EVERETT — Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe has declined to file criminal charges against a sheriff’s deputy who shot a suicidal man last year near Monroe.
“It is very apparent that the deputy’s decision to use deadly force was completely justified under the circumstances,” Roe wrote Monday in a letter to investigators.
Deputy Dan Tenbrink, was called May 26 to the home of the man’s estranged wife along Tester Road. The woman had told emergency dispatchers that 62-year-old Millard Tallant was suicidal and had a gun.
The deputy, 31, found Tallant walking in the dark. Tallant’s car was stuck in an irrigation ditch. The deputy put his spotlight on Tallant, who reportedly said his gun was in his pocket, and asked “what are you going to do about it?,” Roe wrote.
Tallant allegedly began walking toward Tenbrink, ignoring commands to stop and drop the black .380 pistol.
He then “set his feet in a shooter’s stance and pointed the gun directly at the deputy,” Roe wrote. Tenbrink fired three shots. Tallant was struck in the chest and fell to the ground.
At that point, Tallant pointed his own gun to his head and pulled the trigger, investigators determined.
An autopsy found that the gunshot wounds to the chest or head would have been fatal.
Tallant had faced financial problems in recent years and was going through a divorce. He was depressed and without work. Despite his struggles, Tallant was well-loved by his family, Roe wrote.
Roe doesn’t believe Tallant intended to harm Tenbrink, he wrote. Tallant never fired the gun at the deputy but likely acted in a way he knew would bring about his own death, Roe found.
Those actions would “force the deputy to defend himself, even though the last thing an officer ever wants to do is shoot someone,” Roe said.
Tenbrink was put on leave after the shooting and returned to patrol on June 14. Records show that just seven months later, he found himself facing another man who apparently wanted to die. That incident ended without bloodshed.
In January, Tenbrink was called to a Lynnwood-area apartment where a man brandished a knife toward deputies and yelled, “Shoot me!,” according to a police report.
Another deputy shocked the man with a stun gun and Tenbrink tackled and handcuffed him. The police report described the man, who was accused of assaulting his girlfriend, as trying to “commit suicide by cop.”
He “stated that he wanted to die and wanted us to shoot him,” the report says. “(The man) stated that he wished we had just shot him.” Instead, he was hospitalized and booked.
In the Tester Road case, Roe met with detectives and Tallant’s family before making his decision. He reviews every case in the county where police use fatal force. Those investigations are done by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, with homicide detectives drawn from throughout the county.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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