Colorado deputy shot and killed unarmed man at point-blank range after struggle

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A Pueblo County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed an unarmed man outside of a middle school last year after contacting the man because he accidentally got into the wrong car in the school’s pick-up line, a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.

The deputy, Charles McWhorter, yanked 32-year-old Richard Ward from his mother’s car outside Liberty Point International Middle School in Pueblo West on Feb. 22, 2022, after Ward put something in his mouth while McWhorter spoke to him, according to body camera footage released by attorneys representing Ward’s family.

Ward and McWhorter briefly struggled on the ground before McWhorter shot Ward three times in the chest at point-blank range, the video shows.

Neither McWhorter nor another deputy on scene, Cassandra Gonzales, provided medical care to Ward as he lay bleeding on the ground, the footage shows. McWhorter didn’t give Ward orders before pulling him from the car and never gave a warning that he was going to use deadly force, the video shows.

Ward died on the ground outside the school as kids wearing backpacks walked past. The entire incident, from first contact to shots fired, lasted two minutes.

“Richard Ward’s death is a profound injustice — an unarmed, cooperative citizen shot and killed in front of his mother by a Pueblo County sheriff’s deputy,” said Darold Killmer, the Ward family’s attorney. “This was nothing short of state-sanctioned murder of a citizen who should not have been even arrested, let alone killed in broad daylight.”

Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner in October chose not to charge the deputies in connection to Ward’s death because he found they justifiably feared for their lives and acted reasonably. In interviews with investigators, McWhorter said Ward was grabbing his duty belt and he feared Ward would take his gun, according to the letter explaining Chostner’s decision.

But the encounter never should have escalated to the point of a physical struggle or deadly force, according to the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against Pueblo County and five sheriff’s officials. McWhorter “recklessly and deliberately initiated a wholly unnecessary and purposeless physical use of force against and struggle with Mr. Ward,” the lawsuit states.

Ward had not committed a crime and was answering the deputies’ questions when McWhorter took him to the ground, the lawsuit states.

“My heart is broken,” Ward’s mother, Kristy Ward Stamp, said in a statement. “I have no words to explain this to Richard’s little brother. Our family has been ripped apart.”

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