The Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Orange County state’s attorney have cleared a Ludlow police officer who fatally shot a man following a chase in August.
The offices’ independent reviews found that Officer Zachary Paul’s use of force was “objectively reasonable and justified,” they said in a joint release issued by the Attorney General’s Office on Thursday. Under the circumstances, there was “no alternative but to use deadly force,” they said.
Paul, 21, graduated from the Vermont Police Academy one month before fatally shooting 35-year-old Michael Mills, of Cavendish. Paul was on patrol with Cpl. Jeffrey Warfle as part of his ongoing training with the Ludlow Police Department.
According to state police, Mills called police more than two dozen times on the evening of Aug. 15. During the calls, Mills said he wanted to die and asked to speak with his parole officer, police said. Using cell tower data, authorities determined that Mills was in Ludlow.
About an hour later, Paul and Warfle received a report of a black SUV driving erratically on West Hill Road in Ludlow and in the Ludlow police station parking lot.
Paul and Warfle pursued Mills, attempting to stop the SUV, but eventually lost sight of it.
“Numerous pedestrians reported seeing the SUV traveling at a high rate of speed through the town,” officials said in Thursday’s release.
Mills continued contacting the police, making “multiple suicidal statements” and “daring the police to put a bullet in his head,” stating multiple times that he had a gun, officials wrote. Mills also said he was not alone, they said.
At about 9:30 p.m., Paul and Warfle used cell phone tracking data to locate Mills in his vehicle in a Shaw’s parking lot. Mills fled at a “high rate of speed,” evading commands and driving into both lanes of traffic, according to the release. At one point, Mills “aggressively reversed his SUV” into the police cruiser, which caused the police vehicle’s engine to smoke, officials wrote.
Mills lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree on South Hill Road. The officers approached his vehicle with guns, commanding Mills to exit the vehicle with his hands up, but to no avail.
“He howled in apparent distress, aggressively revved the vehicle’s engine, and shouted ‘I would rather die’ repeatedly in a fatalistic manner,” according to the release.
Despite Mills’ claims that he did not have a weapon, when Warfle opened Mills’ passenger door, Warfle observed a gun pointed toward him. He yelled to Paul, who promptly shot Mills in the head.
Mills was initially brought to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, but died nine days after the shooting, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
An obituary published on Legacy.com said Mills “had a lot to offer the world.”
“Taken from us too young, he will forever be in our hearts. He is at peace at long last,” the obituary reads.