On November 1st, 2012, there was an alleged domestic dispute involving Demetrius Bennett and his wife.
In the early morning hours Bennett’s wife went to the Winnebago County Jail seeking help in retrieving items from their home.
Two Rockford police officers came into the shared house to act as bystanders as the wife retrieved her items.
It was wrongfully reported by local news that upon police arrival Demetrius Bennett used his youngest child as “human shield.”
What actually happened was Demetrius held his child while his wife got together all the items. During this time, Demetrius was not aggressive or hostile in anyway.
Once the wife was done, Demetrius gave the child to his wife, but the officers did not leave. Instead, they called for back up.
As more and more officers arrived, they cornered Demetrius into the kitchen. There was six people in the kitchen, five of them were Rockford Police officers.
Sergeant John Hoshaw
Ryan Marko
James Presley
Mark Danner
Nolan Walker
At this point Demetrius was cornered in the kitchen of his home with five Rockford police officers. This “standoff” lasted over an hour long.
An hour in, Sergeant John Hoshaw pepper sprayed Demetrius directly in the face from close ( less than five feet ) range.
After being pepper sprayed, it’s alleged that Demetrius picked up a plastic bag in some type of way.
It ended when Demetrius allegedly picked up a knife from the kitchen sink.
Only Rockford police officers were in the house to witness this.
James Presley, Mark Danner, Nolan Walker and Ryan Marko all shot and killed Demetrius Bennett.
It was never reported how many shots they fired all together, but each of them shot their gun.
All Rockford police officers that shot and killed Demetrius Bennett are still RPD officers.
This was the fifth case investigated and justified by the Winnebago County Integrity Task Force and sixth deadly force incident in the 2010’s