State police clear Arlington Hts. cop in 2010 shooting

Investigators have cleared an Arlington Heights police officer who fatally shot a village resident during a standoff with police a year ago.

Illinois State Police investigators do not use the word “exonerate” — they say only that no charges would proceed against officer Michael Butler, who shot Daniel Moreno with a semiautomatic rifle, after Moreno kept police at bay with what later turned out to be a starter pistol.

Arlington Heights police, however, consider the findings to be a complete exoneration.

“I have been told when this unit investigates any officer involved in a shooting or death this is typically what you get,” said Arlington Heights Police Chief Gerald Mourning.

“I wish they would use other language in the letter and make it a little clearer.”

Unless there are civil lawsuits filed, the Illinois State Police report closes the book on the tragic events of Aug. 1, 2010.

From the state police, the Daily Herald obtained 150 pages of information about what happened on the 400 block of Palatine Road late on Aug. 1, 2010, and the six-month investigation that followed. The newspaper had filed a Freedom of Information request.

According to a written account from officer Benjamin Utterback — who spoke with the victim’s wife that night after the shooting — when the family came home from a friend’s wedding in Schaumburg, Moreno was so drunk he threw up in the backyard.

He changed out of his tuxedo, then became agitated. He knocked on the bathroom door when his wife, Jennifer Ochoa, was inside, demanding to know if she was talking on her cellphone.

When Ochoa emerged, Moreno was wobbling, swaying, muttering unintelligible words and yelling, “No! No! No!” She tried to hold him up, but their 9-year-old son got too close. He was knocked backward, hitting his head on a small table.

Ochoa let go of her husband and dialed 911 at 11:44 p.m. She asked the dispatcher to send help and gave her address. The dispatcher asked what town, but the phone was hung up.

Ochoa grabbed her bleeding son, and they ran to the house next door.

The dispatcher called the house back twice, getting voice mail both times. On the third try, Daniel Moreno answered, told the dispatcher his wife had too much to drink, then hung up.

Ochoa called 911 again from the neighbor’s house, saying tearfully that her husband was drunk, that he had kind of shoved their son, and asking for an ambulance. She also told them that her 1-year-old son was in the house with her husband.

Police officers and an ambulance arrived a few minutes later. According to statements taken from officers by the state police, the Moreno residence was dark and quiet.

At least two officers went to the front door and rang the doorbell. There was no immediate answer.

Arlington Heights police officer Corey Dugan saw Ochoa and her 9-year-old son in the driveway of the neighbor’s house and went to talk with her.

But then officer Nelson Calzadilla, who had rung the doorbell again, yelled, “He’s got a gun!” and took cover behind a tree.

Officer Matthew Boucek grabbed the 9-year-old and ran toward an ambulance, and Dugan told Ochoa to go to the neighbor’s basement.

Dugan heard Moreno scream, “I’m going to shoot you!” Then he saw a muzzle flash and heard a loud popping sound, which sounded like a gunshot. Dugan dove behind a car in the driveway, injuring his wrist.

Butler joined Dugan and set his semiautomatic rifle on top of the car.

“I yelled to Moreno to come outside to speak with us,” wrote Dugan. “I then told Moreno to let us get the baby out of the residence. He replied (with an obscenity).

“Approximately two minutes later, I heard 2-3 more shots and I could see the muzzle flash coming from inside the residence.”

Dugan then slipped away and asked Ochoa if she knew of a handgun in the house.

Ochoa told him her husband might have a gun that shoots green rubber pellets, but Dugan said Moreno was clearly not shooting a toy because officers saw a muzzle flash.

Ochoa added she did not know of any handguns in the house, but that Moreno might have one that shoots blanks.

Dugan returned to Butler’s side and called his sergeant to report that Ochoa said there were no guns in the house.

Then Dugan saw Moreno pointing his gun toward Butler and himself.

“To the best of my recollection, Moreno fired two shots from the window with the handgun pointed toward me and officer Butler,” Dugan wrote. “I could hear glass break as he fired the second shot.

