The Aurora, Missouri police chief says an officer, with ties to the Twin Lakes Area, who shot and killed a 21-year-old woman during a May traffic stop is back to regular police work.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Officer David Chatman has returned to the force following an investigation by the Aurora Police Department after the fatal shooting of Savannah Hill, a mother of two.
At the time of the shooting, according to court documents, Hill was trying to help police arrest a man wanted for a parole violation. The county prosecutor said Hill was “completely innocent.”
Officer Chatman fired his gun during the traffic stop, after the car lurched backward, striking another officer. Hill was sitting in the driver’s seat, but authorities say it was the actions of the fugitive in her back seat that caused the car to move.
Following an investigation by the Springfield News-Leader, it was discovered Chatman has a checkered past, including a falsified report to cover up alleged police brutality, working at five different law enforcement agencies over four years and leaving at least two recent jobs under what officials told the News-Leader were on bad terms.
Chatman has worked at several law enforcement agencies in northern Arkansas, including Flippin, Bull Shoals, and Cotter. The falsified report was filed while Chatman worked at Bull Shoals. Chatman came back to Bull Shoals to work full time before working at the Jasper Police Department and Newton County Sheriff’s Office.
Days after the Aurora shooting, Chatman’s boss, Chief Richard Witthuhn, said he was unaware Chatman had once falsified a police report.
Witthuhn said Friday Chatman was on leave following the shooting, but is now back on the force. Chatman was cleared by the county prosecutor following an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Witthuhn said the other officer involved in the fatal incident, Chris Kozisek, returned to work about a week after the shooting.
Court documents say Kozisek was the officer struck by the car.
The 19-year-old fugitive whom police were attempting to arrest has been charged with murder under Missouri’s felony murder rule, which allows prosecutors to file a murder charge if a victim is killed during the commission of a felony.
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