Harford County Sheriff lashes out at Maryland AG's investigative team following release of report
BALTIMORE -- Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler on Friday lashed out at a report compiled by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General's Independent Investigation Division following a shooting involving his deputies that left a man dead.
By law, the Office of Attorney General is tasked with investigating the "police-involved death of a civilian."
The IID made public its 48-page report on Monday, describing in it how Sheriff's deputies Sgt. Bradford Sives and Cpl. Christopher Maddox shot at, and eventually killed, 53-year-old John Fauver at a shopping center on Rock Spring Road in Forest Hill, Maryland.
Deputies were handling a call about a suicidal person with access to firearms about 4 p.m. on April 23, 2022. That's where they found Fauver, who was ordered out of his pickup at gunpoint, the IID said.
Fauver exited his truck and began to communicate with deputies. The IID report shows that Fauver shouted at them: Get your snipers, boys. I'm ready. You ready?
At one point, as tension ratcheted up over whether or not Fauver had a gun in his possession, he pulled a medical walking cane out of his truck and pointed it at deputies, according to the report.
Body-worn camera footage shows that the officers shot at Fauver following that action.
Only the shots from Sives' gun struck Fauver, who fell to the ground, according to the report.
Attorney Cary Hansel, who represents Fauver's family, called the shooting a "clear failure" of training on the part of the Sheriff's Office, saying deputies did not use a "less lethal" option.
Gahler released a 10-minute-long statement on the Harford County Sheriff's Facebook page detailing his disdain for how the report was compiled.
He listed several concerns and issues that he had with the report's quality and accuracy, which he said "calls into question the IID's ability and independent, transparent, or accurate and unbiased investigation that the public can trust."
Maryland Office of the Attorney General spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said in response to Gahler's grievances that the IID's investigative process had been conducted "with great care."
"The Office of the Attorney General treats the authority granted to us by the Maryland General Assembly with great care, integrity and professionalism," Donelan said in a statement issued on Saturday afternoon. "We have been entrusted by the people of the State to remain steadfast in that commitment."
Among the issues that garnered his ire was the varying depiction of the two deputies involved in the shooting.
"Also, very telling and troubling is the fact that each deputy in this investigation is looked at in a different manner at the time of the fatal shooting," he said.
Gahler said the report's description of the two deputies was different enough that it led the "uninformed reader to question" the actions of one of them.
"The purpose in the less specific description is clear: to bias or mislead the reader," he said.
Gahler had previously criticized the Attorney General's Office for releasing "selectively chosen" video, saying deputies recovered two rifles and a shotgun from Fauver's vehicle.
Additionally, Gahler took issue with how the IID report included all the personal details of Fauver's life but left out his criminal history.
"Most egregious—and certainly most unacceptable in this report—is the absolute lack of reference to the criminal actions that led up to this deadly encounter," he said.
Gahler blasted the IID for filling its report with what he described as "inaccuracies and assumptions" that were political in nature.
"It should not be too much to ask that a fair and honest as well as truly independent review of these types of incidents occur," he said. "Sadly, for every police officer in our state, it does not appear that this is what has emerged from the formation of the IID."
There has been tension between the Harford County Sheriff's Office and the Office of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General during the course of the investigation into the shooting.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office initially denied Maryland State Police technicians the ability to collect evidence, according to the report.
The report notes that the Harford County Sheriff's Office limited access to body-worn camera footage, allowing IID personnel to watch some of the camera footage in a mobile command center alongside county staff but not allowing them to have electronic copies of requested material.
Gahler appeared to defend the stance his office took toward the IID's investigation in his Facebook statement Friday.
"As I've said for nearly a year, it's the duty and function of local law enforcement to investigate potential crime or criminal acts that occur within the boundaries of our county and which are absolutely outside the purview of IID."
Donelan noted that a Harford County judge had previously ruled against the Gahler's grievances with IID's investigative process.
"The Sheriff had the ability to appeal that ruling but did not," she said.
