A special Cole County Prosecutor appointed to look into the matter has determined there is no basis for criminal charges against two officers who shot a man in Hitt Street Garage in April.
Special Prosecutor Douglas Abele found that University of Missouri Police Department Officer Zachary Chinea and Columbia Police Department Officer Timothy Giger fired shots at Mark Adiar after Adair “approached Chinea in a threatening manner and drew what appeared to be a large caliber handgun, pointing it at the officer.” The events were documented in Chinea’s body camera footage, which was released Monday with Abele’s report (as a warning, this video contains graphic content):
In the report, Abele documents the sequence of events. Adair had recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for rape. The officers were aware that earlier in the day, Adair had allegedly committed robbery and sexual assault, and that he was armed. Officers learned Adair may be in Hitt Street Garage on the MU campus, and Chinea drove up to find Adair talking with three females and trying to enter their vehicle in the garage. That is the point where the video above starts.
Chinea was able to block Adair’s weapon, but the two began wrestling, with Adair ending up on top of Chinea and the two struggling to grab Chinea’s duty weapons, according to Chinea. Two CPD officers arrived on scene amidst the struggle, and Officer Giger fired two shots into the back of Adair, believing Chinea “was in imminent danger of serious harm or death.” Despite the shots, Adair continued wrestling, and Giger fired a third shot, hitting Adair in the area of his left eye. Chinea was then able to push Adair off of him, and discharged multiple shots into Adair’s chest and abdomen. The report says Chineas was not aware at that point that the other officers were on scene, or that Giger had fired shots at Adair.
Adair died from his wounds, and Chinea was wounded in the hand by a gunshot during the altercation.
