Mankato police acted reasonably when they shot and killed a man who was wielding a piece of cut glass, authorities have concluded.
After reviewing an investigation of the shooting, Blue Earth County Attorney Ross Arneson found no charges are warranted. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigated the shooting. Arneson said in a letter to the BCA that the three officers who responded to a burglary call acted reasonably in shooting Richard T. Vosburgh when their Tasers failed to control him.
Two young women came home on Dec. 30, 2007, to find Vosburgh, 26, who lived downstairs, naked and damaging property in their apartment. They locked themselves in a room and called 911. When police arrived, Vosburgh attacked the officers with a piece of broken glass and a metal pole. The officers were unable to control him physically or by firing a Taser stun gun and shot him to protect themselves and the two residents, Arneson said in his written opinion.
Vosburgh's family has said the police should have tried to help him because he suffers from manic bipolar mood swings and may have been using methamphetamine.
The three officers were treated for minor injuries at a Mankato hospital.
JIM ADAMS