West Palm officer who fatally shot Romen Phelps at Dreyfoos named 2022 Officer of the Year

WEST PALM BEACH — For his actions that ended with the death of Romen Phelps, Sgt. Christopher Nagel was deemed a hero.

The West Palm Beach police officer was cleared of all wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Phelps, an unarmed man who crashed his van into Dreyfoos School of the Arts in 2022. Nagel, who was not wearing a body camera, confronted Phelps on the theater stage and said Phelps tried to grab the officer's gun. Nagel shot him once in the chest.

Nagel’s identity, revealed this month in public records, was shielded for nearly two years in accordance with Marsy's Law, the 2018 state constitutional amendment meant to grant more rights to crime victims. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in December that no victim — police or otherwise — can mask their identity behind the law.

More: 3 Dreyfoos students who encountered Romen Phelps before shooting didn't feel threatened

According to his personnel file, Nagel began working for the West Palm Beach Police Department in 2007, the same year Phelps graduated from Dreyfoos. Employee records indicate that Nagel was investigated for six use-of-force incidents over the course of his 16-year career. Details about the incidents are sparse; two involved Tasers, and others involved his hands and feet.

Only one — the shooting of Romen Phelps — involved a firearm. All were deemed justified by the department.

Once described by a supervisor as taking on more "self-initiated activities" than other officers, an off-duty Nagel answered his colleagues' call for emergency backup at Dreyfoos on May 13, 2022. Phelps, 33, had crashed his van through a gate and walked farther onto campus despite a school police officer’s commands to stop.

Nagel met him on the theater stage, where witnesses said Phelps alternated between shouting profanities and singing Broadway musicals. Dreyfoos Principal Blake Bennett said she saw Phelps charge at Nagel with closed fists, taking both men to the ground.

The principal said she believed Nagel tried to handcuff Phelps, but Phelps overpowered him. Nagel shot him once in the chest.

A forensic analysis found Phelps’ DNA on the slide and base of Nagel's gun, according to investigators with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. Because Nagel was off-duty, he was not equipped with a three-point locking holster. He wore instead a standard Kydex holster, from which a firearm can be released with a firm tug.

Nagel was placed on paid leave from the West Palm Beach Police Department, where he earns $118,795 a year. He returned to duty in May after the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office found him blameless for the shooting.

"There can be no doubt that Nagel was in fear of great bodily harm or death at the moment he fired at Phelps," said State Attorney Dave Aronberg. "Further, it can be gleaned from the circumstances that Nagel was concerned for the safety of the children of the school."

Parents of Dreyfoos students hailed him as a hero, said a supervisor in Nagel's latest evaluation. The county Chiefs of Police association named him the "2022 Officer of the Year" for his actions at the school, and The Fund, a police fundraising nonprofit, gave him its namesake award at the 2023 West Palm Beach Police Awards.

Before becoming a police officer, Nagel said he worked for three years as a behavioral tech at Multilingual Psychotherapy Centers, a West Palm Beach business that provides mental health services. Phelps' friends and family have long said Phelps' deteriorating mental health precipitated the events of May 13, 2022.

Many questioned why Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center released him from the emergency room the night before, when Phelps appeared to be in the throes of a crisis. Records concerning that hospital visit mention a foreboding conversation Phelps had with two Palm Beach Gardens police officers who tried to calm him.

"Phelps asks the officer if he is going to blow his brains out. The officer replies no," one report reads. "The officer tells Phelps they are only attempting to help him. The backup officer promises Phelps no one is going to hurt him."

Nagel shot him the next day.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dreyfoos shooting: Officer who killed Romen Phelps identified