leading the way for a safer pinellas · reviewed physical evidence at the scene, reviewed documents...

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

September 16, 2020

Chief Anthony Holloway St. Petersburg Police Department 1301 l st Avenue North St. Petersburg, FL 33705

Dear Chief Holloway:

"Leading The Way For A Safer Pinellas"

On August 7, 2020, at approximately 9: 15 p.m. the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) notified the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office (PCSO) of an officer-involved shooting that had just occurred at 4050 4th Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida. The officer involved in the shooting was Alison Savarese and the decedent is Jeffrey Haarsma. SPPD notified PCSO pursuant to the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Taskforce Agreement and SPPD requested that PCSO activate the Taskforce to conduct the required investigation.

PCSO is the Supervising Agency for this investigation under the Taskforce Agreement and as Sheriff, I am responsible for supervising the investigation and making determinations. I responded to the scene, conferred with Taskforce investigators, and have personally reviewed evidence in this case.

The Taskforce responded to the scene and after an initial briefing by S PPD commanders the Taskforce assumed the investigation. Taskforce agencies participating in addition to PCSO were the Clearwater Police Department and the Pinellas Park Police Department. SPPD forensics took some initial photos of degradable evidence but the crime scene itself and all evidence was processed by the PCSO Forensic Sciences Division. The State Attorney' s office also responded to the scene and conducted its independent investigation. The State Attorney issued a letter on September 1, 2020, finding that Jeffrey Haarsma' s death was justifiable homicide pursuant to F.S . 776.012 .

During the course of the investigation Taskforce investigators interviewed multiple witnesses, reviewed physical evidence at the scene, reviewed documents obtained from SPPD and other sources, and reviewed audio recordings and other physical evidence. The following summarizes the investigation ' s results. All of the underlying recordings, transcripts, and documents are included with this summary or will be subsequently provided to SPPD.

10750 Ulmerton Road P.O. Drawer 2500 - Largo, FL 33779 (727) 582-6200 http://www.pcsoweb.com

September 16, 2020 of16

On August 7, 2020 at approximately 8:54 p.m., while acting in her official capacity as a St. Petersburg police officer, Officer Alison Savarese lawfully shot Jeffrey Haarsma at the French Quarter Condominiums, 4050 4th Street North Apartment, Unit 224, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Haarsma was later pronounced deceased at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

Despite Officer Savarese's use of deadly force being lawful, there are other aspects of the investigation that raise concerns about how the officers investigated the matter on August 7th, and overall whether information was known to SPPD that should have resulted in the matter being handled as a mental health call as opposed to a misdemeanor petit theft investigation.

According to records from the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's Office, Jeffrey Haarsma purchased his condominium located at 4050 4th Street North, Unit 224, on April 5, 2000.

Detectives researched the SPPD computer-aided dispatch system (CAD) and police reports from SPPD back to 2017 for any documentation regarding Haarsma. Detectives determined that in 2017 SPPD responded 38 times to the French Quarter Condominiums and eight of those calls were related to Jeffrey Haarsma. In 2018, of the 15 dispatched calls to the French Quarter Condominiums, no calls were related to Haarsma; of the 29 dispatched calls to the French Quarter Condominiums in 2019, five of those calls were related to Haarsma; and in 2020, of the 25 dispatched calls to the French Quarter Condominiums, 12 of those calls were related Haarsma.

Of all the dispatched calls regarding Haarsma, six resulted in an actual police report and the remainder were cleared in the SPPD CAD system. The first call that generated a police report occurred in March of 2017 after Haarsma's psychologist, Nancy Silva, called SPPD because Haarsma was rambling on the phone about neighbors spying on him.

Haarsma was suffering from paranoia and refused to attend mental health appointments according to Silva. SPPD officers responded to Baker Act Haarsma at the psychologist's direction. Haarsma violently fought with officers while being taken into custody and a Taser had to be used to subdue him. Earlier on the day of the Baker Act in 2017, SPPD officers had been to Haarsma's home after Haarsma called police telling them that a neighbor had a methamphetamine lab. Haarsma based his allegation on supposed "Google research." Officers unfounded that complaint and evaluated Haarsma for a Baker Act at that time but determined that he did not meet Baker Act criteria.

Further analysis of the SPPD calls involving Haarsma between 2017 and 2020, shows that 10 calls concerned suspicious activity or noise; four were related to disputes neighbors had with Haarsma; four concerned other non-criminal matters; three calls alleged criminal matters; and three calls involved mental health issues related to Jeffrey Haarsma.

On August 6, 2020, the day before the shooting, SPPD received two calls regarding Haarsma at the French Quarter Condominiums. At 11 :43 a.m. Barry Stanton, a former condominium association board member, called SPPD after Janet Kenny (the complainant and theft victim in this case) showed up at Stanton's apartment crying about an email she had received from Haarsma with a subject line of, "Crimes Against Humanity." Haarsma wrote Kenny an email expressing hostile feelings towards her and his hope that she would leave. Haarsma stated in the


email to Kenny that she will "be sentenced to life in prison for your crimes and your crimes against your god." Haarsma wanted to attend Kenny's execution to prove to all of her victims that she no longer existed.

