Crime & Safety
Sheriff Deputy in Kidnapper's Shooting Identified
Eight-year veteran of Sonoma County Sheriff's Office was named as the officer who shot Richard Shreckengaust.
By Bay City News Service
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified the deputy who fatally shot a kidnapping suspect after a pursuit last week as Brian Parks.
Lt. Dennis O'Leary of the SCSO said Parks has been employed by the sheriff's office for eight-and-a-half years and is on paid administrative leave. He worked in the patrol division.
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Parks shot 37-year-old Richard Shreckengaust, a Marin County resident, through the rear window of Shreckengaust's Toyota Camry that crashed on Odd Fellows Road in Guerneville on Feb. 28. Shreckengaust was struck twice and died at the scene.
Parks feared Shreckengaust ignored orders to hold his hands outside the driver's side window, and he feared he was reaching for a weapon, according to Santa Rosa police, who investigated the incident.
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A knife with a four-inch blade, an eight-inch "stabbing instrument" and a one-inch pair of scissors were found in the console area of the Toyota, police said.
The alleged kidnapping victim, who told police she knew Shreckengaust since January, said he drove her from Marin County to Sonoma County against her will and appeared to smoke what appeared to be a methamphetamine pipe during the pursuit.
She escaped the vehicle after it crashed into an embankment and before Shreckengaust was shot.
