Officer-Involved Shooting a Justified Use of Force

New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney reported today that an officer-involved shooting of a Pelham man last month was a legally justified use of deadly force.

Grant Hebert, 21, of 7 Tina Avenue, took officers through a lengthy police chase on Oct. 28 from Pelham to Windham before crashing into a Pelham police crusier with his Hyundai Tiburon. He then attempted to run down Windham officers before again trying to flee, according to the lengthy AG report. That latter incident took place near a gate off of 47 Lowell Road.

According to a legal analysis in Delaney's report, New Hampshire law shows that deadly force is justified when a law enforcement officer "believes it is necessary to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes is the imminent use of deadly force."

The evidence, according to the report, shows that Hebert posed a threat of death or serious bodily injury to motorists from his actions after he first sped away from the traffic violation.

The entire encounter from the start of the chase at 1:39 a.m. to the request for an ambulance lasted approximately five-and-a-half minutes, according to officer reports.

During the course of Hebert driving at two Windham police officers – Shane Mirisola and Christopher Van Hirtum – both officers fired at the vehicle with their sidearms.

The report added that Pelham Officer Eugene Stahl also shot at Hebert's vehicle.

Stahl was the original police officer who chased Hebert for a speeding violation, observing him driving 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on a Pelham road. He later called in Mirisola and Van Hirtum for assistance.

It was Stahl's cruiser that was the first hit by Hebert.

All three officers had exited their cruisers when Hebert tried to run over Mirisola and Van Hirtum.

According to the report, both Stahl and Van Hirtum believed that Hebert's car was going to hit Mirisola, and Stahl believed that Mirisola was run over and either killed or pinned after Hebert ran directly into Mirisola's cruiser.

The report said that both Mirisola and Van Hirtum in fact dove out of the way of Hebert's vehicle, with Mirisola saying he dashed to the left while Van Hirtum said he dashed to the right.

At that time, Hebert attempted to flee north on Lowell Road, at which point Mirisola shot at the vehicle again along with Van Hirtum. He stopped shooting when Hebert stopped accelerating.

Hebert finally stopped, reportedly saying to Mirisola and Van Hirtum – "all right, I stopped. I'm done" with his hands out of the driver's side window.

Hebert's was transported to Parkland Medical Center, where he had a small puncture wound to his lower calf, small puncture wound to his upper right back, swelling around one of his eyes and fragments of a bullet under his scalp in the rear of his head.

All three officers were unhurt except for a cut on Van Hirtum's thumb.

Hebert faces one count of attempted first degree assault (felony), two counts of reckless conduct (felony), three counts of criminal mischief (felony), one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated (class A misdemeanor), one count driving while intoxicated (class B misdemeanor), and one count disobeying a police officer (class A misdemeanor).

For the detailed report, see the attached PDF document.