Kenny forwarded this email to members of the condo association board of directors who made Stanton aware of the situation and Stanton then called SPPD. SPPD officers Lucky Lukes, Kenneth Seay, and John Douglas responded. SPPD dispatched three officers to this call due to the caution notes in the CAD regarding Haarsma and agency policy requiring the response of three officers when such cautionary notes are present. The cautionary notes existed in the dispatch system because of Haarsma's past violence and prior contact SPPD officers had with Haarsma. The cautionary notes indicated that Haarsma had mental health issues.

Officer Lukes is a female and was the "lead" officer on the August 61h call. Officers Douglas and Seay are males and were back-ups to Officer Lukes. The officers stated that they knew Haarsma had been violent with the police previously, as indicated in the CAD alert, and that was why all three officers had been dispatched. Haarsma was present during the officers' investigation and he kept interfering; he approached Officer Lukes from behind several times. Officer Douglas stated that Haarsma appeared hostile toward Officer Lukes and he believed it was because she is a female. Officers Seay and Douglas intervened and warned Haarsma several times to cease his improper behavior. The officers told investigators that Haarsma's conduct breached the threshold for an obstructing charge but because they were on the second floor balcony and thought that if they tried to arrest Haarsma that he would resist, they decided not to effect an arrest. Officer Douglas opined that it was because three officers were present that Haarsma did not attack Officer Lukes.

After speaking with Kenny and Stanton the officers cleared the call in CAD indicating that they referred Kenny to the condo association as this is an on-going issue with Jeffrey Haarsma. They did not document the incident in a police report.

Later on the same day, at about 8:36 p.m., Robyn Crosa, another French Quarter Condominiums resident called police about Haarsma cursing and yelling at her the previous day. SPPD did not respond but Officer Marion Guess contacted Crosa by phone and indicated the issue was a civil matter and that no crime had been committed. Officer Guess referred Crosa to the condo association to have Haarsma removed as a problem neighbor. Because the officers did not prepare a police report from the call earlier that day Officer Guess would not have been aware of the prior incident upon checking the SPPD report system.

After her interaction with SPPD on August 6, 2020, the next day, on August 7th at 7:30 p.m., Kenny called SPPD again about Haarsma. Kenny reported that Haarsma had taken furniture off of her front porch. Kenny told the SPPD communications center call-taker that Haarsma needed to go to the hospital, but there is no indication the call-taker conveyed that information to the responding officers through CAD notes or the police dispatcher. Officers Kristen Thomas and Alison Savarese were dispatched to 4050 4th Street North, Unit 224 in St Petersburg for a "Trouble with Individual" call. Unit 224 is Kenny's condo and Haarsma lived in Unit 220-officers were dispatched to Kenny's residence and not Haarsma's residence.


The CAD call notes received by Officers Savarese and Thomas did not indicate any kind of officer safety issue or precaution for the address or Haarsma. Investigators determined that Kenny spelled Haarsma's name correctly, but the communications center call taker did not enter his last name into the CAD. Regardless, a limitation within the SPPD CAD is that it cannot flag names for cautionary notes, only addresses. Because the call taker established this particular CAD call with Kenny's address (Unit 224) and not Haarsma's (Unit 220), the caution flag did not provide an alert. Further, after arriving on the scene, Officer Savarese requested a phone number for Haarsma from the SPPD information channel dispatcher and when the dispatcher queried the SPPD records management system (RMS) she received two cautionary flags. Due to a system limitation the third caution in the CAD regarding Haarsma could not be seen by that dispatcher so the CAD cautionary information was never provided to the officers.

The CAD call notes received by the officers while responding indicated that a neighbor had taken items from Kenny's balcony and threw them in the trash. A suspect description was provided, and the suspect was listed by name, Jeff Haarsma. Kenny indicated that she did not personally witness Haarsma take her belongings but the taking was witnessed by a neighbor.

At approximately 7:37 p.m., both officers arrived on-scene together. They made contact with the complainant Janet Kenny near the stairwell of the second floor. She stated that she was not home when this incident occurred but when she returned her neighbors informed her the male resident in Unit 224, Haarsma, had thrown her patio furniture over the railing and on to the ground below. Haarsma then went downstairs, picked up the items and carried them to the large dumpster by the pool area, placing them into the dumpster. The officers told Kenny they would attempt to make contact with Haarsma at his door and asked Kenny to go downstairs by the pool area to wait for them.

Officers Thomas and Savarese went to Haarsma's front door, Unit 224, and attempted contact but received no answer. This is when Officer Savarese indicated to Officer Thomas she was going to switch to the information channel to obtain a phone number for Haarsma. Officer Thomas did not switch her radio to the information channel or was she scanning it to hear what was said between Officer Savarese and the dispatcher.

