Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson says he felt like a child fending off Hulk Hogan

Related Story: Father shot by untrained drug court officer

Map: A look at the shootings by law enforcement officers since 2007

Editors note: The Tulsa World analyzed fatal police shootings in Oklahoma since 2007 and originally published this story Nov. 9. The data compiled was through the end of October. An interactive map accompanying this analysis has been updated to reflect an additional fatal shooting since then.

The annual number of people fatally shot by Oklahoma law enforcement officers has tripled since 2009, and all but one of the shootings were ruled justified, a Tulsa World investigation shows.

In the past seven years, 109 people have died statewide after being shot by law enforcement officers during incidents ranging from long, violent standoffs to split-second shootouts. Police say they are trained to use minimal force when needed but have only seconds in most cases to respond.

Experts say they aren’t sure of the reasons for the increase in fatal police shootings but point to increased militarization of police forces, more cases of “suicide by cop” and a need for more training.

The World compiled the list of fatal law enforcement shootings by analyzing data from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office as well as lawsuits and other public records.

The comprehensive picture of people who died statewide in law enforcement shootings is not reported by any public agency, although reports of total numbers do exist for some years.

Among the World’s findings:

• In all but one of the 109 cases, the law enforcement officer did not face criminal charges in connection with the shooting. That one case was also the only fatal shooting ruled unjustified.

• Less than half of the fatal shootings involved Tulsa and Oklahoma City police combined. State police, county deputies, small-town police, tribal nation police, state park officers and federal officers were the majority of those involved in fatal shootings.

• Blacks were 18 percent of the fatalities but 7 percent of the state population.

• In most cases the person had a weapon, usually a gun. Others were shot while wielding knives or driving a vehicle as a weapon. Less than 20 percent of the shootings were of unarmed people.

The events leading up to the shootings are as varied as the parties involved.

In some cases, officers have risked their lives and saved the lives of others while stopping a gun-wielding person.

Many of the state’s fatal shootings by law enforcement officers began with police chasing the subject either on foot or by vehicle.

Some of those killed in police shootings exhibited mental health problems, and others had consumed drugs and or alcohol before their deadly encounters.

Sometimes the encounters culminated in a shootout, with police taking fire and suffering life-changing injuries themselves.

During the time period studied by the World, three law enforcement officers have been killed in Oklahoma, the most recent in 2012.

The increase in fatal police shootings statewide is attracting attention from both inside and outside the law enforcement community.

“I do think officer-involved shootings are on the rise,” said Scott Wood, an attorney in private practice who represents law enforcement officers. “What causes that has so many factors put into that mix.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has noticed a similar trend in fatal encounters with police and civilians.

“Things seem to be changing in this area, and not in a good way,” said Brady Henderson, legal director for the ACLU of Oklahoma.

“Why is it changing? I think the answer is not simple and not the same in every case,” Henderson said.

Thorough investigations

The increase in fatal shootings by law enforcement officers comes during a time when assaults on police officers have declined nearly 30 percent since 2007, according to OSBI data, but the pace of fatal law enforcement shootings does not appear to be slowing.

The number of fatal shootings has increased each year since 2009, when seven fatal shootings were recorded in the state, according to the analysis. Oklahoma law enforcement officers have been involved in 21 fatal shootings this year.

Wood, a former police officer himself, said that in past years, such increases could be traced to a rise in methamphetamine use, “suicide by cop” cases and a general defiance toward returning to prison.

In Tulsa County, 23 fatal shooting cases involving law enforcement officers have been investigated since 2007.

Tulsa County First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond said he has handled a large share of the cases presented by investigators. The cases are handled just like any other case presented for possible charges, with the sole purpose of the review being to determine whether criminal charges should be filed, Drummond said.

“We don’t make any determinations as to civil liability or procedures or process or training,” he said.

In cases where the officer is cleared, “our legal findings conclude both the shooting is justified and that there is insufficient evidence of any criminal liability,” Drummond said,

He said he was satisfied with the current system in which some agencies — including the Tulsa and Oklahoma City police departments as well as the Oklahoma Highway Patrol — investigate deadly force used by one of their own.

“The investigations have been pretty thorough — the ones that I’ve seen,” Drummond said. “Typically what I find is they go the extra mile in trying to document the witnesses and the people who are there,” he said.

Wood cast doubt on the wisdom of having an outside agency investigate shootings in Tulsa or Oklahoma City. The OSBI already routinely reviews cases in more rural jurisdictions.

“I think as long as the general public thinks there are bad shootings that go unprosecuted, you could have Scotland Yard investigate every one of them,” Wood said. “The ones I’ve been involved in, I don’t think it would have made any difference in the outcome of what the findings were that go to the district attorney.”

Asked if he believed there has been an erosion of the public’s trust in law enforcement, Wood said yes.

“I think definitely there has been, just because of how overly informed the public is now, not only because of the media but because of the social media, as well. … But if you compare the number of police contacts with the number of deadly force incidents, it’s infinitesimal,” he said.

Among the cases reviewed, only one fatal shooting has resulted in an officer's facing prosecution. An Oklahoma County jury convicted a Del City police captain in 2013 for shooting an unarmed man in the back.

The jury gave Capt. Randy Harrison a four-year prison term for the first-degree manslaughter conviction in connection with the death of Dane Scott Jr., 18.

