Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Mistakes made before officer fatally shot inmate at UMC, police say

Updated Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 | 9:30 p.m.

A man called 911 saying he was armed with a pistol loaded with nine rounds and that police were going to shoot him or take him to jail.

Less than six hours later, Cody Leighland O’Bryan, 31, who was in police custody and swiped a stun gun from an officer’s unattended duty bag, lay dead on a floor from a gunshot fired by a Metro Police patrol officer.

Click to enlarge photo

This undated Clark County Detention Center photo shows Cody Leighland O'Bryan. O'Bryan was shot dead Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, by a Las Vegas police officer in hospital emergency room where police say he was suicidal and wielded a stun gun obtained from a jail guard's equipment bag.

“This (officer-involved shooting) is unlike any other that we’ve had,” Clark County Assistant Sheriff Todd Fasulo said on Thursday, three days after the incident at University Medical Center.

This was the first police shooting in a local hospital, Fasulo said. “We recognize that we have several areas of concern.”

Those concerns? Why the bag — which belonged to a corrections officer and contained the weapon — was inside a hospital room. And why O’Bryan, who was described as suicidal who had an apparent history of mental illness and an array of brushes with the law, was left unattended in the room, even if it was just under a minute.

Immediately after the shooting, Metro addressed and changed its policy, no longer allowing duty bags — containing shackles, stun gun and a radio — in hospital rooms when an inmate is present.

Prior to the shooting, the policy relating to police supervision dictates that officers are “entrusted with the care, custody and control of that inmate at all times, and he is responsible for what that inmate does while he’s in his custody, so he should be watching that person.”

The shooting officer, Thomas Rybacki, 35, hasn’t provided a statement to investigators, and is on paid administrative leave as the probe continues.

The shooting was captured in a soundless clip from Rybacki’s body-worn camera.

Events according to Fasulo

10:40 p.m. Sunday

• Emergency dispatch receives a call from O’Bryan saying he is armed and is either going to get shot by police or taken to jail.

• Police respond to the area of West Charleston Boulevard and Palmhurst Drive and find O’Bryan lying on the ground.

• Officer Rybacki wants to place O’Bryan in a Legal 2000 mental evaluation hold but decides against it because the man is wanted on a misdemeanor parole and probation warrant in an attempted assault with substantial bodily harm case.

11:39 p.m.

• Rybacki takes O’Bryan to the Clark County Detention Center, but upon a medical screening, the inmate — still in police custody — is ordered to UMC because of his level of intoxication.

3:26 a.m. Monday

• A corrections officer delivers a duty bag — which carried a Taser X2, shackles and a police radio — to the hospital room for a second corrections officer who was to relieve Rybacki and take O’Bryan back to CCDC after treatment.

• During this time, O’Bryan’s left hand and left ankle are handcuffed to the gurney. O’Bryan has urinated himself and Rybacki realizes the clothing and bedsheets need to be changed.

• With the corrections officer still in the room, Rybacki releases O’Bryan’s handcuff.

3:28 a.m.

• The corrections officer slides the duty bag underneath a sink in the room and heads back to the jail.

• Rybacki helps O’Bryan change out of wet clothes and into a hospital gown. The officer switches the restraint from O’Bryan’s left ankle to his right, while the inmate sits on the edge of the bed.

• Sometime later, the officer leaves for a short period of time. O’Bryan gets off the bed and lies on the floor, his head right next to the duty bag.

4:04 a.m.

• O’Bryan grabs the stun gun and puts it on the floor — out of sight.

4:05 a.m.

• Rybacki returns and moves the bag to the hallway, not realizing the Taser was removed.

4:10 a.m.

• A nurse and a security guard arrive to assist in putting O’Bryan back on the bed.

• Rybacki activates the body camera and, almost immediately, O’Bryan points the stun gun at the guard and then at Rybacki, who sidesteps outside the room, only to re-enter and fire the single fatal round less than five seconds after O’Bryan first points the stun gun.

• Witnesses told investigators that Rybacki gave commands to O’Bryan to drop the stun gun, which wasn’t caught on audio because body-worn cameras have a 30-second lag to pick up sound.

• Fasulo said O’Bryan, who tried to discharge the stun gun but apparently didn’t realize there was a safety mechanism in place, died at the scene.

Final details

O’Bryan had an extensive criminal history in Nevada ranging from petty larceny and drug possession, to assault with a deadly weapon. Metro Crisis Intervention Team officers had made contact with him 16 prior times, using Legal 2000 on him 15 times, Fasulo said. Henderson police had documented seven attempted suicide events involving O’Bryan.

O'Bryan was facing a Tuesday morning court hearing when he died, according to court records.

Asked if the Taser is deemed a life-threatening weapon, Fasulo said yes, because it could have incapacitated the nurse or the guard who were in the room, or Rybacki.

“It’s especially dangerous to our officer,” Fasulo said. “If he’s incapacitated with a weapon on his hip, then that gives somebody the potential of taking his gun.”

As with every officer-involved shooting, Fasulo said investigators would be looking with a “critical eye” at every procedure from the time of the 911 call until the end.

Rybacki has been with Metro for three years, Fasulo said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.