Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey released a letter Friday sent to Chief Jared Mills of the Augusta Police Department announcing the completion of his office’s investigation into a 2021 shooting of a suicidal man at an Augusta homeless shelter.
The shooting resulted in the death of 34-year-old Dustin Paradis of Augusta.
The incident in question occurred on the evening of Oct. 13, 2021, when a 9-1-1 caller reported an assault at the Bread of Life Homeless Shelter in Augusta and a person cutting his wrists with a knife.
Surveillance footage showed that prior to the 9-1-1 call, Paradis was in the kitchen area of the shelter with another man preparing their respective meals.
An argument ensued, and when a shelter employee came into the kitchen to mediate the dispute, Paradis brandished a knife that he had removed from a knife block.
The shelter employee told Paradis to put the knife down, which he did, and then told him that he needed to leave.
Paradis then picked up the bowl containing his meal, and threw it at the other man, injuring him and causing him to fall to the floor.
He then picked up a knife and began trying to slice his right arm in an ‘X’ shape, but when it appeared his attempts were ineffective, he grabbed a second knife from the block and began cutting up and down his arm.
Three nearby officers were dispatched to the shelter, while a second shelter employee tried to calm Paradis down.
Paradis told the shelter worker that “he wanted to die and that he was going to kill himself.”
He then proceeded to punch a hole in one cupboard door and kicked in another, and came close to the shelter worker with the knife, causing her to fear for her safety.
The worker left the kitchen and closed the door between the kitchen and the office, were shelter workers were tending to the injured man on the floor.
During that time, Paradis could be seen on surveillance footage pacing back and forth in the kitchen continuing to cut his arm.
Two responding officers, Sgt. Christopher Blodgett, Officer Sebastian Guptill, arrived at the shelter at the same time, and a third officer, Officer Gallagher, arrived at the shelter less than a minute later and stood behind the other two officers while they engaged Paradis.
Officer Guptill pushed open the door to the kitchen and saw Paradis facing them with a large chef’s knife in his hand.
Guptill described Paradis as “enraged,” and he and Sgt. Blodgett drew their handguns and gave repeated commands to Paradis to drop the knife.
Paradis repeatedly responded by telling the officers to shoot and kill him, and the officers continued to implore him to drop the knife.
Paradis then shouted “kill me (expletive)” and charged at the officers, at which point both Guptill and Blodgett shot him, who fell to the floor and died at the scene.
The Office of The Chief Medical Examiner later determined the cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds.
Under Maine law, for a law enforcement officer to use deadly force in self-defense or the defense of others, the officer must believe that unlawful deadly force in imminently threatened against the officer or another person, and, second, the officer must reasonably believe that the use of deadly force is necessary to defend the officer or other person.
A prosecution of the officers would require the state to disprove self-defense or the defense of others beyond a reasonable doubt.
“When Officer Guptill and Sgt. Blodgett shot Mr. Paradis, they reasonably believed that Mr. Paradis posed an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to themselves and others at the shelter,” AG Frey wrote in his July 31 letter.
“Mr. Paradis was highly agitated and ignored repeated commands to drop the knife. He urged the officers to kill him and then charged at them with the knife while the victim of his assault still lay bleeding at the officer’s feet,” he wrote.
“All the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Officer Guptill and Sgt. Blodgett were acting in self-defense and the defense of others at the time they used deadly force,” he concluded.
Attorney General Aaron Frey’s full July 31 letter to the Augusta Chief of Police can be seen below:
3 Comments
We give cops non-lethal weapons like tasers and pepper spray because they look cool with their tactical gear. We train them to negotiate with agitated and suicidal individuals because its a good use of their time and tax payer dollar$. I think we all agree though, thank god the guy wasnt black, or Augusta would be smoldering and cops would be kneeling….again.
Police Lives Matter. Good that we have police officers who come to our aid. I am glad this matter was settled and the police officers were recognized for having carried out their duty appropriately.
Honestly one of the weapons police should employ is a dart gun as Zoologists use to anesthetize animals.
Police can’t carry all weapons or defensive measures with them all the time, but it is a consideration suggested for their tool box.
The police have a very difficult job and they prevented this man from harming themselves or another innocent.
For those crying foul about the police, why weren’t you crying foul when this suicidal man began falling apart in his younger years to help prevent his demise?
The mental health system is non-existent, the only solution is for society to deal with it with sometimes extreme measures
All the politicians who receive free superlative health care should be scrutinized for their failing this man and many, many more like him.