One of the police officers involved in the August shooting death of a 19-year-old black man in Colorado Springs was also involved in another shooting seven years ago in which an unarmed man died.
District Attorney Dan May found then-officer Alan Van’t Land followed department procedures in that December 2012 shooting.
Sgt. Van’t Land is one of two officers who fired their weapons at De’Von Bailey after he ran from them during questioning about an earlier armed robbery.
In 2012, Van’t Land was involved in a car chase with a stolen Jeep Liberty that stretched for nine miles through residential neighborhoods. The suspect, Robert Kresky, eventually got out and began running, screaming expletives at police and telling them he was going to shoot them, according to the decision letter from the prosecutor’s office.
Kresky ignored multiple demands that he put his hands up and, according to May’s office, was fiddling with his waistband, leading officers to believe he was armed. An autopsy found he was hit 14 times by bullets from Van't Land and another officer.
No gun was found on Kresky's body but the investigation did recover a stolen gun near the Jeep he’d been driving.
Van’t Land has been with the Colorado Springs police department for 11 years. He is back on duty. The El Paso County Sheriff’s department investigated Bailey’s shooting and delivered its report to the District Attorney’s office, which is now weighing whether the officers involved followed proper procedures.