A review of the information channel recording reveals that Officer Savarese requested that the dispatcher provide her a phone number for Haarsma and the dispatcher provided two numbers from the SPPD report system. Additionally, the dispatcher told Savarese that she was to use universal precautions and the subject was "Code 20," (had mental health issues), which Officer Savarese acknowledged. Officer Savarese then used her cell phone to call both numbers for Haarsma with no response. Both officers could hear what they described as a duck quacking sound coming from inside the condominium and they believed what they heard was Haarsma's phone ringing. The officers also believed that the ring tone was moving around inside the residence so they yelled to Haarsma that they wanted to talk with him, but he never responded.

The officers then went downstairs to the pool and dumpster area where Officer Thomas continued the investigation. The officers recovered the patio furniture and it was returned to Kenny, who valued the items at $60.00 dollars. The officers were told by additional residents that they were frustrated by Haarsma and the officers sensed that residents wanted something done about his troubling behavior and actions. The officers felt that they needed to take some


action. The officers discussed their available criminal case options and specifically decided that the only possible charge was misdemeanor petit theft for the temporary deprivation of Kenny' s use of her property while it was in the dumpster. The officers did not discuss handling the matter as a mental health call.

Petit theft is a misdemeanor for which the officers could not have physically arrested Haarsma because the theft did not occur in their presence. The most the officers could have done was to refer the criminal petit theft case to the State Attorney' s Office for possible prosecution. The officers decided on this course of action and realized that while Kenny knew Haarsma, the actual witnesses to Haarsma taking the porch furniture and putting it in the dumpster did not know him. They decided that they should prepare a photo pack to see if the witnesses could positively identify Haarsma as the person who took the furniture.

Officer Thomas left Officer Savarese at the condo as she returned to the police department to make a photo array presentation. Officer Savarese provided State Attorney witness forms for the witnesses to prepare written statements while she waited in her cruiser for Officer Thomas to return.

While Officer Savarese was in her cruiser she was informed by a witness that Haarsma had exited his condominium and was on the balcony. Officer Savarese called Officer Thomas on her cell phone, conveyed that Haarsma was outside and asked her what she wanted her to do because Officer Thomas was "primary" and it was her case.

Officer Savarese stated that Officer Thomas told her to "detain" Haarsma. Officer Savarese proceeded to the second floor landing by herself and approached Haarsma as he was standing in front of his residence watering flowers . Officer Savarese told Haarsma that she was detaining him and reached out to take his arm to place him in handcuffs. As more fully set forth in the officer interview summaries below, Haarsma resisted, fought with, and choked Officer Savarese by placing his hands around her throat and squeezing off her airway. Because she was being choked by Haarsma and was having trouble breathing, Officer Savarese fired two shots striking Haarsma in the chest.

Officer Interviews

The following are summaries of interviews conducted of Officers Savarese and Thomas. The summaries contain further details about what occurred leading up to and during Haarsma choking Officer Savarese.

Officer Kristen Thomas

Taskforce investigators interviewed Officer Kristen Thomas at SPPD subsequent to the shooting and the following is a summary of her statement. Investigators recorded the interview with Officer Thomas and a transcript of the full interview is available. This summary does not and is not intended to reflect Officer Thomas' full statement.


In March 2020, Officer Thomas responded to Haarsma' s condominium for a theft call. The allegation during that incident was that Haarsma stole medications from Kenny's front porch area.

When officers arrived for the March 2020 call Haarsma did not initially answer his front door. Officers later made contact with Haarsma after he called police himself to report a suspicious package. Haarsma told the officers in March how it was his "civic duty" to take Kenny' s medications. Officer Thomas said during the March call that she had some "negative vibes" and Haarsma seemed aggressive, but nothing else "stuck out" in her mind about the incident. Officers resolved the March 2020 call by obtaining Kenny' s medication from Haarsma and returning it to Kenny (the medication actually belonged to Kenny's grandchild).

During the August 7 th call , Officer Thomas told Officer Savarese that she had been to the location previously for the theft of medication involving Haarsma and Kenny. Because Officer Thomas had previous dealings with the parties it was decided between the officers that Officer Thomas would take the " lead" in the current matter. Officer Thomas also conveyed to Officer Savarese that during the March call Haarsma had also refused to answer his front door.

Shortly after their arrival at the French Quarter Condominiums on August 7, 2020, the officers contacted the Mellow family who had witnessed Haarsma take Kenny' s porch furniture earlier that evening. The officers learned that the Mellows were visiting from out of town and were unfamiliar with Haarsma. The Mellows saw a male (Haarsma) throw patio furniture over the balcony and they held a gate open for him as he was going to the dumpster with the items. They also thought it was strange that Haarsma ripped one of the COVID social distancing signs out of the ground on his way out of the pool courtyard area.

Based on discussions with condominium complex residents, the officers learned that residents were frustrated with Haarsma' s behavior toward others and they wanted "something done" with Haarsma.

During the investigation, the officers located Kenny' s furniture in the dumpster and returned the items to her. The furniture consisted of two plastic chairs and a plastic table. The total value of the items was approximately $60.00. The items were not damaged. Officer Thomas was unsure what Kenny did with the items upon their return.

