DURHAM, N.C. — District Attorney Satana Deberry said in a letter to Durham Police C.J. Davis that no charges will be filed against an off-duty Durham Police officer who shot a man last year.
Charles Thomas Strickland was in a parking lot outside of the apartment complex where he lived on Emerald Forest Drive. Strickland heard two gunshots. He then found that Daniel Lee Pressley was shot by Wesley Adam Watkins,
according to a letter from Deberry to Police Chief CJ Davis. Pressley was shot by Watkins and died a short time later.
Once Watkins left his apartment, Strickland ordered him to put his hands in the air and get on his knees. The off-duty officer ordered Watkins to lie on his stomach and keep his hands in the air. He complied with Strickland's requests,
according to the district attorney. Strickland fired his gun at Watkins twice and hit him in the stomach. His injuries were serious but Watkins lived,
the letter said. The letter was not clear about if Watkins was armed when Strickland shot him.
Deberry cited a statue from the supreme court that says the "reasonableness" of an officer's use of force "must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight."
Another officer who arrived on the scene after the shooting reported that Watkins said he was trying to commit suicide, but wanted the police to do it for him,
the letter said. Watkins had a history of being suicidal, according to the letter. He tried to die by being shot by police in July of 2016.
Watkins was charged with murder, assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting a public officer in connection with this case. He has been in the Durham County Jail since May 29, 2020, according to DCSO records.
"The evidence from this investigation establishes that a reasonable officer in Officer Strickland’s position would have believed that he and the other officers were in danger of imminent deadly physical force from Mr. Watkins,"
Deberry wrote in a letter. 
