Cop cleared in shooting death of Sonora man

By Dale Quinn

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A Tucson police officer who shot and killed an illegal entrant during a violent scuffle was justified in using deadly force, according to the findings of a Police Department board of inquiry.

Officer Douglas Dreher's actions on Nov. 24, when he shot a man who'd attacked him with his own baton, were found to be within department policy, according to a summary of the incident obtained by the Arizona Daily Star on Friday.

Francisco Javier Yanez-Burruel, 35, of Magdalena, Sonora, was shot several times, according to Star archives.

Dreher was driving his patrol car west on Irvington Road near Interstate 19 when he ran the license plate of a white 1998 Ford Windstar van driven by Yanez-Burruel and realized the vehicle's registration had a mandatory insurance suspension, the board of inquiry's incident summary says.

Dreher stopped the minivan at a Circle K, and neither Yanez-Burruel nor his passenger had any identification. Dreher could find no record of either man in his car's computer, and he notified the U.S. Border Patrol, suspecting the men might be in the United States illegally, according to the summary.

At that point both men got out of the vehicle and began to run away. Dreher caught up with Yanez-Burruel, who refused to surrender, the summary says.

The two exchanged blows, and Dreher eventually got Yanez-Burruel in a headlock, at which point the officer could feel tugging at his duty belt and gun, according to the summary.

Dreher secured his firearm, but Yanez-Burruel grabbed his expandable baton and opened it up. The summary says Yanez-Burruel refused to surrender and was confronting Dreher with the baton in a "threatening manner."

When Yanez-Burruel advanced toward Dreher, the officer fired three times, striking Yanez-Burruel in the chest.