The officers considered how to proceed and the sentiment expressed by residents that something needed to be done with Haarsma factored into the officers' decision-making. Officer Thomas stated that she considered possible criminal charges and realized petit theft was the only possible crime Haarsma committed, as the furniture was not damaged and there was no criminal mischief (vandalism). Officer Thomas determined that Haarsma did not have a criminal history that would have elevated the theft offense to a felony so she realized that misdemeanor theft was the only crime that she could investigate.

Officer Thomas explained that Kenny had told them that Haarsma needed to go to a mental health facility; she was scared of him; and there were on-going issues with Haarsma when he had previously threatened her by making a gun gesture with his fingers. Additionally, Haarsma wrote a letter to Kenny that she felt was threatening (the August 4, 2020 email) and she was


scared the situation was going to escalate. Another neighbor also mentioned she knew Haarsma was a problem in the neighborhood. Again, Officer Thomas felt something needed to be done or the situation may escalate with neighbors. There is no indication that the officers discussed or contemplated proceeding with a mental health investigation or handling the matter as a mental health call rather than a criminal matter.

Because Officer Thomas decided to handle the call as a criminal matter, and the Mellows were the eye witnesses who did not know Haarsma, Officer Thomas decided that she should prepare a photo pack for identification purposes. Officer Thomas left Officer Savarese at the scene alone and went to the police department to prepare a photo array presentation. Officer Thomas researched Haarsma in the SPPD report system while en route to the police department and that helped her recall the March 2020 call. She also determined that Haarsma did not have any outstanding warrants for his arrest. It is unknown whether Officer Thomas saw the cautionary notes about Haarsma and his mental health issues in the SPPD report system but the notes would have been available to her while she was doing her research. This is the same system where the information system dispatcher obtained the cautionary notes that she conveyed by radio to Officer Savarese.

Officer Thomas was attempting to resolve the residents' concerns about Haarsma's behavior but it is unclear how she expected that conducting a misdemeanor criminal investigation would have helped resolve the situation. Officer Thomas explained that if the witnesses positively identified Haarsma from the photo pack that she had planned to refer the misdemeanor theft case to the State Attorney's Office because she knew that she was prohibited from making an arrest for the petit theft that did not occur in her presence. Officer Thomas mentioned that she considered the applicability of the Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion (APAD) program but stated Haarsma would have had to admit what he did was wrong in order for that to apply and she did not think he would do so (APAD would have only referred Haarsma for community service hours as there was no restitution due and it would not have addressed his mental health issues) .

While Officer Thomas was at the police department preparing the photo pack she was called on her cell phone by Officer Savarese who told her that Haarsma had exited his residence. Officer Thomas told Officer Savarese to detain Haarsma and call for back-up if she needed it. Officer Thomas gave Officer Savarese direction to detain Haarsma despite knowing that she could not legally arrest him for petit theft because the crime did not occur in an officer' s presence. Officer Thomas stated the basis of the detention was reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed (petit theft) and that they needed to definitively identify the suspect (Haarsma). Officer Thomas further stated that a purpose of directing Haarsma' s detention was because he exited his residence and she was then considering conducting a live show-up instead of using the photo array presentation and that option factored into her decision-making about taking Haarsma into custody. (Even if Officer Thomas had conducted a live show-up and the witnesses had positively identified Haarsma as the person who put Kenny' s furniture in the dumpster, she still could not have physically arrested him that night.) Officer Thomas returned to the French Quarter Condominiums after the shooting where Officer Savarese told her that Haarsma choked her.


Officer Alison Savarese

Taskforce investigators interviewed Officer Alison Savarese twice, once at SPPD subsequent to the shooting and once at PCSO in the days following the shooting. The following is a summary of her statements. Investigators recorded the interviews with Officer Savarese and a transcript of the full interviews are available. This summary does not and is not intended to reflect Officer Savarese's full statements.

Officer Savarese was meeting with Officer Thomas when the call was dispatched. Officer Savarese was originally dispatched with another officer but since Officer Thomas was with her she advised dispatch that she would go with Officer Savarese. When the officers arrived they contacted the complainant, Janet Kenny. Kenny explained she had been having constant issues with Haarsma. Kenny told the officers that Haarsma had been harassing her and causing problems. Kenny stated that she was gone for the day and that when she returned home her neighbors told her Haarsma threw her patio furniture off of her balcony and then put it in the dumpster. Officer Thomas told Officer Savarese that she dealt with Haarsma before so she would take the call as "primary." The officers told Kenny to go downstairs and they would attempt to contact Haarsma.

The officers went to Haarsma's condominium where they found a sign with his name on it and handwritten statements on the door stating that people should stay out of his apartment. They knocked on the door several times but Haarsma never answered. Officer Savarese switched to the SPPD information channel on her police radio and requested a phone number for Haarsma. After being provided phone numbers the dispatcher told Officer Savarese to use "universal precautions" and that Haarsma was "Code 20" (had mental health issues). Officer Savarese tried calling the phone numbers for Haarsma and she could hear his phone ringing inside the residence. She described the phone ringtone as a duck quacking and they could hear the tone moving about inside causing the officers to believe Haarsma was inside the condominium and moving around. They yelled through the door that they wanted to talk with Haarsma but he did not respond.

