CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Experts on police shootings say providing a detailed account of what happened in such cases such as the shooting deaths of Brian Good and Charleston Patrolman Jerry Jones shows the community that the department is learning lessons from the past.

Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford and Prosecutor Mark Plants say that they're satisfied that Charleston police acted properly when they shot and killed Good. They say that Jones' death was accidental.

But they have yet to reveal the detailed sequence of events that led to the shooting or which officers fired the shots that killed Good and Jones.

"And if you don't, the public has no way to know if that's what's being done. It also helps educate the public in how difficult these things are," said Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review. The review board is a civilian oversight board for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, the largest sheriff's department and the seventh-largest law enforcement agency in the country.

Patrolman Christopher Burford, a 20-month veteran of the force; Patrolman Owen Morris, a two-year veteran of the force; and Jones fired shots at Good, according to sources close to the investigation. Several other officers were on the scene either at the time or shortly afterward.

Disclosure

There are two reasons why progressive police departments let the citizens they protect look inside an investigation of this type when it's over, Gennaco said.

"One, whether there was wrongdoing or not, people ought to know what happened," he said. "Second, every officer-involved shooting should be used as a teaching moment.

"Good, bad or indifferent, it should be pulled apart from the prism of decision-making so they can learn from the incident to keep it from happening in the future."

Police benefit by letting citizens know that the department is learning lessons from the past, Gennaco said.

"I'm not sure what the harm is in not getting at that point. It should be taken advantage of, whether it's a change in equipment, individual accountability and discipline, a refocus on training," he said.

Protecting the name of an officer who accidentally shot someone is not reason enough to withhold details of the investigation from the public, said Jon Shane, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who spent 20 years as a police officer in Newark, N.J.

"I'm not going to show my hand [in an investigation] when going up against a bad guy, and I don't think the press or public expect that," he said. "But if an investigation is essentially closed, what is the public safety need?"

Officers who've accidentally shot their colleagues aren't always identified, he said.

"I'd say four or five years ago, they routinely [released the names of officers who shot other officers]," he said. "I think there's been a retrenchment on that.

"I think the more fundamental question is one of oversight and training," he said. "I think citizens are more interested in ... a complete accounting of what happened. I think that it is more important, to tell the story of what happened."

Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford and Prosecutor Mark Plants say that they're satisfied that Charleston police acted properly when they shot and killed Good. They say that Jones' death was accidental.

But they have yet to reveal the detailed sequence of events that led to the shooting or which officers fired the shots that killed Good and Jones.

"And if you don't, the public has no way to know if that's what's being done. It also helps educate the public in how difficult these things are," said Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review. The review board is a civilian oversight board for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, the largest sheriff's department and the seventh-largest law enforcement agency in the country.

Patrolman Christopher Burford, a 20-month veteran of the force; Patrolman Owen Morris, a two-year veteran of the force; and Jones fired shots at Good, according to sources close to the investigation. Several other officers were on the scene either at the time or shortly afterward.

Disclosure

There are two reasons why progressive police departments let the citizens they protect look inside an investigation of this type when it's over, Gennaco said.

"One, whether there was wrongdoing or not, people ought to know what happened," he said. "Second, every officer-involved shooting should be used as a teaching moment.

"Good, bad or indifferent, it should be pulled apart from the prism of decision-making so they can learn from the incident to keep it from happening in the future."

Police benefit by letting citizens know that the department is learning lessons from the past, Gennaco said.

"I'm not sure what the harm is in not getting at that point. It should be taken advantage of, whether it's a change in equipment, individual accountability and discipline, a refocus on training," he said.

Protecting the name of an officer who accidentally shot someone is not reason enough to withhold details of the investigation from the public, said Jon Shane, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who spent 20 years as a police officer in Newark, N.J.

"I'm not going to show my hand [in an investigation] when going up against a bad guy, and I don't think the press or public expect that," he said. "But if an investigation is essentially closed, what is the public safety need?"

Officers who've accidentally shot their colleagues aren't always identified, he said.

"I'd say four or five years ago, they routinely [released the names of officers who shot other officers]," he said. "I think there's been a retrenchment on that.

"I think the more fundamental question is one of oversight and training," he said. "I think citizens are more interested in ... a complete accounting of what happened. I think that it is more important, to tell the story of what happened."

Tactics

Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster said Tuesday that his department will review the incident internally, once all of the evidence is available. Ballistics and autopsy results are not complete yet, he said.

Plants and Rutherford could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Webster said he was open to releasing details from the internal review to the public.

"We would be open to maybe going over the information but as to releasing the report as a whole, I don't know," he said.

Shane said in situations where one officer has accidentally killed another, the head of a department is likely concerned that releasing information calls into question the tactical procedures used by officers on the scene.

"And he doesn't want to have to face that and potentially have to defend that the officers were poorly positioned, that they shouldn't have been out of the car, that they put themselves at a tactical disadvantage and then the only recourse is to fire," he said.

According to the Charleston Police Department's policy manual, officers are allowed to use deadly force "in defense of him/herself or others from an objectively reasonable belief of an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury."

The manual says deadly force is also authorized in "preventing the escape of a fleeing felon whom the officer has an objectively reasonable belief poses an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."

According to the sequence of events so far provided by the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, at about 1:05 a.m. on Sept. 13, Good pulled into a gravel road on Quick Road, followed by Jones. Another police vehicle pulled in front of Good, who rammed the front of his truck into that vehicle and continued spinning his wheels.

A third police vehicle pulled up in front of Good, preventing him from continuing to push forward. The officer in the second vehicle got out, between the two police vehicles in front of Good.

Soon after, police fired about 16 shots at Good, striking him seven times. One shot hit and killed Jones, according to police.

Webster said he knows that all the information from the sheriff's department's investigation will be released eventually. He said he's confident no one will find fault with the tactics used by his officers.

"No one is trying to diminish the heroism of the officer that was killed or the rest of the team members that risked there life," Shane said. "What is called into question is the tactical decision. ... What's clear cut is that tactics eventually translate into actions out on the street."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.