The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said deputies were not aware the victim of a fatal police shooting was deaf when they confronted him in a motel bathroom earlier this month.
Body-worn camera footage, however, shows deputies struggled to communicate with Gregory Kase before they shot and killed him at the Super 8 motel in Henrietta on Aug. 9.
"I can't hear you," Kase, 62, said twice.
Bonnie Kase, in a notice of claim filed with the county this week, said she told a 911 operator her husband was suicidal, in crisis and profoundly deaf. The latter detail was apparently not relayed to responding deputies, a dispatch recording showed. Deputies later found Kase with a boxcutter attempting to harm himself.
The family's attorney, Elliot Shields, said a recording
of the 911 call will reveal if there was a communication breakdown between dispatchers and deputies ― but said Kase was not a threat and maintained police were ill-equipped to respond to the crisis.
"What you see on the body camera is simply escalation," Shields said. "This man was already in mental distress. He had gone there intending to end his life. And what do you see in the video? They're yelling at him and pointing guns at him. ... They went in there expecting a confrontation."
During a news conference to release the body-worn camera footage Aug. 20, Deputy Chief Michael Fowler called the shooting a "tragically, horrific incident" but defended his deputies, saying they had "no choice" but to respond to the call.
"Mr. Kase made a choice," Fowler said. "His actions dictated how this incident ended. He had repeated opportunities to put the knife down or stay in the bathroom."
The county's crisis response team was not dispatched to the call. Fowler said department policy requires deputies to respond first and then request backup if and when the scene is safe enough.
Sheriff's office releases video of Super 8 motel fatal police shooting
The body-worn camera footage starts with a motel worker telling two deputies Kase is inside the bathroom of his rented room with a knife.
One deputy, with his gun drawn, kicks open the room door and calls out Kase's name three times before he responds.
"I'm right here," he says from the bathroom. The man is lying in the bathtub, hidden behind a partially cracked door. The deputy tells Kase to drop his knife twice. Both times, the man responds, "What?"
"I can't hear you," he says.
A few seconds later, Kase leaves the bathtub and, naked and leaning on a counter for support, takes a few steps toward the deputies with a boxcutter in his right hand. Both deputies fire their department-issued handguns, killing him.
The entire interaction lasted about 30 seconds.
The sheriff's office identified the involved deputies Thursday as Christopher Piper and Nichole Gorman. Both have been placed on administrative leave pending investigations by the sheriff's office and the state attorney general.
— Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on immigration, police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Instagram @bykaylacanne. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: 'I can't hear you' | Body-cam footage shows shooting of Gregory Kase
