Prosecutor: No new look at Bainbridge police killing

The Kitsap County prosecutor has turned down a family's request to reopen an investigation into the shooting death in October of a Bainbridge Island man killed by police after threatening officers with an ax.

Prosecutor Russ Hauge, in a Jan. 15 letter to Tami Ostling, the sister of 43-year-old Douglas Ostling, said her allegations of "false statements and cover-up" on the part of Bainbridge Island police are not supported by the evidence.

Hauge's letter was in response to a letter Tami Ostling had sent to media and others questioning the Police Department's version of events, particularly in light of statements made by Bainbridge Island Police Chief John Fehlman to media indicating that an agitated Douglas Ostling had "charged" the two officers with an ax after they confronted him in the home's driveway.

The shooting occurred at the entrance to his apartment, which was above the family garage.

Tami Ostling believes her mentally disturbed brother was shot through the door of his apartment and left to bleed to death from a leg wound while officers refused to allow anyone to enter and help him.

Hauge said the investigation and officers' statements indicated that Doug Ostling was likely at the top of the stairs leading to his above-garage apartment when he was shot by Officer Jeff Benkert the night of Oct. 26.

While there were two bullet holes in the door, he said, the angle at which they were fired indicated the door was at least partially open. Moreover, Doug Ostling was also struck by Taser darts, which could not have penetrated the wooden door, Hauge said.

In all, the prosecutor said, three gunshots were fired. "Clearly, one went through an open door," he said.

"Douglas was standing either outside the doorway or within its frame when the Taser was deployed and the time of the first gunshot," the letter said. "Between the first shot and the second and third, he may have started his retreat behind the door."

Tami Ostling also complained that police would not let anyone near the apartment for more than an hour. An autopsy showed Douglas Ostling bled to death from a leg wound.

The prosecutor said he could not address Fehlman's statements at the scene or the decision at the scene not to approach the apartment.

"Both issues are beyond the scope of my responsibility," he said.

The police chief did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment, which was left at his office.

The Ostling family has retained Tacoma lawyer John Connelly, who questioned the propriety of Hauge's letter and said it appears that the prosecutor is trying to "make the evidence fit one of the officers' stories."

Connelly said the fact that Douglas Ostling was apparently trying to close the door when he was shot does not fit with the officers' claims that he was threatening them with an ax. Connelly said witnesses told investigators that Douglas Ostling — who had called the police in the first place — had asked the officers to leave.

"The police created a bad situation unnecessarily and are now trying to justify it," Connelly wrote in an e-mail to The Seattle Times. "An elected Prosecutor is supposed to be the County's 'minister of justice' and should not be choosing sides, or attacking a family concerned about review of an unnecessary death."

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com