Nearly two years after the officer-involved shooting that left James Moriarty of Aurora dead and also killed police dog Hudson, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser announced Friday that no Kane County deputies will be charged in connection with the incident.
The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office on Friday also released available body camera and dash camera footage from the shooting, which is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehtp2sR2TM0.
On May 24, 2023, Moriarty, 38, allegedly carjacked a Honda Accord at a Jiffy Lube in Aurora around 1:57 p.m., according to past reporting. After deputies spotted the vehicle using license plate readers, police initiated a pursuit that ultimately ended when the car being driven by Moriarty was stopped at Randall Road and Fabyan Parkway on the border of Geneva and Batavia.
Soon after, Moriarty exited from the backseat driver’s side door, Mosser said, with his right hand to his side. She said that as he moved to the back of the car, “a gun can be seen in his right hand pointing down on the video.”
Moriarty did not comply with multiple commands to put his hands up or drop the apparent weapon in his hand after he exited the car, Mosser said. She said that the object in Moriarty’s hand was later found to be an airsoft gun, but that the deputies involved would not have known that at the time.
According to a press release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, Moriarty, while still holding the apparent weapon, went towards civilians and law enforcement.
A deputy fired several shots, and the police dog, Hudson, was deployed on Moriarty, Mosser said. Deputies fired several more shots while Moriarty was upright, and a number more while he was on the ground.
Both Moriarty and the police dog died during the shootout, according to past reporting.
According to the press release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, Moriarty had seven encounters with Aurora police in the month leading up to his death and there were several warrants out for his arrest. There were also warnings in LEADS, the statewide Law Enforcement Agency Data System, that Moriarty should be considered armed and dangerous and that he resisted and obstructed law enforcement, Friday’s release detailed.
The decision not to pursue criminal charges against the involved officers comes after an investigation by the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force and a review by independent consultant Force Science, which reviews police use-of-force incidents, the release on Friday said.
The involved officers were Kane County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Widlarz, Deputy Eric Gustafson, Deputy Alan Garcia and Deputy Luke Weston with police dog Hudson.
In total, 18 shots were fired in a span of seven seconds during the incident, Mosser said on Friday. Four of those were fired by Gustafson, one by Garcia and 13 by Widlarz, she said.
Mosser confirmed Friday that one of those shots, fired by Garcia, unintentionally killed the police dog. Moriarty never fired the airsoft gun, she said.
Moriarty’s body had 17 gunshot wounds, Mosser said, per findings from the Kane County Coroner’s Office, and the cause of his death was found to be multiple gunshot wounds. According to a toxicology report, there was cocaine present in Moriarty’s system when he died, she noted.
Mosser’s office determined that none of the officers should be charged with using deadly force given the reasonable belief that the force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to themselves or others. She noted that five of the 13 shots by Widlarz were fired while Moriarty was upright, while the last eight were fired after he was on the ground – she said whether the last round of shots was justified was “not easy to determine,” and required consulting from Force Science – but they were ultimately ruled justifiable.
Hain said it was a “testament to their capabilities” that the officers were able to prevent any threats to civilian safety, given that the shooting happened in the afternoon on a Wednesday.
The three officers who exerted deadly force – Gustafson, Garcia and Widlarz – have been cleared following the investigation, and Mosser’s review is now considered closed.
Weston had been at a training and thus was not in uniform that day, Mosser said, but he joined the pursuit because he had his police dog, Hudson, with him. Because he was at training, Mosser said there was “no expectation” that Weston would have had his body camera on him at the time.
Last September, the shooting generated further public attention after Hain made comments criticizing a lack of communication between Aurora police and his deputies, according to past reporting. He made the comments at a memorial for the police dog who was killed during the incident. Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin then held a press conference at which he defended the Aurora police and said that Hain turned the memorial into “a platform” for himself. Mosser later released a statement saying she had been unaware of the comments Hain would make at the memorial.
While the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Moriarty will not be charged, Mosser’s investigation did find that Widlarz had violated state statute and the Kane County Sheriff’s policy on body worn cameras. Widlarz had turned off the audio of his body camera after turning off the audio on his squad car’s dash camera, Mosser said. He also did not turn his body camera’s audio back on when he exited his car after the pursuit was over, she said. Finally, he had placed his body camera on his shoulder, rather than in the center of his chest.
“It is clear that it is not recording the public, but rather the sky,” Mosser said on Friday.
Hain said that Widlarz’s shorter stature impacted the way he had to affix his body camera, and that it typically points upward slightly.
Mosser’s office ultimately concluded, however, that there was not enough evidence to charge Widlarz with law enforcement misconduct because there was no evidence that Widlarz had turned off his camera or failed to turn it back on in order to “obstruct the prosecution, defense or apprehension” of any person, she said on Friday.
“This failure during the entirety of this law enforcement encounter erodes public trust in his performance as a deputy here at the Kane County Sheriff’s Office,” Mosser said about Widlarz, later calling the decision to turn off his audio “inexcusable.”
Widlarz declined to provide a statement for the investigation, Mosser said, and Hain said it was at the direction of Widlarz’s legal representation. Mosser said they could not release information on whether Widlarz was still part of the department.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
