A veteran Fargo police officer, on the brink of losing his job, took his own life last week after one small mistake led to another, and another and another.
It all started with an accidental Taser discharge inside police headquarters.
It ended on March 11, when Lt. Jeff Skuza – a 23-year veteran of the force and father of two – shot himself in the head in a cemetery just south of town.
According to the internal affairs investigation the department completed this week, Skuza, 47, was working the night shift on Valentine's Day when he decided to do a routine check of his weapon. But he forgot to remove the cartridge first and the Taser discharged into a clearing barrel with a "pop" loud enough to be heard elsewhere in the building.
Instead of reporting a wrist-slap of a safety violation, Skuza gathered up the spent cartridge and wires and cleaned up the scene, hoping no one would notice. When another officer found the discharged Taser probes and began asking questions, Skuza launched into a series of evasions and lies that led to the entire night shift being questioned. He kept up his denials, while assisting in the investigation, for almost two days before admitting what happened.
The episode bewildered his colleagues, who knew Skuza as an exemplary officer with an unblemished service record.
"I was disappointed when the interview reflected his immediate reaction was to cover up his (minor) mistake instead of doing the right thing and reporting it immediately. It then escalated as deception after deception occurred in his interactions with staff," Fargo Police Chief Keith Ternes wrote on March 10, in a letter recommending Skuza's termination.
Skuza had lost the trust of his colleagues and his credibility as a law enforcement official. The incident would open the door for defense attorneys to question his actions at every crime scene, the department concluded.
