Toxicology report: Man shot by police had meth in system

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A man who was shot to death by a Yakima police officer in December had methamphetamine in his system, Yakima County Coroner Jack Hawkins said Wednesday.

Toxicology tests showed that Stuart Eugene Morgan also had cough medicine in his system when he was shot once in the head Dec. 21 by an officer investigating a noise complaint at the downtown Cascade Apartments.

Police said the officer fired after Morgan, 54, grabbed a large kitchen knife and refused commands to put it down. The bullet struck Morgan just above the left eye.

"He did have a fair amount of meth on board," Hawkins said. "Not enough to kill him, but enough where it could alter his judgment a little bit."

The shooting was one of five involving Yakima police last year, three of which were fatal. The Sunnyside police department also had a fatal shooting in April.

Methamphetamine is an illegal stimulant that is known to produce feelings of paranoia and mania. However, Morgan's stepfather disputed the lab results, saying Morgan took prescription painkillers for arthritis and a badly healed elbow injury from a motorcycle accident.

Although he was unable to cite evidence to the contrary, Robert Prather also disputed that his stepson grabbed a knife. Like other family members, he said police should have subdued Morgan with a Taser.

"There was no knife involved at all," he said, accusing the police of "making things up."

Lt. Mike Merryman, a spokesman for the Yakima police department, said an internal review by command staff found the shooting by Officer Craig Gocha was justified.

Gocha, who started with YPD in 2010, has since been returned to duty. A separate criminal review of the shooting by county Prosecutor Jim Hagarty is still pending.

Morgan had a history of substance-abuse arrests and was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in 1994 for failing to quickly seek help after his wife, Beth, was stricken with what turned out to be a massive drug overdose.

Merryman said officers investigating the shooting found no prescription medication in Morgan's apartment.

"What's important here is what he did," Merryman said. "The officer's response would have been the same. That's not the time for an intervention, so to speak."

Hawkins said the toxicology results were not particularly important to him as far as ascertaining cause of death.

"I know what caused his death," the coroner said. "Being shot."