Tucson Region

Shot teen's family speaks out

The family of a 14-year-old boy shot by Tucson police officers after leading them on a chase in a stolen earthmover is still searching for answers about the incident. The aunt of Duncan Dresner said Friday that his family is focusing on getting the injured teen the critical medical care he needs and isn't ready to talk publicly about what happened June 2. Dresner was shot by police officers as he drove the stolen earthmover toward officers' cars on a dead-end street on the West Side. Joann Dresner, who traveled from Santa Monica, Calif., to see Duncan, said the family would like to put an end to speculation about her nephew's behavior on the night of the chase, including his experience with the earthmover and whether he was able to hear police officers yelling instructions at him during the chase. "My nephew has never driven a car, let alone a piece of construction equipment," said Joann Dresner, 30, reading from a prepared statement issued by the family. "He did climb up into the cab of the machine, which was parked in an open dirt construction site off of the Rillito bike path. "He has told us that once he was on the road he tried very hard to control the machine and not to hurt anyone." The Tucson Police Department released reports Thursday that gave details of the 12-mile chase and interviews with the two officers - Brandon Angulo and Brian Knight - who fired at Dresner two times each. In the reports, an officer told Dresner to stop accelerating, and Dresner asked "why?" Joann Dresner said her nephew could not hear anything police were saying and that at no time did he ask "why?" Duncan Dresner was airlifted to University Medical Center, where he refused to talk to detectives, the police reports stated. The family's statement said he is paralyzed from the waist down, but he is no longer in a coma and is off a breathing ventilator. "He is in significant pain and on medication," the statement said. The family said they are still looking for a more complete picture of what happened that night. "Once we have more information concerning how and why the grader was available and operational to a child, the police pursuit and this shooting, and once we have had an opportunity to have it reviewed by independent authorities, we will respond," Joann Dresner said. "Witnesses, including some that the police have yet to speak with, must be interviewed and Tucson police are far from providing the public with all of their reports." The statement did not address why Duncan Dresner took the 40-ton scraper, but in an earlier interview, his lawyer, Greg Kuykendall, said the boy was upset about having to move out of state and that he was not on medication prescribed to him for attention deficit disorder. In police reports, one officer describes Duncan Dresner as a young male driver "who was smiling and appeared to be enjoying himself" as he drove the earthmover. Both Angulo and Knight stated in the reports that they shot at Dresner because they believed he would kill officers when he put the scraper in reverse and proceeded to back up on a dead-end street near West Speedway. Knight returned to duty from administrative leave Wednesday night, said Sgt. Kerry Fuller, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Police Department. Angulo will return next week, she said. No charges have been filed against Duncan Dresner.