FARGO (KFGO) – Following a protest at City Hall and calls for immediate release of body cam footage from an officer-involved fatal shooting last week, Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski says he understands why the community is anxious for answers.
“These are complex, emotional, traumatic incidents both for the victim’s family as well as for the officers involved, but from the perspective of thoroughness, fairness, and transparency, it’s really important that not only do you have video, but you also have interviews of witnesses and it’s put in context,” Zibolski said.
North Dakota’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation has taken over as lead agency in the case, with Attorney General Drew Wrigley personally leading the investigation.
Zibolski says he’s had conversations with the family of Shane Netterville, who was shot and killed by officer Adam O’Brien when Netterville tried to drive a stolen van away from an interaction with Fargo police on Friday. Zibolski says he’s also been checking in on officer O’Brien, who is on administrative leave while the investigation is underway. Zibolski says he’s not aware of any incidents in the 11-year force veteran’s personnel file that would indicate anything problematic or concerning about O’Brien’s performance.
“The big thing for him and for the Netterville family is the same: everyone wants to know all the answers and we want the case to be completed -and again it has to be as thorough but as expeditious as possible – and I think that’s what’s happening, so we’re pretty happy with the direction it’s going right now and we’ll wait for the results,” he said.
Zibolski says he hopes the credibility of investigation and how it is being conducted will quell any possibility of community unrest when the body cam footage and related findings from BCI do come out.
“Who knows what the decision will be, but I think we need again to continue to have our community and everyone open to the reasonable conversation of: here are all the facts, here’s how the investigation was conducted, and here’s the conclusion, and then what’s the action after,” he said.
