The LELDF Gets Involved: 
Todd Sears Indicted for Manslaughter

In March 1998, Officer Todd Sears, 33, of the Omaha Police Department was indicted by a grand jury for manslaughter. The case involves an incident which occurred during a heavy snowfall last October. Officer Sears, a 10-year veteran of law enforcement, responded to a call to check on property damage to an automobile at the site of an accident. Officer Sears was sitting in the passenger seat of the police cruiser while his partner drove. 

 

When they arrived at the scene of the accident, a black man approached them. Officer Sears asked if he was involved with the accident, and the man said that he was not. But as he got closer, Sears noticed that he had a gun in his waist band. The officer ordered him to halt and raise his hands. Instead the individual kept coming and pulled the weapon out and pointed it at Officer Sears. Officer Sears fired three shots, two of which struck the suspect in the heart. This was the first time Officer Sears had ever used his firearm in the line of duty.

 

It was discovered later that the individual was intoxicated and drugged with both cocaine and alcohol.

 

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The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund also investigated the case and found the use of deadly force by Officer Sears to be reasonable and justified. Officer Sears was faced with an unknown individual approaching him with a weapon drawn and pointed at him. He had no other choice but to respond with deadly force. The media attention and the involvement of a state senator turned this into a racial case, when, in fact, it was simply one of an officer defending himself.

The LELDF has started a fund-raising campaign to assist Officer Sears with attorney fees and has suggested two excellent expert witnesses on the use of force. If you would like to help with this case, please send us a donation as soon as possible.