Items police recovered from Tayler Osborne’s Yukon after obtaining a search warrant following his death. (Courtesy/Marion County District Attorney’s Office)
A Salem police officer shot and killed a man in northeast Salem earlier this month after he fought with officers and deployed one of their Tasers, according to a statement from Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson’s office.
The statement, issued Wednesday night, said a grand jury reviewing the shooting found the shooting was justified. The statement provided the first public information about what led to the shooting on Northeast Center Street.
The release said Tayler S. Osborne, 28, died after being shot two times on the evening of April 11. The bullets struck him in the left shoulder and in the chest, a subsequent autopsy found.
The statement provided this account of the shooting:
Salem Police Department officers responded to a 911 call reporting a stolen car with two men inside in a business parking lot in the 1700 block of Center Street.
The caller said he recognized a friend’s stolen Mazda Miata in the lot and that two men – who police later identified as Matthew Calkins and Christopher Esman – were sitting inside the car. He told police that the two men had gotten out of the Miata and into a blue Yukon parked beside it.
The caller stayed on the line until police arrived. Officers ordered Calkins and Esman to get out of the Yukon, along with the driver – Tayler Osborne.
Police checked the Yukon for other people inside and saw large bag with a “white crystal substance” they believed was methamphetamine on the driver’s seat. They also saw what looked like the barrel of a rifle tucked between the driver’s seat and center console, what appeared to be a Glock pistol under the front passenger seat and an ammunition magazine on the rear floorboard.
After the three men were out of the car, police separated them, read their Miranda rights and questioned them.
Calkins told police Osborne dealt drugs out of his Yukon and had large amounts of meth and oxycodone pills hidden in the car, along with a “Tiffany blue” 9mm pistol. He also said Osborne had been smoking meth before officers arrived.
When questioned, Osborne denied knowing about the bag containing the white crystal substance and gave police consent to take the bag from the driver’s seat. When police asked for his consent to search the rest of the Yukon, he declined.
“Officers were concerned with the remaining evidence they believed to be in Tayler Osborne’s vehicle,” the statement said.
Police cited Calkins and Esman for unauthorized use of a vehicle and released them instead of arresting due to Covid protocols.
Police took Osborne into custody as they continued investigating the drugs and firearms. The officers planned to obtain a court-authorized warrant to search Osborne’s car.
They handcuffed Osborne with his hands behind his back and seated him in the back of a patrol car driven by officer Susan Slivkoff.
Osborne after some time complained of being thirsty, and Slivkoff offered him water. When she opened the patrol car door, she found that Osborne had “slipped his handcuffs to the front,” the news release said. Slivkoff took Osborne out to again handcuff him. Osborne “had appeared cooperative and compliant up to that point,” the statement said.
When Osborne was released from one handcuff, he immediately pushed Slivkoff off and ran towards his Yukon, dragging the officer with him.
Cpl. Joshua Buker joined Slivkoff to subdue Osborne and the three fell to the ground. Buker and Slivkoff repeatedly told Osborne to stop resisting but he continued fighting.
Osborne punched Buker in the face, causing two cuts and a black eye and grabbed Buker’s Taser and fired it twice. One Taser probe lodged in Buker’s holster.
Buker believed that Osborne would use the Taser to incapacitate him or Slivkoff with the Taser and then possibly take their firearms.
According to the statement, Buker considered Osborne “an imminent, deadly threat” to the officers and the public. He drew his gun and shot Osborne twice from less than three feet away.
Osborne died later at Salem Hospital. A later autopsy didn’t involve toxicology testing since he received multiple blood transfusions at the hospital.
Marion County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hart later issued a search warrant to search Osborne’s Yukon, where police found a Tiffany blue 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol, a digital scale, $1,140 in cash, an additional 142 grams of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, and 642 blue pills etched “M30,” a marking consistent with pills that have been laced with fentanyl.
Grand jurors heard testimony from detectives with the Oregon State Police and Marion County Sheriff’s Office and three Salem police officers.
“This incident highlights the dangerous work our law enforcement officers do every day. I am grateful they returned home to their families that night,” Clarkson said in her statement. “My heartfelt condolences go out to the family of Tayler Osborne. Nobody wants these outcomes.”
Items police recovered from Tayler Osborne’s Yukon after obtaining a search warrant following his death. (Courtesy/Marion County District Attorney’s Office)
Items police recovered from Tayler Osborne’s Yukon after obtaining a search warrant following his death. (Courtesy/Marion County District Attorney’s Office)
Items police recovered from Tayler Osborne’s Yukon after obtaining a search warrant following his death. (Courtesy/Marion County District Attorney’s Office)
Items police recovered from Tayler Osborne’s Yukon after obtaining a search warrant following his death. (Courtesy/Marion County District Attorney’s Office)
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
JUST THE FACTS, FOR SALEM – We report on your community with care and depth, fairness and accuracy. Get local news that matters to you. Subscribe to Salem Reporter starting at $5 a month. Click I want to subscribe!
