Deschutes County, Ore. – Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel reviews every case in which a member of a law enforcement agency uses deadly physical force against another person. Pursuant to this policy, Hummel is reviewing the incident that lead to the death of Michael Gaskill.
On August 25, 2016 at approximately 12:50 PM, Redmond Police were dispatched to the area of Canal Boulevard near the Redmond St. Charles Medical Center in response to reports of a person armed with a handgun who was allegedly pointing it at passing motorists. Four officers quickly arrived on scene. Each officer was in a separate patrol car.
One of the officers exited his car and approached the subject, who we now know was Michael Gaskill. During the incident, another officer struck Mr. Gaskill with his car. This incident was captured by police dash cameras. Mr. Gaskill was seriously injured by the car.
He was quickly taken inside the hospital for treatment, and then life flighted to St. Charles Hospital in Bend. Unfortunately, on August 27th Mr. Gaskill died from his injuries.
The incident is under investigation by the Tri-County Major Incident Team with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office as the lead investigating agency.
“In our system of justice, nothing is more serious than the taking of another person’s life,” said District Attorney Hummel. “I look forward to carefully reviewing the evidence in this case and ensuring that a just result occurs. Mr. Gaskill’s family, the officer who struck Mr. Gaskill with his car, and the public, deserve to know exactly what happened on this fateful day, and that’s what I’ll tell them.”
This investigation is expected to last two more weeks, and when it is completed, all the evidence, including videos, will be released to the public. On Friday, September 2, after the first phase of the investigation is completed, the names of the involved officers will be released.
