DuPage County prosecutors will not file criminal charges against the Carol Stream police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a western suburban man earlier this year, District Attorney Robert Berlin announced Wednesday.
Isaac Goodlow III, 30, died Feb. 3 after Carol Stream police officers entered his apartment in response to a domestic violence call and shot him. Goodlow’s family condemned the shooting, questioned official information about their relative’s death in the days that followed, and later filed a lawsuit against the village and the police officers involved in the shooting.
An attorney representing the Goodlow family said they would pursue the case in federal court and that the family “fundamentally” disagreed with Berlin’s decision.
Berlin said he had not established that Officer Daniel Pfingston, who shot Goodlow, was justified in his use of force, but that he could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Pfingston was not justified. Pfingston has not been employed by the Carol Stream Police Department since May 2, according to a village statement.
Body-worn camera footage released by Carol Stream police last March showed officers entering a dark apartment and firing two shots before rushing to provide first aid to the dying man.
Officers initially responded to Goodlow’s apartment complex after a woman called them saying he had attacked and injured her sister. The woman who allegedly attacked Goodlow described an argument with Goodlow, after which she said she would call police. Goodlow reportedly said in response, “If you call the police, I’ll let them kill me.”
Berlin said that when officers entered the apartment, Goodlow hid behind the bedroom door and quickly stepped outside when Pfingston kicked it open.
Berlin said a frame-by-frame view of the body-worn camera footage showed Goodlow “moving toward Officer Pfingston in an aggressive manner,” at which point Pfingston fired his gun, hitting Goodlow.
Pfingston said in a conversation with investigators that “it appeared to (him) as if Goodlow was pointing something at (him), throwing something at (him) or reaching for (his) firearm” and that he believed Goodlow ambushed him.
Goodlow’s family had told reporters that he was sleeping in bed at the time he was shot. One of their attorneys, Andrew M. Stroth, said Pfingston’s statement was “completely unbelievable.”
“Within a second, that officer broke down Isaac’s door and in less than a second he shot Isaac with one shot through the heart,” Stroth said.
In a statement, Carol Stream village officials offered their condolences to Goodlow’s family, adding that the police department had established “new training opportunities for officers focusing on communication, tactics and decision-making.”