Officers Savarese and Thomas then went downstairs and spoke with two witnesses. At some point while speaking with the witnesses Officer Thomas told Officer Savarese that she was going to work the call as a petit theft. As Officer Thomas investigated, Officer Savarese walked around and talked with neighbors who provided their perspective of Haarsma and his problematic behavior. The officers were able to recover the complainant's furniture from the dumpster. The officers returned the furniture to Kenny but Officer Savarese was unsure of what Kenny did with it.

Kenny told the officers she was tired of Haarsma's behavior and wanted to know when something was going to be done because incidents keep occurring. Officer Thomas reiterated to Officer Savarese that she was going to continue with the petit theft investigation and proceed to the police department to make a photo pack. Officer Savarese agreed to obtain written statements from the two eye witnesses while she awaited Officer Thomas' return. Officer Savarese sat in her cruiser while the witnesses completed the forms and she waited for Officer Thomas to return. Officer Savarese did not do any investigative research on Haarsma while in her cruiser waiting


for Officer Thomas to return because she was trying to maintain her status as a "blind administrator" for the photo array presentation.

While in her cruiser, Officer Savarese sent a text message to Officer Thomas asking if she was almost finished and she indicated she was. A few minutes later a woman knocked on Officer Savarese ' s window and told her Haarsma exited his condominium and that he was on the balcony. Because Officer Thomas was leading the investigation, Officer Savarese called her via cell phone to determine how she wanted her to proceed. Officer Thomas did not answer right away so Officer Savarese keyed up on her radio to tell Officer Thomas to answer her phone and she did.

Officer Savarese told Officer Thomas Haarsma exited his residence and asked her what she wanted her to do with him. Officer Thomas told her to make contact with Haarsma and to detain him. Officer Savarese did not think there was going to be a problem with Haarsma and immediately proceeded alone to take him into custody because she wanted to detain Haarsma before he went back into the residence.

Officer Savarese had at the time she proceeded to detain Haarsma received information from dispatch that Haarsma was "code 20" and she knew residents were concerned about Haarsma' s behavior. However, Officer Savarese stated there was never any discussion about a possible Baker Act or handling the call as a mental health matter. She felt from what she knew that Haarsma had not displayed behavior that night indicating the matter should be handled as a mental health call.

After talking with Officer Thomas and deciding that she was going to immediately take Haarsma into custody, Officer Savarese ascended the staircase to the second floor balcony where she saw Haarsma watering his plants in front of his residence. Haarsma did not see Officer Savarese until she was at the top of the stairs approaching him and she called his name. Officer Savarese intended to talk with Haarsma and detain him but stated she planned to make the final decision about her course of action based on Haarsma' s behavior. Officer Savarese stated her legal basis to detain Haarsma was regarding the petit theft investigation. She explained there were witnesses and the officers wanted to talk with Haarsma. Officer Savarese knew Officer Thomas said something about AP AD and she also knew what they were investigating was not an arrestable offense when she attempted to detain Haarsma.

When Officer Savarese saw Haarsma she called him by his first name and he turned to look at her. Haarsma did not say anything but had a startled look and appeared dismissive. Officer Savarese reached for Haarsma's arm to handcuff him because his condominium door was open and she did not want him to flee into the residence . Officer Savarese stated that she told Haarsma, " I need you to put your hands behind your back." At that point Haarsma backed up and was facing his apartment (north). Haarsma told Officer Savarese "no" and he became aggressive in his mannerisms and his tone. She again told him she needed him to put his hands behind his back as she grabbed him and tried to tum him around. Haarsrna began to tense and then moved toward her.


Officer Savarese put her hand on Haarsma's chest and told him not to come toward her or she was going to use her Taser on him. Officer Savarese then called over the police radio for additional units to respond. Officer Savarese pushed Haarsma back and he made a comment to the effect of him being either CTI or CIT, and that "she" was going to be arrested (CIT is law enforcement Crisis Intervention Team mental health training). Haarsma' s CIT statement caused Officer Savarese to pause and think about law enforcement CIT training (Officer Savarese was not CIT trained).

Because Haarsma resisted Officer Savarese when she was attempting to detain him, Officer Savarese told Haarsma he was being arrested for resisting an officer. He responded by moving toward her with his body and a struggle ensued. Officer Savarese positioned Haarsma away from her at one point; however, he then moved toward her aggressively with his body. She attempted to draw her Taser and told Haarsma that he was going to be "tased." Haarsma then grabbed Officer Savarese ' s right hand to keep her from removing the Taser from its holster. Officer Savarese then radioed to other units to "step it up" as the situation was escalating.

