Deputies Cleared After Deadly Officer-Involved Shooting
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The Arapahoe County District Attorney has cleared two deputies of any wrongdoing after firing nine shots that killed a former colleague.
The incident happened the evening of October 29th at the entrance to the employee parking at the Sheriff's Department headquarters on Broncos Parkway.
50-year-old Mark Bidon was killed when the shots were fired during a struggle. Bidon had been on the Sheriff's department 10 years but felt he was blacklisted after resigning and unable to find another job. He filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Department that was eventually dismissed.
He returned to the department's headquarters seven years after he had resigned from the department while under an internal affairs investigation.
Bidon claimed in his lawsuit the department had agreed to withhold the circumstances of his resignation, but did not keep its word.
No motive was given in the DA's report to the Sheriff on why Bidon came back to the department the night of the incident. Bidon pulled his car into the gate of employee parking.
District Attorney George Brauchler says what happened next was unusual,
"He backs his car into the exit blocking it then just kind of a little off at that point."
"Yeah, I'm here for my orders", Bidon told deputies who approached according to the DA.
The deputies reported Bidon appeared to have mental issues and a loaded pistol.
"What are you doing? Please don't do that". Don't don't (10 times)." A deputy yelled during a struggle for the gun.
Nine rounds were fired by deputies killing Bidon. The DA wrote the deputy in the struggle
"Had no doubt what Bidon's intentions were and that he was going to shoot (deputy) Bruce Walker once he was able to do so."
Brauchler told CBS 4, "It's a tragic loss of life but the officers were fantastic in my opinion of how they tried to handle the situation."
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.