“He then yelled, ‘I can see you, (obscenity),’ and I recall him firing approximately three more shots.”

Butler trained a light and laser mounted on his rifle toward the sound of Moreno’s voice. He saw Moreno in a small window.

Moreno fired two more shots at the officers, Butler told investigators. Dugan got his handgun ready, and Butler fired one shot.

The house was quiet.

The standoff had lasted about 20 minutes. Butler carefully approached the house and yelled through the window. Moreno didn’t respond.

About an hour later officers from the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System team were able to look inside the house with a video camera, then enter the house.

Moreno was on the floor of the kitchen. He was still alive, but died two days later.

The 9-year-old was treated at Northwest Community Hospital and released to his grandmother, and the 1-year-old was taken from the house and given to Ochoa, who was also taken to her mother’s house.

State police report

The 150 pages from the state police contained no summary of findings besides two letters saying there would be no criminal charges. State police did not respond to requests for more explanation.

The letter from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said:

“This was an investigation of the shooting of Daniel Moreno. Our review of the investigation revealed no conduct by Officer Michael Butler #254 during this shooting that would give rise to criminal charges against that officer.”

While Mourning said he is satisfied his officer was completely justified, he wished the state police had been more definitive.

However, Mourning said if the state investigators had found Arlington Heights officers did anything wrong, they would have called attention to it.

“It’s an exoneration,” Mourning said. “The officers were completely justified in their actions. I expect if the same set of circumstances were presented 1,000 times, I would expect the same outcome 1,000 times.”

Mourning would not allow the officers to talk to the Daily Herald for this story.

Ochoa, also contacted, said she did not want to talk to the Daily Herald at this time.

After the death of her husband, she briefly said that the police account was inaccurate and described her husband as a dedicated family man, but she has not elaborated on that.

Robin Ward, assistant village attorney for Arlington Heights, said the statute of limitations for a state lawsuit on behalf of Moreno’s estate expired after a year, and the limit in federal court is two years. She said she has had no indication a suit would be filed.

Arlington Heights Cmdr. Ken Galinski said it was impossible for officers on the scene to determine that Moreno’s gun — a replica of an automatic handgun — was shooting blanks.

“Three things were going on,” Galinski said. “You have a drunk individual with all kinds of threats, and the gun looks, sounds and flashes like a handgun, and a split-second decision has got to be made. It’s tough.”

Butler was off the streets for less than two weeks, Galinski said.

The state police documents also contained the following details:

Ÿ Moreno was shot through the right eye with a single shot from a semiautomatic rifle. Galinski said every Arlington Heights patrol car carries such a weapon.

Ÿ The officers’ eyewitness reports differ on the number of shots they believe Moreno fired. The state police laboratory reported the starter pistol contained four fired rounds and four live rounds. The pistol was found near Moreno in the kitchen. Galinski said the chaos that night would account for the differences.

Ÿ Cook County state’s attorney investigators interviewed neighbors, but no civilians observed the shooting. A synopsis of each witness found several who heard one shot, and one who heard several shots plus the yelling of obscenities.

Ÿ At least two firefighters reported hearing multiple gunshots when they were there with the ambulance.

Ÿ Reports filed with the Arlington Heights Police Department from four officers on the scene were accepted in lieu of interviews and were judged consistent with Butler’s interview with investigators. No report by Butler to the Arlington Heights police was included.

Ÿ A pellet gun found in the home’s basement was bought in the Wisconsin Dells not long before the tragedy. The starter pistol was bought in 2005 in Florida because Moreno was receiving threats from someone at the time, said a report from officer Utterback.

Galinski said officers on the scene and the supervisor followed protocol, and the only change the department is considering involves the review process. Arlington Heights is working through the regional Major Case Assistance Team to determine whether there could be closer coordination with the state police to possibly get the investigation finished sooner.

Galinski said the consistency of reports from all the officers and firefighters and the fact that neighbors’ accounts did not contradict helped with the decision to exonerate.

“The victim’s family will give you a totally different story, and I understand that,” he said.

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.