Officer Savarese attempted to take Haarsma to the ground but she does not know exactly where she grabbed him and he ended up on his knees. Haarsma and Officer Savarese never fully went to the ground so that she could have tried to get him into a prone position for handcuffing. At some point during the struggle Officer Savarese also ended up with her knee on the ground. They both stood up and Haarsma put his hand around Officer Savarese ' s neck. They were faceto-face with Haarsma's hands on Officer Savarese's throat in the middle of the balcony. Officer Savarese explained at that point she could still breathe. Officer Savarese looked at Haarsma and said, "are you serious?" or "are you fucking serious?" Officer Savarese explained she could not believe what he was doing and after she asked him what he was doing that Haarsma gripped her neck harder and to the point that she could no longer breathe.

Haarsma then clamped down on Officer Savarese ' s neck even harder and she was gasping for air. Officer Savarese's breathing became even more difficult, her gasping worsened, and she became light-headed. Officer Savarese stated she drew her gun and "hipshot" two rounds. Haarsma moaned and stumbled quickly to get back towards his apartment. Officer Savarese began yelling commands for Haarsma to get on the ground as she did not know what he had behind his apartment door. A few moments later, another officer ran up the stairs. At one point, Officer Savarese called out "shots fired" over the radio. Then another officer arrived and she directed that officer to handcuff Haarsma. Other officers arrived on the scene and one officer told her to rack the slide on her gun because she had a "stove pipe." Officer Savarese racked her gun and then re-holstered.

Officer Savarese stated that she was afraid she was going to die while being choked by Haarsma because she could not breathe and was becoming lightheaded. Officer Savarese complained of injuries to the sides of her neck, right wrist, an abrasion on her right knee, and her collar brass was tom off. Two days after the incident Officer Savarese developed bruising to the top of her right foot.


Witness Interviews

Investigators interviewed several witnesses in addition to the officers. The following summarizes the witnesses' statements. Investigators recorded the witness interviews and a transcript of each interview is available. This summary does not and is not intended to reflect any witness' full statement.

Janet Kenny

Janet Kenny had on-going issues with Haarsma. Kenny's condominium is a few doors west of Haarsma's residence on the same floor. Their dispute started when Kenny's family (including children) would visit her and Haarsma felt they were too loud. Kenny explained to investigators details of the March 2020 incident when Haarsma took her medication and she called the police.

As part of the on-going discord, Kenny stated that three days before the shooting, on August 4, 2020, she received an email from Haarsma titled, "Crimes against Humanity," and Haarsma wrote in the email his hope that she would leave. Haarsma further stated in the email that he had a feeling Kenny would be sentenced to life in prison for her crimes against God. Haarsma also wrote that he wanted to attend Kenny's execution to prove to all of her victims that she no longer existed. Kenny forwarded this email to members of the condo association and they expressed their concerns through an email chain. This resulted in the August 6, 2020, response by three SPPD officers as explained previously.

On August 7, 2020, Kenny again called SPPD after learning that Haarsma threw her patio furniture off the balcony and into a dumpster. When officers responded, Kenny stated she told them that Haarsma's behavior "has got to stop." Kenny told the officers that Haarsma's behavior has been escalating and she was getting worried. She stated that other neighbors made statements to "kind of push the officers" to do something that night. She explained neighbors were complaining that Haarsma was going to get away with committing a crime.

Kenny saw Officer Savarese make contact with Haarsma as he was watering his plants on the second floor balcony. Kenny saw the officer try to handcuff Haarsma but he pushed her. The officer responded by trying to take Haarsma to the ground but he was too strong. Kenny heard Officer Savarese say, "Are you kidding me?" Kenny saw Haarsma choking and holding Officer Savarese on the balcony railing. Kenny believed Haarsma was trying to get to his residence as the officer followed him and the physical altercation continued until she heard two gunshots. Haarsma continued fighting with the officer until others arrived. Kenny stated she believes Officer Savarese did nothing wrong.

Sherry Mellow

Mellow was sitting at the pool with her husband when she saw a male whom she did not know (Haarsma) throw patio furniture over the second-floor balcony and eventually carry it to a dumpster. Mellow was visiting the complex. When the male returned upstairs, Mellow realized he threw away someone else's property.


After the police responded Mellow saw the same male exit a condominium on the second floor. Mellow found Officer Savarese in her cruiser and told her that Haarsma was outside. Mellow saw the officer contact Haarsma and heard her tell him to get on the ground as he grabbed the officer by the throat and punched her. She felt the male wanted to retreat into his residence but the officer was in his way. Mellow thought that Haarsma was going to push the officer over the balcony and thought the officer did everything she could to gain control. The male still continued towards the officer even after being shot.

Dale Meyers

Meyers was out by the pool when he heard Haarsma had thrown a neighbor's furniture over the balcony and into the dumpster. He saw the officers unsuccessfully attempt to contact Haarsma at his condominium. Meyers later saw one of the officers contact Haarsma and he heard the officer giving him commands to get down. Meyers saw Haarsma grab the officer pushing her towards the ground with him on top of her. Meyers stated the officer had no choice but to shoot and that Haarsma would have killed her had she not shot him. Meyers knew Haarsma used drugs and hated women and children.

