Rochester, Minnesota: A Rochester officer involved shooting on the night of March 11th left a 47-year-old man dead after he seized an officer’s holstered firearm during a struggle, causing it to discharge, before a second officer fired five shots in response. Body camera footage released by the Rochester Police Department appears to confirm the sequence of events as described by authorities.
Rochester Police officers and a Crisis Response Team social worker were dispatched to an apartment on the 1900 block of Ashland Drive Northwest at approximately 9:30 p.m. following a report of a man experiencing a mental health crisis. According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is leading the investigation, an adult female and six children were present in the apartment.
Officers and the social worker spoke at length with the man, later identified as Cleavon White, 47, of Rochester. Officers and the social worker determined White was acting erratically and paranoid and concluded he posed a threat to himself and others, according to the BCA. The decision was made to place White on a 72-hour emergency mental health hold and transport him to the hospital. White refused.
The Struggle and the Shooting
Officers, including Officer Josiah Duit, Officer Levi Wilkin, and Officer Emily Dunford, attempted to take White into custody. A struggle ensued and the suspect grabbed Officer Wilkin’s holstered firearm with his left hand during the confrontation and pulled the trigger. The gun, which remained in the holster throughout, discharged a single round. BCA search warrants confirm investigators recovered a fired projectile from the kitchen cabinet kickboard, consistent with the trajectory seen in body camera footage.
The body camera footage released on March 25 by Rochester PD shows approximately three minutes leading up to the fatal shots. By that point in the footage, officers had been on scene for more than an hour. The video shows officers attempting to speak calmly with White, who appears distressed, before the situation deteriorates into a physical confrontation. The footage appears to corroborate the BCA’s account, according to reporting by the Post Bulletin.
Field Lessons are offered strictly as general, industry-standard reminders drawn from common safety practices and typical policy considerations. They are not based on any inside knowledge of this specific incident, do not presume what actions were taken, and should not be interpreted as commentary on the decisions made at the scene.
- Mental health calls are among the most unpredictable and dangerous calls officers respond to. A person in a state of acute psychiatric crisis can transition from passive resistance to violent action with little warning. Officers should approach every mental health call with their threat awareness fully activated, not dialed back based on the apparent calm of the initial contact.
- While the call may not have started with an arrestable offense, the suspect’s behavior aligns with our research indicating that violence was imminent. Specifically, arguing along with the loud verbal declaration are sentinel behavioral cues that officers must take seriously and that require them to reassess their positioning and approach.
Dr. Travis Yates has pioneered a behavioral risk framework to help officers and leaders identify, assess, and articulate risk in rapidly evolving, uncertain situations. Find out more about the FOCUS Behavioral Risk Framework.
