Anchorage police officer Alexander Roman will not be charged, since he was “legally justified in his use of deadly force against Easter Leafa,” according to the report from the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions.
“Today, the Office of Special Prosecutions completed its review of an officer-involved shooting on August 13, 2024, involving Easter Leafa, 16, and Anchorage Police Department Officer Alexander Roman,” the Department of Law said in a statement.
“The review determined that Officer Roman was legally justified in his use of deadly force against Easter Leafa. The incident occurred after APD received a 911 call alleging Ms. Leafa had threatened a family member with a knife and responded to the report,” the department said. The Office of Special Prosecutions investigates all such officer-involved shootings in the state.
After the incident in August, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance jumped to the conclusion that the police officers were wrong to shoot the teen, although she was a large person who started coming at them with a large knife. She said the shot should never have been fired.
Anchorage Police have had to deal with an increasing number of violent individuals over the past year, and Mayor LaFrance made a public announcement that the police were at fault and that she would open up her own investigation with a third party.
To date, none of the police involved in shooting of suspects has been prosecuted by the Office of Special Prosecutions. There have been five officer-involved shootings in 2024 in Anchorage.
After meeting with the police union officials who supported her campaign, LaFrance then halfway apologized for apologizing for the Easter Leafa incident.
The Anchorage Police Department has released police body-worn camera footage from the incident at this link, and one is embedded here: