DuPage County prosecutors will not bring criminal charges against the Carol Stream police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a west suburban man earlier this year, State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced Wednesday.
Isaac Goodlow III, 30, died Feb. 3 after Carol Stream police officers entered his apartment in response to a domestic violence call and shot him. Goodlow’s family condemned the shooting, questioned official information about their relative’s death in the days that followed and later filed a lawsuit against the village and the police officers who were involved in the shooting.
An attorney representing the Goodlow family said they would continue pursuing that case in federal court and that the family “fundamentally” disagreed with Berlin’s decision.
Berlin said he had not found that Officer Daniel Pfingston, who shot Goodlow, was justified in his use of force, but that he could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Pfingston had not been justified. According to a village statement, Pfingston has not been employed with the Carol Stream Police Department since May 2.
Body-worn camera footage released last March by Carol Stream police showed officers enter a dark apartment and fire two shots before scrambling to administer first-aid to the dying man.
Officers originally responded to Goodlow’s apartment complex after a woman called them and said he had attacked and injured her sister. The woman whom Goodlow allegedly attacked described a fight with Goodlow, after which she said she would call the police. Goodlow reportedly said in response, “If you call the police on me, I’m gonna make them kill me.”
Berlin said that when officers entered the apartment, Goodlow was hiding behind the bedroom door and stepped quickly out from behind it when Pfingston kicked it open.
Berlin said a frame-by-frame viewing of the body-worn camera footage showed Goodlow “moving toward Officer Pfingston in an aggressive manner,” at which point Pfingston fired his gun and struck Goodlow.
Pfingston, speaking to investigators, said that “It appeared to (him) that Goodlow was either pointing something at (him), throwing something at (him) or reaching for (his) firearm” and that he believed Goodlow was ambushing him.
Goodlow’s family had told reporters that he had been lying in bed, asleep at the time he was shot. One of their attorneys, Andrew M. Stroth, said Pfingston’s statement was “completely unbelievable.”
“In less than one second, that officer breached Isaac’s door and in less than a second shot and killed Isaac with one shot through his heart,” Stroth said.
In a statement, Carol Stream village officials offered their condolences to Goodlow’s family, adding that its Police Department had “set up new training opportunities for officers that focus on communication, tactics, and decision-making.”
