The Plymouth police officer who shot an unarmed 31-year-old man having a mental health crisis in an Arby's last summer won't be criminally charged, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday.
The decision comes almost 11 months after Officer Amy Therkelsen shot Derek Wolfsteller inside the Hwy. 55 restaurant after an altercation lasting fewer than 20 minutes.
According to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Wolfsteller didn't immediately follow Therkelsen's commands. The officer used a Taser twice before a fight broke out. Then Wolfsteller tried to take Therkelsen's gun, and she shot him.
He was one of 13 people in Minnesota to be killed by police in 2015, and one of nine to be killed who had a history of mental health issues or was having a mental health crisis, according to a Star Tribune review published this week.
The Star Tribune found that at least 45 percent of the people who have died in forceful encounters with law enforcement officers in Minnesota since 2000 had a history of mental illness or were in the throes of a mental health crisis.
The Plymouth case didn't go to a grand jury because of Freeman's new policy, announced in March, to have prosecutors decide instead whether to charge police shooting cases in order to improve accountability and transparency.
In a statement, Freeman called the episode "tragic" and expressed sympathy for the Wolfsteller family.
"However, Officer Therkelsen attempted to use non-deadly force against a man having a psychotic episode and it did not slow him," Freeman said. When the officer regained control of her gun, he said, "it was reasonable for her to conclude that she must shoot Mr. Wolfsteller in order to protect herself, the three employees and others in the restaurant."