New information about Oregon State Police Superintendent Casey Codding’s 2012 killing of an 18-year-old near Yachats has been made public by records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
In his 27-year tenure with the state police, Codding has been involved in three deadly shootings.
Although he didn’t hit the man who had a one-year-old in the car, Codding recently made news for pursuing and shooting at a double murder suspect in April along Interstate 5 in Linn County. The suspect wrecked further down the expressway and died shortly after from a self-inflicted gunshot. There was no danger to the child.
Samuel Augustus Mullane was killed on May 31, 2012, after three state police SWAT officers, including Codding, opened fire on him outside a secluded cabin between Yachats and Florence.
When the Oregonian/OregonLive asked for the agency’s internal inquiry into Mullane’s shooting earlier this year, state police said there were no such records.
However, in response to a separate records request by the news outlet, Lane County made public an independent criminal investigation conducted by its Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team. Officers from the county’s police departments comprised the team, which had been brought in to look into the incident.
Alex Gardner, the district attorney for Lane County at the time, concluded that Codding and the other two troopers who fired at Mullane had committed no crimes.
Codding was part of a four-person SWAT advance squad that used dubious methods, according to the investigative report. Before the entire SWAT team arrived and served a search warrant for Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies, it had been dispatched to maintain watch over the property.
Images taken on May 31, 2012, at the location of the deadly incident.Team for the Interagency Deadly Force Investigation
On suspicion of assault, two men were wanted from the cabin on Mullane’s land. Mullane was a fascinating individual.
Despite indications that the individuals they were looking for patrolled the area with guns, Codding led the advance squad to the boundary of the property late that night.
Mullane, who had a flashlight in his left hand and a gun with the barrel pointing up in his right, saw the troopers squatting next to some trees that were leaning against the road, close to the end of his driveway.
Clad in camouflage clothes, Codding and Trooper Jamin VanMeter yelled, “State police!” and instructed Mullane to halt and drop the weapon.
According to the investigative report, VanMeter later stated that there was no cover in the area and that when Mullane first lit us up with his spotlight, he and Codding were exposed to the left and exposed to the right.
According to the investigation, Mullane told them to leave the property and turned his back on them as he headed toward the cabin.
The other two SWAT men joined Codding and VanMeter as they pursued him up the driveway. They yelled for him to put down the rifle.
According to the investigative report, Codding informed detectives that he thought Mullane would seek refuge in a shed next to the cabin before confronting them.
Before a full SWAT team arrived to carry out a search warrant, Casey Codding led an advance SWAT unit to monitor the property’s perimeter. Samuel Augustus Mullane, 18, saw the officers shortly after he crouched in trees at the edge of the property. “State police!” they shouted, and Mullane was told to put down his firearm. When he returned up his driveway and arrived at a shed next to the cabin, three SWAT members opened fire on him.Interagency Deadly F in Lane County
One of the four SWAT members, Trooper Joey Pollard, claimed to have told the squad, “You’re going to have to drop him if he’s got a rifle.”
Mullane accelerated his pace as they followed him, VanMeter stated.
As Mullane arrived at the shed, VanMeter fired three rounds from a.40-caliber revolver, determining that the 18-year-old had the ability to harm either me or my teammates.
To VanMeter’s left, Codding fired two rounds from a Colt AR-15 rifle chambered in.223 caliber. When he noticed Mullane’s shoes or feet near the edge of the shed and noticed his flashlight moving, he fired two more shots in the direction of Mullane’s legs.
“I had no control over safety,” Codding told investigators. I made the decision to stop him with force.
Trooper David Stone discharged his Colt AR-15 weapon, chambered in.223 caliber. He informed investigators that he had fired people more than once, although he was unsure of the exact number.
According to the investigation, Stone also claimed that he had discharged an undetermined number of bullets from the same magazine at another location before to the shooting, therefore he was unaware of the number of ammunition in his magazine. According to the investigation, his rifle’s 20-round magazine contained 15 shots after he fired at Mullane.
According to the report, Stone expressed concern for both his personal safety and the safety of the other members of the advance team because they were in an exposed place with no means of shelter.
Pollard said that his inability to see Mullane well was the reason he didn’t fire.
Codding and VanMeter discovered Mullane on his back and pulled him to the front of the shed when he seemed to cease moving. His heart wasn’t beating. They discovered a little cut on Mullane’s upper body.
The trooper whose rounds hit Mullane is not identified in the investigative report.
According to a story in The (Eugene) Register-Guard, the district attorney, Gardner, stated at a press conference approximately a month later that Mullane was struck by two rifle shots, one of which entered close to his back and left his side, while the other struck a leg.
In an email sent in July 2012 to a local who had objected to police practices, Gardner stated that he would only take the matter into consideration if the troopers’ use of force justified filing criminal charges.
Gardner claimed he wasn’t qualified to question the field commanders who first placed these officers in this predicament and that he didn’t assess the troopers’ tactical choices.
Mullane had numerous opportunities to surrender or at least lower his firearm, according to Gardner’s email. He decided not to do either. Despite repeated warnings, Mr. Mullane refused to drop his gun and instead veered for cover. As he approached the cover that would have exposed the entire trooper field of fire and rendered it indefensible, he was shot.
Gardner admitted that Mullane might have been looking for cover to protect himself rather than to hurt the cops.
Gardner, who left the district attorney’s office to join the state police in August 2015 and currently leads its forensic branch, stated that persons in a combat situation cannot afford to conjecture and hope for the best.
Gardner, who was contacted last week, stated he had nothing more to say regarding the shooting.
A request by attorneys to provide state police records of Codding’s previous shootings was thwarted by the U.S. Department of Justice years later.
In 2008, during a four-hour police pursuit and standoff on a logging road west of Roseburg, Codding shot Donald Eugene Lowry, 46, of Myrtle Creek.
He also participated in the 2016 shooting death of Robert LaVoy Finicum, a wanted occupier of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, along with another trooper.
Records of Codding’s gunfire were sought by attorneys defending an FBI agent accused of lying about whether he shot at Finicum or his vehicle.Codding was called as a witness at the agent’s 2018 trial, but a jury found him not guilty.
The trial’s judge refused to force the government to produce documents related to Codding’s previous shootings.
According to state police spokesperson Capt. Kyle Kennedy, the situation in a police encounter like the Mullane shooting changes quickly, and officers respond to what is happening in front of them.
“Undoubtedly tragic, was thoroughly investigated,” Codding added.
Read: Alcohol, a state police vehicle, and silence: How OSP’s top cop was fashioned by ten years of misbehavior
Read: SWAT pop and sergeant’s shooting at coyotes and other wildlife was investigated by Oregon State Police
— Maxine Bernstein writes about criminal justice and federal courts. Reach her at 503-221-8212, [email protected], follow her on X@maxoregonian, or onLinkedIn.
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