Exclusive video shows fatal shooting on I-44. His mother says officers had other options

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Interstate 44 in Franklin County was shut down last August, after police shot and killed a man walking along the highway.

Now, a First Alert 4 investigation uncovers views never seen by the public: the vantage points of police pointing their guns and a mother’s view on why she says her son should still be alive today.

Under cloud-covered skies on I-44 in Sullivan, a police body camera captures a man pacing alongside interstate traffic. It’s a little before 8 p.m. on August 10.

“Hey, can I talk to you? Just real quick?” one officer can be heard asking the man.

Another officer had already tried talking to him.

“I’ll let you go in just a second, I just want to talk to you,” said an officer.

They acknowledge the man seems to be in distress. The officers stay back, discussing what to do.

“I don’t know what he’s doing,” one officer can be heard saying.

They ultimately request that troopers shut down all westbound lanes. What happens next is captured on three cameras. First Alert 4 Investigates is only showing them to a point, as the various views depict the final moments of a man’s life.

The man is still pacing. Sometimes, you can hear what he’s saying.

Then comes the moment he moves toward two officers, but that view is blocked during the shooting.

A patrol car’s camera shows the officers to the side, the man now clearly on the highway.

The Sullivan officer gives multiple commands, and a Franklin County deputy does too. The Sullivan officer backs up as the man approaches.

Then, they open fire.

“Every day is kind of a nightmare. The grief is overwhelming,” said Alana Ryan.

That man, forever Alana Ryan’s little boy.

“He was just always the best child. He was such a good baby, a good child, a good teenager,” Alana said.

Garrett Ryan was born and raised in Sullivan. He found football and faith. A soul sensitive to others’ pain. But drugs found and hounded him, too.

“He had his struggles. You know, it was hard. It was hard for him. He was harder on himself than anybody else could ever be on him,” Alana said.

But he’d been clean, she said, and working hard. That day, he’d given her a hug before she headed to St. Louis.

“I got to have a last hug. I’m thankful for that. And then it went downhill from there,” she said.

She won’t watch this video. She just can’t.

“You don’t ever want to see your kid like that,” he said.

But First Alert 4 Investigates requested the camera views after witnesses told another media outlet there was no way Garrett didn’t have a knife. A fact now indisputable by the evidence.

Immediately after firing the fatal shots, officers use a Taser on Garrett to get the knife away. You can then clearly see it in the video, a curved knife.

The officers immediately begin R and Missouri State Highway Patrol arrives almost immediately, taping off the scene and collecting evidence.

Hundreds of pages of reports, and ultimately, the Franklin County prosecutor concludes he will not pursue criminal charges against anyone in the incident. That’s partly why First Alert 4 Investigates has chosen not to name the officers and deputies involved.

The case is now closed.

The officers on scene are sometimes visibly shaken.

“You did nothing wrong, so don’t think you did anything wrong,” one officer said.

They don’t appear to disparage Ryan, but say they had no other choice.

“There was just no reason for it,” said one.

But Alana said she doesn’t understand why officers pulled their triggers.

“It’s definitely a preventable act. I don’t feel they even tried to talk him down,” Alana said.

“To me, he never brandished it in an aggressive manner. It was in his hand. It was a very small knife,” said her attorney Tanner Rolfes, whose officers shot. He says they’ve consulted experts, indicating there was time to reassess.

“I don’t believe that it ever should have got to the point where any use of force should have been needed in this case,”

Rolfes said officers should have called in mental health professionals when Garrett was clearly in distress.

“You don’t think when he takes those steps, he is trying to confront officers and hurt them?” asked Chief Investigative Reporter Lauren Trager.

“If at that time the officers perceived that that was a lethal threat to their lives, I believe that the Taser should have been utilized,” said Rolfes.

“In that particular case, I didn’t see where they had any other choice,” said Tim Fitch, a former St. Louis County police chief turned consultant. We showed him the video.

He told First Alert 4 that officers did try to de-escalate, per training and best practices. But it all changed, he said, when Garrett took a stance towards the officers, knife in hand.

“He was using lethal force, the knife, and the officers returned lethal force and stopped it, which is what they’re supposed to do,” said Fitch. “Think about where those officers were. They were out, and there was nothing around, no vehicles, because they moved away from them. No trees to hide behind. There was nothing to hide behind.”

Less-lethal options, he said, aren’t always enough.

“Tasers are one of those things that, they’re nice when they work. But they don’t always work. About 50 percent fail, could be because it hits clothing and doesn’t penetrate,” Fitch said.

He said he feels for both Garrett’s family and the officers.

“I think some people think police take that lightly when they make a decision to use deadly force. You second-guess yourself every time when it’s finished.”

“I guess I’m kind of confused as to why it escalated to that point, and I can only imagine what his thoughts were,” said Alana.

She said Garrett had been making plans for a better life.

“To me, that’s not suicidal. That’s looking for the future, not looking to end it,” she said.

His ashes are now in a locket around her neck. His soul, she said, is in heaven.

“He’s there, where there’s no ugliness anymore. So that gives me a little peace,” she said.

She said she simply wants more answers, or perhaps better training for police in these situations.

Sadly, there was also a separate traffic crash shortly after, while the interstate was shut down for this investigation. Two women and a 5-year-old boy were killed.

First Alert 4 Investigates also obtained the toxicology report for Garrett Ryan. The medical examiner says he had marijuana, ecstasy, and meth in his system.

The Franklin County Sheriff provided a statement for this story, calling the officers’ actions reasonable, writing:

“This is a tragic situation, and it is never the outcome we desire when responding to calls for service. Despite attempts to de-escalate the situation, Mr. Ryan took that option out of the hands of the law enforcement officers and deputies on scene and forced them into a lethal force situation. The law enforcement officers feared for their safety and the safety of the public in the immediate area. Law enforcement officers are forced to discharge their firearms to stop a threat to themselves and others. They are trained to preserve life and avoid the use of force whenever reasonably possible. In this case, their actions were reasonable to protect themselves and others.”

The Sullivan police chief referred us to their attorney, who declined to comment due to potential pending litigation.

Garrett Ryan’s family attorney says he plans to file a lawsuit in the coming days.

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