Police shoot innocent man for holding a gun, after arriving at wrong home

Police shot and killed an innocent man just because the homeowner was holding a gun when he opened his front door. Police were responding to a call but had arrived at the wrong address.

Robert Dotson, 52, did not know it was police at the door when they came to his house shortly before midnight, in response to a domestic violence call. But it was the wrong house.

While police were in front of the home arguing about whether they had the correct address, the homeowner opened his front door. Three police officers opened fire on Dotson.

It seems that Dotson had no indication that the men outside his home were police officers.

The address of the house was 5305 Valley View Ave. It happened in Farmington, New Mexico, on April 5, 2023.

The correct house, which police were supposed to respond was 5308 Valley View, across the street on the left, and was actually pointed out that night by police officer Dylon Goodluck, in a video captured by the family's Ring doorbell camera.

The officer who led the other two officers through the gate and to Dotson's front door, was identified as Waylon Wasson.

Dotson family expresses anger, calls for police reform in Farmington, by Debra Mayeux, Tri-City Record, The Durango Herald, Friday, April 21, 2023

The authorities have decided it was an accident and that no one was criminally at fault.

Just imagine if a private citizen shot a police officer just because that officer was holding a gun! We all know that private citizen would almost certainly end up being criminally charged with murder.
So there are some clear double standards.

However, I do feel sympathy for those police officers. They are not "murderers" in my opinion.
They responded to what they thought could be a domestic violence situation and assumed a violent angry suspect might have been waiting for them, perhaps willing to shoot responding police officers before they could arrest him. Officers often do not have the luxury of time to think, they have to immediately respond to possible threats.
Holding a gun when police respond to possible crime situation can often result in that person being shot.

New Mexico will not charge police officers who fatally shot man at wrong address, Mike Easterling, USA Today Network, January 31, 2024

The New Mexico Department of Justice won't file charges against three police officers who arrived at the wrong house while responding to a domestic violence call and fatally shot the homeowner.
Greer Staley, New Mexico’s deputy attorney general for criminal affairs, said in a letter to San Juan County District Attorney Rick Tedrow that the investigation and review found that, despite approaching the wrong house, the three Farmington Police Department officers acted appropriately in the April shooting.

The findings also were based on a report provided by Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and tenured law professor at the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law. Stoughton’s report indicates he found the three Farmington officers did not use excessive force in their shooting of Robert Dotson or when they returned fire at Kimberly Dotson. He found that even though the officers approached the wrong home, their actions did not “foreseeably create an unnecessary dangerous situation,” according to the letter.

The family of Robert Dotson is not happy.
"This horrific night that happened was like a horrible nightmare. This gross act of not being at the right address has taken everything from me. We cannot figure out how to breathe," said Kimberly Dotson, Robert Dotson's wife. She said her husband was trying to protect her and their children. "You were ambushed by a firing squad."

"Robbie never had a chance. He was never told they were there. He didn't know it was law enforcement. "There is no way, shape, or form Robbie would've come to the door with a gun knowing they were law enforcement out there. He simply didn't know."
​

We can all debate about how to prevent tragic situations like this from happening again, but I doubt anyone has clear answers.

 

it's a danger of owning a gun... getting shot by a good guy with a gun that fears you having a gun

 

Hmm-some nutcase claims Trump "raped her" years ago and he calls her a liar and she gets 83 million

what should the estate of this man get-10 billion if we use the Trump verdict as a barometer?

 

the employing agency needs to be held liable for this even if the officers are not going to be criminally charged.

 

Well look at the bright side, evidently the homeowner was not a minority so the city was spared the ensuing riots that usually happen in such a case.

 

yep, innocent white man with a gun shot by a cop.... just another danger of owning a gun while white

 

and if the people outside his door were a gang of BLM rioters or worse, home invaders?

 

I will predict that the same people who find fault in cops shooting black criminals will be gleeful over the death of this innocent homeowner

 

Sub-standard cops is the result of the defund agenda.

 

They already have...lol

 

This was caused by incompetence. There is no justification for what happened.

 

incompetence is not a crime when it's the cops that are doing the killing it seems

 

not a crime but it should justify a massive civil verdict

 

Hmm, cops got the wrong address despite one of them directing them to the correct address? Not smart. The guy opened the door at midnight without finding out who was outside? Not smart. The cops opening fire without issuing a warning? Not smart.
Lots of stupids so someone gets killed.

 

I agree-if I feel a need to have a gun ready for use, I am certainly not going to openly expose myself to hostile fire. -and if the cops shot without issuing a warning, there should be charges

 

one paid for it with his life, the others paid for it by prison.... oh wait....

 

do you think the LE Agency should be hit with a massive civil verdict? I do
or are you going to argue for gun bans?

 

You're correct. I'm certainly glad other people, including those surrounding me in public places, and including those who work in law enforcement, are brave and willing to take the personal risks to themselves. Something that ultimately ends up protecting people like you and me.

 

Merely seeing someone with a gun is not an excuse to open fire with your own. Unless you're a cop, apparently...

 

Many years ago I speculated that there must be some sort of "proper etiquette" for handling these sorts of complex situations. Something analogous to Robert's Rules of Order for parliamentary procedure. So far it seems no one has invented it yet or published the rule book. About who has priority to hold a gun, and when it okay to shoot others for holding a gun.

When people with guns storm onto other people's property unannounced, there are always sometimes going to be accidents, however.

 

That's what juries are for. The problem as it relates to LE is that when a jury is presented with the fact that cops are trained to fire when they see a gun, tend to not convinct, even when they likely would convict if it were a non-LE civilian who had shot someone in the same situation. This creates a tendency for prosecutors to not even bother taking it to trial, legal resources being limited and all. And to be fair, its reasonable to not send someone to prison for following their training. The real problem is- what to do about the bureaucrats who decide its a good idea to train cops to kill at the mere sight of a gun before determining whether its owner is bent on murder or not (or whether its even really a gun or not)? You'd think if murder is illegal, then training people to murder by instinctual reaction in the normal course of their job would also be illegal. But its not, thats just called governing

 

you have a right to bear arms, but bearing them in front of a cop (even on your own property) could be a death sentence

heck, remember a woman was in her house and a cop shot her through a window, I do think he got in trouble though

edit : found other case

"Ex-Fort Worth cop sentenced to nearly 12 years for manslaughter of Atatiana Jefferson"

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/12/20/aaron-dean-fort-worth-cop-atatiana-jefferson-killing/

 

yep, 100% agree, why I do not own a gun... but I do feel safer knowing others do and no one knows if I do or not

and as I won't ever have a gun around a cop, less chance of a cop shooting me

 

I did not say it was an excuse, I say it's one of the dangers of owning a gun one has to keep in mind

agree, dead is dead, regardless if the cop\good guy with a gun gets away with killing you or not

 

Juries are not always logical, not any more than average individuals in society. They rely on feelings and intuition, especially in difficult situations like this that do not necessarily have any clear established answers.

That's sort of like conceding that we, as a society, have not made up our minds about how these sorts of situations should be handled, but hopefully a group of randomly selected people will try to make some sense of it and sort it out.