Deputy Sheriff Matthew Yates
Officer: Clark County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Sheriff Matthew Yates
Date: 7/24/2022 Location: South Charleston, OH FACTORS (1,2,4,5,7,15,18,19)
Perpetrator(s) Involved: Cole Matthew White
Criminal Activity History/Involved: Unknown. / Yes, White shot his mother when she came to his home to see how he was doing out of concern he was having mental health issues.
Mental Illness: Yes, White’s family reported he had “mental health problems” and a female relative went to his home to check up on him.
Substance Abuse History/Involved: Unknown. / None stated.
Race/Sex/Age: Black/Male/27
What prompted the initial contact with the killer? At around 10:51 a.m. on July 24, 2022, Clark County Deputy Sheriffs responded to a 911 call of a burglary at a mobile home involving shots fired. Upon arrival at the scene, Deputy Sheriff Matthew Yates and another deputy heard gunfire from inside the mobile home, so they entered it to investigate and encountered Cole White inside. Unbeknownst to the deputies, White had just shot his mother who was the female relative that was checking up on him.
Actions taken by subject toward police: White unleashed a barrage of bullets at the deputies as soon as they entered the trailer. Deputy Yates was shot and unable to escape from the trailer as White held him there for hours during a stand-off with the other deputies. The other deputy was not shot and made it out of the trailer with a minor injury.
Reactions by the police: Tactical teams eventually made entry around 2:30 p.m. and rescued Deputy Yates from the mobile home, loading him into an armored vehicle to transport him to a hospital where tragically he was declared dead. After Deputy Yates was removed from the trailer home, it caught fire and was destroyed with White and his murdered relative inside.
How murdered? Deputy Sheriff Yates was shot while investigating a 911 call of a burglary.
What could have been done differently for the officer to still be alive? Fearing someone’s life was in immediate danger, the deputies courageously made entry into the trailer and Deputy Yates was immediately gunned down. Officers in Uvalde, TX were rightly criticized for not making entry into the classroom so it would be hypocritical to criticize these deputies for doing so.
Would the officer have been justified to use deadly force before being murdered? Having heard gunfire coming from inside the trailer, the deputies were justified to use deadly force as soon as they identified the threat. Unfortunately, in this scenario the deputies knowingly walked into what could be an ambush and they did not have time to use deadly force first.
Outcome for the cop-killer: White’s body was found in the ashes of the burned-out trailer; an autopsy will determine cause of death.
Miscellaneous: For those that want to replace the police with social workers when dealing with those having a mental health crisis – if social workers were sent on this 911 call, they would have been murdered and merely added to the body count.