Angelika Lopez

Lopez is the granddaughter of the complainant, Janet Kenny. It was her son ' s medication that Haarsma took from Kenny' s front porch in March 2020. Lopez was aware of the concerning email Haarsma sent to Kenny on August 4 th.

Lopez was at Kenny' s residence on August 7 th and saw Officer Savarese contact Haarsma outside of his residence. Lopez stated that Haarsma had something in his hand and the officer told him to put it down. A fight ensued between Haarsma and Officer Savarese and Lopez observed that the officer had a hard time trying to physically control Haarsma. The officer gave him commands until her voice went faint. Lopez went to help the officer when she heard two gunshots.

Jennifer Handel

Handel resides at the complex and left her home at 7: 15 p.m. She noticed people in the pool area pointing at Haarsma' s door. When she returned about thirty minutes later she saw two police officers talking with Kenny and the officers then knocked on Haarsma's door. Handel later heard voices talking and looked out her window to see Haarsma leaning on the railing. Handel did not initially see the officer, but once she heard the officer call for backup on the radio she realized there was an altercation between Haarsma and the officer. She heard the officer giving commands and looked out her door to what she described as Haarsma on the ground with Officer Savarese on her back. Handel stated the officer sounded scared. The officer gave commands until Handel heard two gunshots. Handel believes that Haarsma suffered from mental illness based on past statements he made about people breaking into his residence. Handel also believes that Haarsma did not like law enforcement based on some of his social media posts.


Brian Bums

Brian Bums was at the pool and heard someone giving commands. Bums said it sounded like someone was getting "the hell beat out of them" and then heard two gunshots.

Beth Crosa

Beth Crosa heard a female screaming as if she was being hurt followed by two gunshots. Crosa saw the officer near Haarsma's residence holding her neck. Crosa had an incident with Haarsma the day before the shooting (August 6, 2020) when he yelled at her and she contacted SPPD. This incident was handled as a desk call with a telephone response and Crosa was referred to the condominium association.

David Myers

David Myers was in a stairwell when he heard arguing and saw Haarsma with his arms wrapped around the officer and the officer telling him to get off of her. Myers was afraid Haarsma was going to throw the officer off the balcony.

Singmei Lai

Singrnei Lai was on her front porch and saw Haarsma's arms stretched out towards the officer and then heard two gunshots after she went back into her home.

Stephanie Cieble

Stephanie Cieble saw the officer being thrown around and thought Haarsma was going to hurt or kill the officer. Cieble heard two gunshots during the altercation between Haarsma and the officer.

Other Eye-Witness Interviews

Taskforce investigators interviewed eight additional eye-witnesses who reported seeing Officer Savarese struggling with Haarsma, Haarsma choking Officer Savarese, and the officer yelling commands at Haarsma. Four additional witnesses heard arguing followed by gunshots and nine additional witnesses heard just gunshots. See the main case file for details of these witnesses' statements and their identities.

Physical Evidence from the Altercation

Physical evidence at the scene, injuries to Officer Savarese, and observations made of her uniform are consistent with Officer Savarese's account of the incident and witness statements.

Officer Savarese and witnesses stated that Haarsma attacked and choked Officer Savarese to the point she had difficulty breathing. Parts of Officer Savarese's uniform were found at the scene and her injuries, specifically the redness and marks on her neck, are consistent with the accounts given.


Haarsma suffered two gunshot wounds on his upper left side of his torso in front of the armpit area. The wounds were consistent with contact gunshot wounds, which is also consistent with Officer Savarese and Haarsma being in close contact with each other. The location of the wounds are consistent with Haarsma's left arm being raised which would have allowed the officer to position her firearm in a manner consistent with where he was shot and for the rounds to have the trajectory they did through the torso, which was a slightly downward angle towards his right hip area.

Haarsma 's Social Media

Investigators found that Haarsma had a Facebook account to which he had recently posted. In many of the posts Haarsma ranted about SPPD, their response to the condominium, and their interactions with him. One post referred to an officer being a "sexy closet homosexual in uniform." He also referred to officers as needing education, wearing unflattering outfits, and driving wimpy cars. Haarsma expressed his dislike for Police Chief Anthony Holloway in his Facebook posts, although there is no indication that Haarsma actually knew Chief Holloway. Haarsma stated on Facebook that Chief Holloway had worked at the Chicago Police Department, which he claimed to be a corrupt agency. He claimed officers entrap citizens, create false arrest records, and harass citizens for not committing crimes. Haarsma also posted a claim that Chief Holloway attempted to cover up an attempted murder.

Background Regarding Haarsma and the French Quarter Condominium Association

Haarsma's relationship with residents of the French Quarter Condominiums was troubled and his relationship with Condominium Association was contentious. In October of 2015, the French Quarter North Condominium Association issued a claim of lien against Jeffrey Haarsma for $2,636.73. The claim was for unpaid condo association dues and maintenance.

