The Associated Press
STANARDSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- A Greene Country sergeant has been cleared of wrongdoing after a yearlong state police investigation into his fatal shooting of a suspected drug dealer after the man shot and killed another county sheriff’s officer.
Sgt. Joseph Hogsten killed James C. Faulkner Jr. when Faulkner was trying to escape after mortally wounding sheriff’s officer Sgt. Rodney Davis, the Virginia State Police concluded in their report.
According to the report, Davis and Hogsten went to a home at about 11 p.m. last Aug. 26 to serve Faulkner with a warrant for distribution of crack cocaine.
Faulkner’s mother answered the door and said her son was not there, but she agreed to let the officers search the home. Hogsten found Faulkner in a bedroom and told him about the warrant for his arrest, and a struggle ensued in the hallway.
Faulkner fled to another room. Hogsten kicked the door in and Faulkner opened fire. Hogsten called for help and went to another room for cover as Davis came into the home.
Faulkner bolted from the room shooting and officers later found Davis face-down in the kitchen, having been shot six times. They later found Faulkner in the back yard with a gun in his hand, dead from eight gunshot wounds to the head and torso.
Hogsten said he shot at Faulkner four times before the suspect ran out the back door. The investigation does not conclude how Faulkner got 12 feet into the backyard before collapsing when the medical examiner said his mortal wound would have allowed him to walk only one or two steps. The investigation summary does state that Hogsten may have made contradictory statements about where he was when he shot at Faulkner.
Hogsten could not be reached for comment.
Police declined to charge Faulkner family members with aiding and abetting a suspect who was a felon in possession of a firearm, or with obstruction of justice because prosecutor Ronald Morris said he found no evidence that the family helped the suspect get the gun and no evidence that Faulkner’s mother knew he was in the home.