The suspect of a Covington bank robbery had attempted to rob the bank with a can of gasoline and a fake handgun before he was shot by officers, Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Rob Sanders, announced during a press conference Monday. The officers who shot the suspect will not be criminally charged.
Sanders said during the press conference that his office would not file criminal charges against the two Covington police officers, Specialist Wade Webster and Officer Phouthakone “H.P.” Homphotichak, who shot the robbery suspect, Charles Davis, on Feb. 28 after he attempted to rob the U.S. Bank branch on the 600 block of Madison Avenue in Covington.
“The law requires us to look at the situation from the standpoint of the officers, what they knew and what they were dealing with at the time,” Sanders said at the press conference. “And in essence, what Kentucky law says is that anyone in Kentucky is justified in the use of deadly force if they reasonably believe, from what they knew at the time, that the use of deadly force was required to repel someone using deadly force on them.”
Webster and Homphotichak shot Davis multiple times after encountering him in an alley near the bank branch. He was later transported to UC Medical Center for treatment. After a few days, he was released and arrested by the FBI, who charged him with bank robbery. He is currently being held at the Campbell County Detention Center.
Sanders played footage from both Webster’s body camera and a Ring camera mounted on the alley wall, which showed the events of the officers’ encounter with Davis, at the press conference. Homphotichak didn’t properly activate his body camera, but he is visible in the footage.
Kenton County Dispatch received multiple calls around 3 p.m. on Feb. 28 of a Black male attempting to rob the bank with what appeared to be handgun and a canister of gasoline. Dispatchers in Webster’s body cam footage state that Davis had tried to light up the canister inside the bank. About six officers responded to the call, including a K9 unit, but it was Webster and Homphotichak who located Davis in the alley. Body cam footage shows Webster finding Davis shortly after leaving his car. Davis was standing in the alleyway with his hands down. Dollar bills were scattered around on the pavement.
The officers shouted for Davis to get on the ground and raise his hands multiple times. Davis didn’t raise his hands, but camera footage shows him slowly reaching into his right jacket pocket, which was facing away from the officers. More dollar bills fell from his pocket as he did so. Webster warned Davis to “stop reaching! I will shoot you!”
Davis did not aggressively brandish what was in his pocket at first, but Homphotichak said that he could see Davis’ right hand before finally shouting, “He got a gun!”
Webster opened fire first, shooting Davis multiple times. At this point, what appears to be a hand gun is discernible in the camera footage. After the initial shots, Davis sits up and reaches for the weapon, which had fallen from his hand. Webster shot him again before Davis rolled around and aimed the weapon at Webster while still on the ground. Homphotichak then shot him once.
The officers moved in to try and restrain Davis, who was still brandishing the weapon. Homphotichak put his foot on Davis. During the struggle, Davis moves the weapon in Homphotichak’s direction. Homphotichak then shot him again, effectively ending the struggle. Other officers appeared in the frame, and the group began to apply medical treatment on Davis.
Upon further inspection, it was revealed that Davis’ gun was fake, a toy wrapped in dark blue tape.
“In this case, the gun that Mr. Davis possessed wasn’t actually a gun,” Sanders admitted at the press conference. “This is some kind of toy gun or Nerf gun that, as you can see in the pictures, has been modified with a dark color tape in order to cover up any indication that would have let the officers know that the suspect was actually brandishing only a toy gun.”
Sanders argued that even though Davis was not, in fact, armed with a true firearm, the officers didn’t know that and believed that Davis had been truly armed based on what they’d been told. Moreover, he argued, the toy resembled a gun enough that there was no way the officers could have known it was fake at that moment. As a result, under Kentucky law, they were justified in the use of force and would not be charged.
“The gun that he was holding, albeit a toy, looked very real to the officers,” Sanders said. “I’ve got to say that if I was ever faced with someone pointing a gun at me, like officer Webster was having a gun pointed at him, they could count on me firing back at them as well.
“What this means is that we are declining to proceed with any criminal charges. There’s no probable cause to believe that any criminal offenses were committed by the officers. The case will not be presented to the grand jury because prosecutors are ethically barred from any further proceedings if any prosecutor doesn’t believe that there’s probable cause that a criminal offense was committed.”
Sanders could not speak to Davis’ motivations. The gas canister alleged in the dispatch calls was not recovered by local authorities; Sanders guessed it had been taken in by the FBI. FBI representatives did not attend the press conference. Davis had prior arrests for burglary, receiving stolen property, fraud and manslaughter in Alabama. The case has now been completely turned over to the FBI, who has charged Davis with bank robbery.
You can read Sanders’ full legal brief, laying out his arguments against charging the officers here.