Tolas said DeSantis had not taken his medication on Easter Sunday, "and that's what started all this. They had had a wonderful Easter together but when they got home that night, he started hearing noises in the attic and his paranoia took over. He fired a shot into the attic thinking he was protecting his family," Tolas said.

The investigation shows DeSantis fired 10 shots into the ceiling of the home. Most of the shots went through the roof of the duplex, according to the sheriff's department.

Steele Lanphier, a Sacramento attorney and close friend of DeSantis, described him as an "easygoing" man.

He said DeSantis was born in Texas but grew up in California. Lanphier said DeSantis was an only child and that his father, an oil worker, died in a traffic accident when his son was very young.

DeSantis was a journeyman welder who worked primarily on large-scale pipe, Lanphier said.

Denise Upchurch, a 30-year-old Santa Rosa woman who said she was a close friend of DeSantis, said DeSantis attended schools in Petaluma, including McKinley Elementary, Kenilworth Junior High School and San Antonio High, a continuation school.

Upchurch said DeSantis became like a father to her oldest son when the boy's father died in a motorcycle accident.

"He was very outgoing and very happy and friendly," said Upchurch. "He was great with his kids. He was great with everyone's kids."

Upchurch said DeSantis and his wife and kids were living with her when DeSantis had his first mental breakdown.

"He started hearing voices and was really paranoid that people were going to come hurt his children," she said. "He voluntarily committed himself to a mental institution and was on a 72-hour hold."

Edmonds of the Sheriff's Department said local law enforcement officers deal with "mentally ill subjects" all the time and are well-trained in defusing volatile situations.

"We have a lot of training and experience in dealing with the mentally ill," said Edmonds. "But sometimes we're not able to prevent them from acting out."

Edmonds said there may be differences between those who are suffering mental distress and those who have "criminal intent."

But, he said, "when law enforcement is called upon to intervene in situations that are violent or prone to violence, often times the threat to the community and the officers is the same regardless of the subjects intent."

Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer contributed to this story. You can reach staff writer George Lauer at 521-5220 or george.lauer@pressdemocrat.com.