FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 14, 2017

Seminole County Grand Jury Issues

Indictment in Oviedo Officer Involved Shooting

The Seminole County Grand Jury issued an indictment today (Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017) charging Matthew Danler, 37, with two counts of aggravated battery and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle for a September 1, 2016, shooting in Oviedo. Danler, an Oviedo patrol officer, was responding with two other officers to a call for help on Sharon Court.

Danler, who was reassigned to desk duty following the shooting, surrendered at the Seminole County jail late this afternoon. The charges are all second degree felonies which carry a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison each; however, in Florida sentencing decisions must always take into account a number of other factors including prior convictions.

The Grand Jury heard testimony from three witnesses, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent and two lay witnesses before returning the indictment, said Assistant State Attorneys Stacey Salmons and Michael Hunt, who presented the case to the Grand Jury. Hunt is in charge of criminal filing decisions in the State Attorney's Office, Brevard County division, and Salmons is Chief Assistant State Attorney in Seminole.

“This was a difficult case. Whether or not an officer is justified in an on-duty shooting is of tremendous public importance and I felt that in this case it was important to have input from the community through the Grand Jury,” State Attorney Phil Archer said.

The case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.