Officer Privett cleared on fatal shooting
August 6, 2014
Charlea Mills
The tragic incident that revolved around a Cassville officer-related shooting in June of this year came to a close Friday when the officer was cleared of criminal charges by the Prosecutor’s office.
Corporal Donald Privett with the Cassville Police Department was dispatched to a disturbance at an apartment building on Old Exeter Road on June 10, 2014, in Cassville. When Privett arrived, the young man on the scene, Johnathon Gerster-Thomas, 25, Cassville, began hitting him with a metal pipe. In an act of self-defense, Privett shot Gerster-Thomas who later died en route to a hospital in Springfield.
According to Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Johnnie Cox, Corporal Privett was justified in his use of force against the man during the assault and his office will not be pursing criminal charges. Cox stated, “It was a tragic incident that occurred. When I spoke to Gerster-Thomas’s mother, even she did not hold any ill will toward Officer Privett regarding the shooting.”
Cox made his determinations based on reports from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control, the Cassville Police Department, the Barry County Sheriff’s Department, as well as written statements and an autopsy report. Cox said that the last thing he had been waiting on to make a final determination was the autopsy report received by his office on July 22. Gerster-Thomas’s autopsy was performed by Southwest Missouri Forensics in Springfield.
Privett was reinstated to full duty Friday, August 1, upon release of the information from Cox’s office, according to a statement released by Cassville Police Chief Dana Kammerlohr.
Charlea Mills
The tragic incident that revolved around a Cassville officer-related shooting in June of this year came to a close Friday when the officer was cleared of criminal charges by the Prosecutor’s office.
Corporal Donald Privett with the Cassville Police Department was dispatched to a disturbance at an apartment building on Old Exeter Road on June 10, 2014, in Cassville. When Privett arrived, the young man on the scene, Johnathon Gerster-Thomas, 25, Cassville, began hitting him with a metal pipe. In an act of self-defense, Privett shot Gerster-Thomas who later died en route to a hospital in Springfield.
According to Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Johnnie Cox, Corporal Privett was justified in his use of force against the man during the assault and his office will not be pursing criminal charges. Cox stated, “It was a tragic incident that occurred. When I spoke to Gerster-Thomas’s mother, even she did not hold any ill will toward Officer Privett regarding the shooting.”
Cox made his determinations based on reports from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control, the Cassville Police Department, the Barry County Sheriff’s Department, as well as written statements and an autopsy report. Cox said that the last thing he had been waiting on to make a final determination was the autopsy report received by his office on July 22. Gerster-Thomas’s autopsy was performed by Southwest Missouri Forensics in Springfield.
Privett was reinstated to full duty Friday, August 1, upon release of the information from Cox’s office, according to a statement released by Cassville Police Chief Dana Kammerlohr.
