The investigation by the county attorney's office could also find no wrongdoing on the part of Whitaker. But neither did Cooke do anything unreasonable, especially given only seconds to make a decision, Adel said in a statement.
"Mr. Whitaker is dead and he shouldn’t be," she said. "Likewise, the officers appropriately responded to a call of an active situation of domestic violence."
On the evening of May 21 last year, Whitaker was in his apartment in Ahwatukee with his girlfriend. A neighbor above him heard what he thought was an "argument between a man and woman" in the unit below, and called 911 to report a domestic dispute.