State Attorney's Office will not prosecute Lake deputy in May shooting of unarmed man

TAVARES — The 5th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office will not prosecute a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy who can be seen in body cam footage shooting and wounding an unarmed man in May.

The announcement by Chief Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie came Tuesday regarding the shooting of Daniel Sayre, a 49-year-old mentally ill convicted felon, who was shot in a heavily wooded area of DeLand.

In a sworn statement, the deputy who shot Sayre said he lost his balance in the pursuit and accidentally fired as he was falling.

"I have no recollection of forming any intent to pull the trigger," Brian Schneider wrote in his statement.

In his report, Forgie explained why the shooting did not meet the statutory requirements for prosecution, but advised that the LCSO may need to review some of its policies.

Forgie made the decision after reviewing an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The first report: FDLE investigating deputy-involved shooting in Lake County

More information comes out: New report, paired with footage, shed more light on Lake County Deputy-involved shooting

'He’s mentally ill': Woman wonders why brother was shot, critically injured by Lake deputy

What happened on May 2

Schneider was among a handful of deputies who responded to 1:12 p.m. calls from multiple people on May 2 about an armed man spooking horses in a pasture.

“I saw a man holding a rifle or a shotgun,” property owner Gwendolyn Granade told the Daily Commercial shortly after the incident.

She said she heard a deputy shout, “Show me your hands,” and then a single shot.

It was Schneider who was calling out the orders.

“After initially ignoring the commands, Sayre stopped and sat up on his knees turned away from Deputy Schneider (still ignoring the repeated commands to lie on his belly),” the prosecutor’s report said. “Approximately six seconds after sitting, Sayre swatted his hand at Deputy Schneider’s firearm as if he were going to push it away or try to grab it from him.”

Twenty seconds later, Sayre was on his feet again, despite Schneider telling him to “stop moving.”

The video appeared to show Sayre jerking suddenly to try and get away, and then he was shot.

“While officers attended to his injuries, it was determined that Sayre was not armed at the time of the incident. Sayre had dropped or discarded his gun in a wooded area across the street from the shooting scene, where it was later recovered by law enforcement,” the report stated.

Schneider later provided the following sworn statement to investigators:

“At one point he reached back with his hand and swiped and hit the barrel of my rifle. For a few seconds the suspect stopped moving. The other deputy who was approaching to back me up called out asking my location; at that moment the suspect got up in an attempt to flee. When he got up, I lost my balance when his ankle was no longer under my foot, and I attempted to regain my balance and get my rifle re-aimed at the suspect. During this split-second action, while my finger was on the trigger and I was losing my balance, a shot was fired that struck the suspect as I was falling down onto my right knee. I have no recollection of forming any intent to pull the trigger.”

'Enough is enough'

Sayre was airlifted to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford where he underwent surgery on his stomach, colon and small intestine.

His sister, Elizabeth Turner, was furious. She was on her way to pick him up after he called her. Turner told deputies that he had been in an ambulance earlier in the day, a clear indicator that something was amiss, she said. The report quoted her as saying that “he was out of his mind.”

Turner told the Daily Commercial that he is bipolar. The report quotes her as telling deputies that he is schizophrenic.

“People with mental illnesses are constantly shot by police,” Turner told the Daily Commercial after the shooting. “Enough is enough.”

Sayre told rescue workers that he had taken methamphetamine before the incident, the prosecutor noted.

“Sayre has 12 prior criminal convictions, including multiple felonies, two prior violent crimes, and two drug-related offenses," the report stated.

“It’s been 20 years,” Turner told the Daily Commercial, referring to an aggravated battery charge that led to a one-year prison sentence.

Law enforcement and the mentally ill: 911 operators need more training to handle mental health crisis calls. Here's why it matters.

Ryan LeRoux: Intersection of mental health, police and race takes the life of another young Black man

LCSO policy comes into question

Key to the prosecutor’s decision not to pursue charges against the deputy is the fact that to prove aggravated battery with a firearm, “the state must prove the suspect intentionally or knowingly caused bodily harm to an individual and in doing so used a firearm," the report said.

"In this incident, there is no evidence to support the statutory elements…" the report continues. "The video evidence and sworn statement of Deputy Schneider substantiate the fact that Deputy lost his balance at the time the single round was fired and there was no intent to discharge his weapon.”

Nor did his actions meet the requirements to charge him with culpable negligence, Forgie noted. That law demands proof of “reckless indifference or grossly careless disregard of the safety of others.”

The report did add, however, “there are policy matters that will need to be considered by LCSO,” but did not specify what those matters are.

“I have not attempted to review this matter for compliance with Lake County Sheriff’s Office policy or good police practices," Forgie wrote. "Such review is properly left to the sheriff.”

LCSO Lt. John Herrell would not go into specifics, but said the department will conduct an internal affairs investigation, including a review of training and policies.

Forgie ended his findings by stating that his office will take no further action, except to prosecute Sayre for possession of a firearm by a felon, armed trespassing and resisting without violence.

“Were it not for Sayre’s unlawful actions preceding the shooting, he would not have been shot,” the report said.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: State Attorney: Florida deputy didn't intend to shoot unarmed man, won't be prosecuted