POCATELLO — The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, asked to investigate two separate, police-involved deaths in April, called the death of Dennis Buzzell a “justifiable homicide,” saying officers acted appropriately during the McCammon standoff.

“As I think anyone who has reviewed the materials would conclude, the officers actually showed great restraint not firing upon Mr. Buzzell when he was walking toward them with this firearm and waiting until he leveled it at the sergeant prior to firing shots,” said Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Shawna Dunn.

Dunn and fellow deputy prosecutor from Ada County, Scott Bandy, made the trip to Pocatello on Thursday, revealing the findings of the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office in both the Buzzell and Kevin Benglan cases.

Benglan died April 24 shortly after being Tased four times by officers with the Pocatello Police Department. He was found in a South Second Avenue apartment, the resident of which reported Benglan had broken in.

Bandy said officers acted appropriately in that situation and no criminal charges would be filed. He said an autopsy revealed that Benglan’s cardiac arrest was caused by an “acute methamphetamine overdose.”

“We find that the officers not only acted appropriately, but there is no basis for criminal charges and that Mr. Benglan’s death was not a result of their conduct but the result of methamphetamine overdose,” Bandy said.

Because officers were involved in the deaths of both Benglan and Buzzell, an investigation into each incident had to be performed to determine if the officers behaved appropriately during each incident and determine whether criminal charges against any officer involved were appropriate.

Since the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office works with the officers involved in both incidents, it would have been a conflict for that office to conduct the investigation. For incidents such as these, Dunn explained, agreements are forged between prosecutor’s offices throughout Idaho to handle such cases for each other.

The standoff between police and Buzzell began on April 14 when Buzzell’s sister called police after a phone conversation with her brother, during which he discharged a weapon in response to her asking if he had a gun.

Buzzell, Dunn said, had told police and family that he had been suicidal at times, depressed over his declining health. She said family told investigators he had been abusing alcohol, as well.

When officers responded to the scene in McCammon, Buzzell would not talk to them initially. He eventually came out of the home, had words with officers, threw his cell phone on the ground and went back into the home. A short time later, through a window next to a door, he took a shot at police.

After another substantial amount of time passed, Buzzell exited the back door of the home, walking toward officers and carrying a rifle that was leaned against his left shoulder and pointing upward, Dunn said.

She said officers continued to ask Buzzell to put the gun down.

“Mr. Buzzell refused to do so and eventually lowered that gun to a firing position,” Dunn said. 

He was shot multiple times by two officers. Once he went to the ground, Buzzell was disarmed and immediately treated by paramedics on the scene.

Buzzell survived the incident and appeared to be recovering when in early May, he began to have difficulties. He died on May 10. An autopsy determined the cause of death was the injuries suffered during the standoff, Dunn said.

On April 24, when officers were called out to the South Second Avenue home were Benglan had broken into a basement apartment, Bandy said officers found the man destroying property in the room where the floor was now covered in broken glass and broken furniture.

They said that in between fits of destroying items in the room, Benglan was rolling around on the floor, incurring injuries to himself via the broken glass and materials.

“With the large amount of blood and broken glass, the officers were concerned for their safety,” Bandy said. 

One of the officers then deployed his Taser but Benglan continued to thrash about the room. 

“Through logs we determined that the Taser was deployed four times,” Bandy said. “After the fourth cycle, Mr. Benglan was able to be taken into custody, still requiring significant force.”

Shortly after he was handcuffed, Benglan began to receive medical attention for his injuries from paramedics on the scene. A short time into that attention, he went into cardiac arrest. After being transported to Portneuf Medical Center, Benglan died.