While an officer may be cleared of criminal charges by prosecutors, a case doesn’t end there. Agencies can and do review incidents involving their own officers to determine whether their actions violated any internal policies or rules.

Since 2007, at least one Tulsa police officer’s actions during a fatal shooting were found to have violated department policy.

The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office found that Officer Jay Chiarito-Mazzarella was justified when he shot Steven Crowels in 2009. The Tulsa Police Department’s Deadly Force Review Board concluded that Chiarito-Mazzarella acted “out of good faith concern for his own life and safety and the force used was lawful,” according to court records.

However, the board recommended that Chiarito-Mazzarella, who has since left the department, be found to have violated tactical and training policies.

The city of Tulsa later paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits associated with the shooting.

Out of 12 fatal shootings by its troopers since 2007, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has found just one instance where a trooper violated agency policy, said Capt. George Brown, OHP spokesman.

That case involved the 2013 shooting of Michael Troy Swatosh, 25, by former Trooper Sheldon Robinson, 45.

Robinson, who was off-duty, shot Swatosh outside the Best Budget Inn at Admiral Boulevard and Sheridan Road about 1 a.m. Sept. 1, 2013. Robinson was subsequently fired for six policy violations.

Despite initial reports that Swatosh was armed, the OHP has since declined to confirm whether he possessed a weapon, citing pending litigation.

Tulsa County prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Robinson in Swatosh’s death.

Henderson said many families of people fatally shot by police have expressed problems with getting information following a shooting.

“So what has to happen is families end up suing and often have to sue in federal court just so they can get access to those records,” Henderson said.

‘Military mindset’ cited

About a dozen fatal shootings statewide since 2007 resulted in lawsuits in state or federal court, the World analysis found.

In addition to the Crowels case, the city of Tulsa has settled at least one other lawsuit, paying $85,000 to the estate of one man shot in 2007. Mario Fernando Torres Gomez was an unarmed illegal immigrant fleeing police on foot when the officer reported seeing him make a move for what he believed to be a weapon.

Henderson said the increased number of fatal shootings might be due to an increased militarization of law enforcement agencies.

“I feel like we are seeing a lot more military hardware and military mindset that has come into police departments and sheriff departments and really all through the law enforcement process. I think that one of the things that that generates is, by its very nature, a greater likelihood that deadly encounters will occur,” Henderson said.

The use of military-style vehicles and weaponry by law enforcement has drawn criticism, especially in the aftermath of rioting in a St. Louis, Mo., suburb this August. The unrest followed the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man.

The World’s review found that blacks were fatally shot in disproportionate numbers in Oklahoma. Of the 109 fatal shootings, about 62 percent of those killed were white and about 18 percent were black.

Oklahoma's population is 7 percent black, while whites make up about 69 percent of the total population, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.

Fatal shootings of native Americans and Hispanics were roughly proportionate to their numbers in the general population.

Henderson said better, more uniform training might be one solution to reducing the number of fatal shootings.

Wood said he was not aware of any changes in training protocol that might have led to the increase in fatal shootings.

“Are officers being trained in a different way so that they shoot quicker or make a decision more quickly than they have in the past? I would say no,” Wood said.

Law enforcement officers today are receiving better training than they “ever had in the history of training police officers,” Wood said.

“We expect police officers to make the correct decision under the most stressful situations that you can imagine. Most of the time, they don’t have time to think about it. They are going to do what they have been trained to do,” Wood said.

Training for ‘when, not if’

When faced with a highly stressful situation, such as confronting an armed suspect, the human brain has an immediate and dramatic response. A massive release of adrenaline makes the heart race. Blood flow can surge as much as 400 percent, sometimes causing a light-headed feeling or even fainting. Breathing becomes rapid and perhaps erratic.

The brain in such a situation relies more on instinct, and the conscious mind can essentially black out and not remember the incident — or at least not details of it.

Capt. Mike Eckert, the range master who oversees tactical training for the Tulsa Police Department, said officers are taught to make good decisions despite the body’s reaction in such situations.

“Much of the training revolves around recognizing the signs and symptoms of this stress and still being able to function through it, mentally and physically,” Eckert said.

It takes practice. Officers can’t learn it in a classroom, he said. They are repeatedly put into highly stressful and realistic training scenarios in which they have to make a split-second decision: Shoot or don’t shoot?

“We want the officers to continue to think, to observe the actions of the suspect, to be conscious of their surroundings and make the appropriate decisions,” Eckert said. “The effort is to use the minimal amount of force necessary, while realizing that the minimal amount may be deadly force.”

The Tulsa Police Department’s training manual takes eight pages to explain the policy on using deadly force. Eckert summarizes it this way: “Deadly force may be used if the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or others.”

A Deadly Force Review Board, chaired by a deputy chief with representatives from each rank within the department, examines every case to determine whether an officer followed TPD policy in using deadly force.

And a Critical Incident Response Team offers emotional support.

On the very first day of training, recruits hear Eckert emphasize that the use of deadly force “is a very real possibility every single day.”

“We don’t train from the perspective of 'if' this day comes,” he said. “We train for ‘when’ this day comes.”

World Researcher Hilary Pittman and World Staff Writer Michael Overall contributed to this story.