No charges against officer in Washington police shooting

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A prosecutor says no charges will be brought against an Olympia, Washington, police officer who shot and injured two men he says repeatedly threatened him, including with a skateboard.

At a news conference Wednesday, Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said the officer had justification for using force. The suspects will face assault charges.

The May 21 shooting has been investigated by a team of detectives from several agencies.

Olympia Police Officer Ryan Donald has been on administrative leave since the shooting that injured Bryson Chaplin, 21, and Andre Thompson, 24.

"But for the hostile acts of Mr. Chaplin and Mr. Thompson, these shootings would not have occurred," Tunheim said.

The prosecutor said that statements from the two stepbrothers were incomplete, and that the officer "acted in good faith and without malice," reports CBS affiliate KIRO.

The men will appear in court Sept. 22.

The men's attorney has said Chaplin is currently paralyzed from the waist down. Donald, who is white, encountered the two men, stepbrothers who are both black, after being called in on a report of an attempt to steal beer from a grocery store by two men carrying skateboards.

The shooting set off a series of protests in Olympia, Washington's state capital.

Police officials have said race was not a factor.

Officer Donald was among those who responded to a 1 a.m. call from a Safeway store.

Officers split up to search for the men. Donald encountered two men with skateboards who fit witnesses' descriptions, and moments later, he radioed in that shots had been fired.

In radio calls released earlier this year by police, Donald calls dispatchers once he spots the men, and again to report that he fired shots, and that both of them were running.

He told dispatchers that one of the men "assaulted me with his skateboard."

According to a report obtained by KIRO, Donald told investigators that when he encountered the two men, Chaplin grabbed him and started trying to overpower him while Thompson came at him with a skateboard raised over his head.

"Basically he was holding me there so his friend could assault me with the skateboard," Donald said in the report. According to the station, Donald told investigators that's when he fired the first shots at Chaplin who ran away. He told investigators both men came back seconds later and that Thompson came at him.

"He was coming toward me again, I had no doubt in my mind that he was gonna try and hit me in the head with the skateboard." Donald said he fired and the 24-year-old Thompson went down.

Donald claimed the unarmed Chaplin then rushed toward him, angry that his stepbrother was wounded. The officer said said he fired again and this time Chaplin fell to the pavement. Both men were wounded but survived.

David Beninger, the attorney for the stepbrothers, said the two never attacked the officer and were instead trying to get away from him.