On January 14, 2016, the condo association issued Haarsma a summons for notice of !is pendens, and he was served on January 21, 2016. On January 12, 2017, a Uniform Final Judgment of Foreclosure was issued in favor of the French Quarter North Condominium Association against Haarsma. The judgment against Jeffrey Haarsma was for $14,324.577. In response, Jeffrey Haarsma filed a petition for bankruptcy in February of 2017.

On May 11, 2020, the bankruptcy court issued an order dismissing the Chapter 13 bankruptcy filed by Jeffrey Haarsma. On July 10, 2020, the French Quarter North Condominium Association filed the dismissed bankruptcy order to continue with the final judgment of foreclosure.

The concerning e-mail Haarsma sent to Kenny on August 4, 2020, was forwarded to the French Quarter North Condominium Association and the management company. During a subsequent email conversation between board members, board member Efrain Toro stated: "this is very dangerous. I saw him a couple of days ago and he looks like he has been through hell and back. He is a ticking time bomb, what can be done about this. The authorities should be notified or we the condominium should file a suit and expedite his foreclosure or forced eviction if that's even possible. We don't want to be in the news and that is where this is going."


As more fully set forth above, the email Haarsma sent to Kenny resulted in the call to SPPD on August 6, 2020 where Officers Lukes, Seay, and Douglas responded. After speaking with Kenny, the officers cleared the call in the CAD indicating that they referred Kenny to the condo association as this is an on-going issue with Jeffrey Haarsma. This call was not documented in a police report.

Conclusion

Based on the Taskforce investigation, including Officer Savarese ' s statements, the statements of eye witnesses to Haarsma choking Officer Savarese, and physical evidence, it is my conclusion that Officer Alison Savarese acted lawfully pursuant to Florida Statute 776.02 when she shot Haarsma and caused his death. This is consistent with the determination made by the State Attorney as a result of his independent investigation.

However, it is also my conclusion that this matter should have been handled as a mental health call and not a criminal matter involving a minor petit theft. Haarsma had a history of mental and behavioral health issues, some of which were known to the St. Petersburg Police Department since 2017 and some brought to officers ' attention as recently as the day before the shooting. Information directly and indirectly indicating that Haarsma suffered from mental health issues was also conveyed to the police department (Kenny told the call-taker that Haarsma needed to go to the hospital) and the responding officers on the night of the shooting. The criminal matter that the officers investigated- taking of a $60 plastic furniture set that had since been returned undamaged to the owner- was a symptom of Haarsma' s mental and behavioral health issues and a "technical theft" for which the officers could not have effected an arrest that night. While the officers were attempting to solve the problem that residents were having with Haarsma, the more prudent approach would have been to handle the matter as a mental health call.

During the course of the Taskforce investigation we determined that SPPD records reveal a pattern of calls to the French Quarter Condominiums regarding Haarsma and those calls establish information was available to officers establishing Haarsma' s history of mental health issues, including a Baker Act in 2017 when Haarsma violently fought with officers while being taken into custody. SPPD responded to the French Quarter Condominiums regarding Haarsma eight times in 2017; five times in 2019; and 12 times in 2020.

SPPD responded to the French Quarter Condominiums on August 6, 2020, the day before the shooting, because of residents ' concerns about Haarsma and his threatening behavior. It appears that the August 6 th call resulted in a three officer response because of information in the SPPD CAD system that notified dispatchers and officers of Haarsma' s mental health issues and concern over his behavior. It appears that such an alert did not occur in response to the August 7 th call because Kenny' s unit number was entered in the CAD and not Haarsma' s unit number. There was also a second call regarding Haarsma the day before that a SPPD officer handled by telephone that did not flag in the CAD.


The officers who responded to the call on August 6, 2020, cleared the call in the CAD and did not write a police report concerning Haarsma's threats against Kenny. Officer Thomas researched the SPPD records system, but because the officers did not write a report the day before, the information that Haarsma had written the threatening email was unknown to Officer Thomas.

It is clear that Officer Savarese did not have any legal authority to arrest Haarsma for petit theft when she approached and attempted to handcuff him. Officer Thomas stated that she directed Officer Savarese to detain Haarsma because she was considering a live show up with the witnesses to see if they could identify him as the person who removed Kenny's furniture. It is arguable whether Officer Savarese, at the direction of Officer Thomas, had legal grounds to detain Haarsma under these circumstances. Regardless, if the matter had been handled as a mental health call and not a criminal matter over the already returned property there would not have been an effort to go hands-on and detain Haarsma.

A contributing factor to Officer Savarese's use of deadly force was that she attempted to take Haarsma into custody alone. Given that Officer Savarese had been told by the SPPD dispatcher that Haarsma had mental health issues and the information the officers had received from residents prior to Officer Thomas leaving for the police department, it would have been a better course of action for Officer Savarese to have waited for back-up before attempting to detain Haarsma for the petit theft investigation, and an even better course of action would have been for Officer Savarese to not have been left alone at the scene.

I am glad to discuss this matter with you further and answer any questions. The matter is now being referred to you for any action you deem appropriate.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri Pinellas County, Florida

BG/sj

leading the way for a safer pinellas · reviewed physical evidence at the scene, reviewed documents...

Documents