by Dave Waddell
news analysis
Chico police officer Alex Fliehr, who fired first and the most in the Desmond Phillips killing, has testified about trying to shoot Tyler Rushing three months later. In the confrontation that killed Rushing, Fliehr also shot a Taser as Rushing lay prone, motionless and unarmed.
Those facts and others – including that Fliehr saw “action” in the Iraq war – have emerged in sworn testimony during depositions for wrongful death lawsuits filed against the city of Chico by the Phillips and Rushing families. The two men were both experiencing mental disorders when shot to death in 2017.
Fliehr’s combat history was left off his resume when Police Chief Mike O’Brien held a news briefing three days after the March 17, 2017, killing of Phillips, a young black man. O’Brien’s purpose was to identify the two inexperienced officers, Fliehr and Jeremy Gagnebin, who together had sprayed the Phillipses’ small living room with 16 shots. Eleven of their hollow-point rounds devastated Phillips’ body. He probably died before he hit the floor — this 25-year-old, who, when killed, was mentally disabled and likely also feeling the effects of being shocked by a police stun gun. No officers were hurt.