SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The two Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies who shot and killed a man in North Spokane in 2021 will not face criminal charges.
43-year-old Michael Lee Dingman died from multiple gunshot wounds on December 10, 2021.
According to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office, SCSO pulled over a truck around 3 a.m. that morning near East Euclid and North Cuba Street. When the deputy ran the license plate for the vehicle, it pinged as stolen. The truck did not match the description of the car that was reported stolen.
The truck took off westbound after noticing the deputy. The deputy was not able to pursue the truck at the time because of “legal pursuit restraints imposed at the time” and sent out an alert to other deputies to help find the vehicle.
SCSO found the truck near East Havana and Valley Springs Road and saw a woman outside who claimed the driver, Dingman, fled the area in the snow.
The Prosecutor’s Office says Dingman had a felony warrant for his arrest at the time.
Dingman was tracked by deputies to the area of East Bigelow Gulch Road. He then broke into a storage shed, grabbed two rifles and crouched down near a home to try and hide from deputies.
Two deputies were searching for Dingman in the area and saw him crouched by the house. The Prosecutor’s Office says when confronted, Dingman pointed a rifle at the deputies.
Dingman was told to drop the weapon but refused. Both deputies shot at him.
Dingman went down briefly before getting back up and charging at the deputies with the rifle still pointed in their direction. One of the deputies fired several more shots at Dingman, who went down for a second time and did not move.
Dingman was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Prosecutor’s Office says Dingman’s rifles were not loaded at the time. A toxicology report showed Dingman tested positive for meth and ethanol at the time of his death.
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