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Suspect Killed In Yuba County Officer-Involved Shooting Had History Of Resisting Arrest, Battery On Officers

LINDA (CBS13) — The Yuba County Sheriff released new information about the officer-involved shooting that killed 45-year-old assault suspect Jahmal Derrick Stewart Monday.

The incident started with reports of an armed assault in progress on the 1400 block of North Beale Road in Linda Monday afternoon. Deputies later determined that it was a strong-arm robbery of an elderly man. The victim's son, Michael, said his 72-year-old father was beaten and had his cane stolen by the suspect.

"Out of nowhere, just jumped on top of him and attacked him," Michael explained. "My father asked him, all he did was ask him if he was looking for someone -- if he could help him. The guy got very violent with him and pinned him down on the [car] seat and started choking him."

The first deputy to arrive on the scene reportedly made contact with Stewart as he was walking west away from the location of the assault on North Beale Road. The deputy then told Stewart to remove his hand from his coat pocket and went to pat him down for weapons because he matched the description of the armed assault suspect.

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As soon as he began the pat-down, the deputy said Stewart tried to run away so the deputy tried to retrain him but Stewart became violent and grabbed the deputies holstered weapon.

The two continued to struggle on the ground, but the Sheriff's department said Stewart was much bigger than the deputy and continued to try and grab the deputy's weapon.

As they fought, a backup deputy arrived on the scene and reportedly heard the first deputy say "he's got my gun."

Both deputies said they heard a shot fired from the first deputy's weapon that the suspect was attempting to take out of the holster.

At that time, the backup deputy fired three to five shots, killing Stewart.

The Sheriff's Department said several witnesses also saw the struggle and said the suspect tried multiple times to get the deputy's gun.

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According to the department,  due to the type of holsters carried by deputies, a duty weapon will not fire when fully holstered; leading them to believe that the suspect had successfully taken the weapon far enough out of the holster for the duty weapon to fire.

Through the investigation, the department learned that Stewart had an active felony no-bail warrant out of Sacramento and was on active probation for various weapons violations.

Stewart also has spent time in prison for multiple felony convictions and had a history of violence including child abuse, domestic violence, aggravated assault, and multiple arrests for resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer.

The two deputies involved were placed on paid administrative for the investigation.

An autopsy to determine Stweart's official cause of death is scheduled for Thursday.

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