ALAMOSA — Following a review of the results of an investigation conducted by Colorado Bureau of Investigation into the Oct. 31, 2023, officer involved shooting of 31-year-old Benjamin Arvizo by Deputy Flores with the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office, DA Anne Kelly has determined that “under Colorado law, no criminal charges can or should be filed against Deputy Flores.”
In her letter to Alamosa County Sheriff Robert Jackson explaining her decision, Kelly includes a summary of the facts of the incident, as contained in CBI’s report.
At approximately 3:53 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2023, she writes, officers from the Alamosa Police Department received a report of a red Honda CRV bearing Oregon plates had just been stolen from the parking lot of the IHOP restaurant in Alamosa by a male wearing a white shirt.
As officers responded to IHOP, the reporting party (a co-worker of the victim of the car theft) told police dispatch that the reporting party was following the vehicle and that it was last seen travelling near Walmart in Alamosa at a high rate of speed. The reporting party eventually lost sight of the stolen vehicle and officers were not able to locate it.
While officers were continuing to search for the stolen vehicle, the Alamosa Sheriff’s Office received a report that a male, later identified as Arvizo, had just entered a residence on S County Road 107 in Alamosa holding a large knife and threatening both the male and female inside the residence. Arvizo had located the female resident upstairs and, as she describes it, he raised the knife above his head and threatened to stab her.
The male inside the home stated that he began shouting at the suspect from downstairs. In response to the shouting, Arvizo ran down the stairs with the knife and threatened to stab the male resident. The reporting party stated that the two residents were able to convince Arvizo to leave the residence by providing him with a bag of food and water. Arvizo was then seen driving away from the residence towards a neighbor's home in a red SUV.
Deputy Flores was dispatched to 4997 S County Road 107 in Alamosa at approximately 4:15pm to investigate the burglary. While en route to the residence, Deputy Flores learned from dispatch that Arvizo had left the residence and was possibly traveling to a neighbor's residence. Deputy Flores then drove in that direction.
While approaching a long driveway leading to the residence, Deputy Flores spotted the stolen red Honda SUV with Oregon plates driving ahead of him towards the residence.
The red Honda was in motion when Deputy Flores arrived on scene. The Honda abruptly stopped in front of the residence Arvizo immediately got out of the car, wielding a large, black, hunting style knife.
According to Deputy Flores' body cam and dash cam, Arvizo began swinging the knife back and forth. Arvizo first ran around the front of the Honda, but then reversed back around to the side of the Honda, quickly closing the gap between himself and Deputy Flores.
Review of the dash cam footage shows Arvizo hopping around while still clutching the knife in his hands. Flores got out of his patrol vehicle and immediately shouts "drop the knife."
Arvizo did not comply and, instead, charged Deputy Flores. Deputy Flores drew his service pistol and shouted, "drop the [expletive deleted] knife".
Again, Arvizo did not comply with the Deputy Flores' commands and continued to charge toward the deputy.
Flores then fired four rounds from his duty pistol towards Arvizo as Arvizo continued to quickly close the distance gap between himself and Flores. He then fell to the ground still holding the knife in his hand.
By this time, other officers had arrived on scene, including Colorado State Patrol Trooper Jason Buhr who approached Arvizo and removed the knife from his hand.
In a subsequent interview with CBI, Deputy Flores said he knew Arvizo was armed with a knife and believed that there were no other law enforcement officers on scene and he was alone.
When Arvizo was charging toward him, he believed that he was going to stab him with the knife.
Eleven seconds elapsed between the time Deputy Flores arrived on scene and when Deputy Flores fired his duty pistol.
Arvizo received immediate medical aid from several officers, but lifesaving measures were ineffective. Arvizo was pronounced deceased on scene.
Kelly went on to cite the statute that clarifies when deadly force by a law enforcement official is justified.
C.R.S. 18-1-707 defines the circumstances under which a peace officer can justifiably use physical force in Colorado. The statute states that peace officers, in carrying out their duties, shall apply nonviolent means, when possible, before resorting to the use of physical force. A peace officer may use physical force only if nonviolent means would be ineffective in effecting an arrest, preventing an escape, or preventing an imminent threat of injury to the peace officer or another person.
Kelly concludes by saying, “Deputy Flores was legally justified in his use of reasonable and appropriate physical force in response to an imminent risk of death or great bodily injury himself or others.
“As a result, my office will not be filing criminal charges against Deputy Flores or any other member of law enforcement involved in this incident.
“This case represents a tragedy for the Arvizo family, the law enforcement officers involved and the community as a whole. The District Attorney's Office shares in the grief experienced by the community at the loss of life and the trauma suffered by the family, the community and members of law enforcement.”
