by P.D. Lesko

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie posted to the county’s website a 12-page memo explaining his decision not to bring charges against Officer David Ried, a 15-year veteran of the Ann Arbor Police Dept., who shot and killed Aura Rosser, an Ann Arbor mother of three, in her Winewood St. home on Nov. 9, 2014.

Mackie also told The Ann Arbor Independent he planned to release much of the evidence from a report produced by the Michigan State Police during the course of that agency’s investigation of the shooting.

“We’ll release most of the evidence with a few exceptions. I won’t release autopsy photos of her naked body, though I’m sure someone will want them,” said Mackie in a late-Friday afternoon phone call. Prosecutor Mackie also said he would prefer not to release Rosser’s mental health records.

The 12-page memo lists the evidence compiled by the Michigan State Police which was turned over to the County Prosecutor’s office on or around Jan. 14, 2015. That list includes:

Michigan Department of State Police original incident report dated Nov. 10, 2014

Michigan Department of State Police supplemental incident report dated Nov. 12, 2014

Michigan Department of State Police supplemental incident report dated Nov. 10, 2014

Ann Arbor Police Dept. Incident Recall Report printout dated Nov. 10, 2014

Ann Arbor Police Dept. CAD D-Card dated Nov. 10, 2014 consisting of two pages

Ann Arbor Police Dept. incident report consisting of 19 pages authored by Officer in Charge Det/Lt. Robert Pfannes dated Nov. 9, 2014. Pfannes’s report, a master report, includes reports by 12 other AAPD officers, including Officer Ried.

Emergent Health Partners (Huron Valley Ambulance) Prehospital Care Report Summary dated Nov. 10, 2014

There have been suggestions that Aura Rosser was unsuccessfully tased and that contributed to her death by shooting. The County Prosecutor’s 12-page memo includes a Taster Evidence Sync Discharge Report dated Nov. 10, 2014. There are also medical reports which include evidence of whether Rosser’s blood showed the presence of controlled substances. A knife recovered at the scene was tested for fingerprints, and there is a report dated Jan. 5, 2015 which examines the prints found on the weapon.

In a previous discussion with the County Prosecutor, Brian Mackie referred to the amount of audio evidence which was included in the Michigan State Police report. The memo issued by Mackie references 14 CDs “containing recording of witness statements, 911 call, Ann Arbor Police Department radio traffic, plus photos and records.”

The memo includes a timeline that begins, “Aura Rosser, age 40, suffered from a serious mental illness, but the evidence showed that she had not been taking her prescribed medications at the time of her death.”

Toxicology tests showed that neither of the psychotropic medications found at the residence were in Rosser’s system “at a therapeutic level.” The toxicology report concluded that Rosser’s blood contained “high levels of cocaine, cocaine metabolites and alcohol.”

Mackie’s report includes the answer to an important question asked by Rosser’s family and others. How did Officer Ried find himself inside the house at 2083 Winewood. Mackie’s report states that police entered the home and Rosser’s live-in boyfriend, Victor Stephens, “heard them announce ‘police.'” This contradicts Mr. Stephens’s statements given to the media shortly after the incident in which he claimed not to understand why Rosser had been shot. Another witness quoted in Mackie’s report is said to have been “present but intoxicated.” Nonetheless, the witness is quoted as having heard “a single gunshot,” but not to have seen “any part of the shooting.” Yet a third witness interviewed is quoted as saying he was in the basement of the home and heard “2 or 3 gunshots.”

The memo states that only one shot was fired and that was from the gun of Officer David Ried. The memo states that at the same time Aura Rosser was struck by one AAPD officer’s taser, Officer Ried fired one shot “hitting her in the left chest.” This came after Ried said he had instructed Rosser “repeatedly” to drop the knife she was holding and she advanced to within “6 to 10 feet” of Officers Ried and Raab. After she was shot, Aura Rosser remained alive but died “a short time later.”

In deciding not to charge Officer Ried, Mackie concluded that the shooting was self-defense and that police officers “may use deadly force in self-defense.” Both AAPD officers involved reported fearing for their lives as Rosser closed the distance between them brandishing a knife while naked from the waist up.

Prosecutor Mackie’s report ends: “After a review of the thorough and professional investigation by the Michigan State Police including all the evidence gathered, it is our conclusion that when Officer David Ried shot and killed Aura Rain Rosser on Nov. 10, 2014 he acted in lawful self-defense.”