CHP officer was legally justified in Northern California fatal shooting, DA says
Amador County prosecutors determined a California Highway Patrol officer was legally justified when he fatally shot an El Dorado County man holding a handgun while his pickup blocked traffic on a rural road.
CHP Officer Jason Aston fatally shot Tyler Balaskovits, 31, of Shingle Springs, in the Dec. 26 incident that evolved rapidly over a few minutes as drivers waiting in backed-up traffic watched nearby on Old Sacramento Road in Amador County.
On Wednesday, Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe released a letter he sent to Lt. Matt Massod, the commander at the CHP Amador Area Office. In the letter, Riebe provided a detailed account of what led to the deadly shooting in December.
“He (Ashton) acted in self-defense and the defense of others at the scene against an imminent and deadly threat posed by Mr. Balaskovits,” Riebe said in the letter. “Under these circumstances, Officer Aston’s use of deadly force was both reasonable and necessary, therefore our office will take no criminal action against him.”
CHP dispatchers were first notified of the incident at 5:28 p.m. that December evening, when they received a report of a Chevrolet pickup blocking Old Sacramento Road in both directions, just east of Latrobe Road a few miles west of the small town of Plymouth. The caller believed the pickup’s driver, later identified as Balaskovits, might be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
At 5:50 p.m., the CHP officer arrived at at the scene and stopped his marked patrol vehicle in the eastbound lane behind the blue-and-green Chevrolet pickup with its hood up. The weather conditions were dark and rainy.
Aston spotted Balaskovits — in the area of the opened driver’s side door — pushing his pickup in reverse. Prosecutors said Balaskovits pushed his pickup within one foot of the CHP patrol vehicle, which made the officer back up his vehicle as he activated his overhead emergency lights and briefly sound the siren.
Refused to stop pushing pickup
The officer ordered Balaskovits to stop pushing his pickup at least 12 times, but Balaskovits ignored those commands, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Vehicle traffic on the rural road began piling up behind the CHP patrol vehicle, so the officer told the drivers in those vehicles to back up and turn around. But none of the drivers did. At 5:51 p.m., Aston told dispatchers to hold traffic on the road.
“He (Balaskovits) is pushing the vehicle backwards, going westbound, refusing to stop the vehicle saying he feels threatened and unsafe,” the CHP officer told dispatchers, according to Riebe’s letter.
Aston told dispatchers that he saw an unmarked police vehicle with red and blue emergency lights just east of Balaskovits’ pickup. Prosecutors said authorities learned later that unmarked vehicle was driven by an off-duty chief criminal investigator for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
At 5:54 p.m., the CHP officer told dispatchers Balaskovits refused to stop his vehicle moving west.
“It’s going to get to the point where I might have to stop him (Balaskovits) with my vehicle because traffic is behind me,” Aston told dispatchers.
At 5:55 p.m., Aston stopped backing up his patrol vehicle. He instead moved the CHP vehicle forward. Prosecutors said Balaskovits continued pushing his pickup until its rear bumper made contact with the patrol vehicle’s bumper and came to a stop.
Spotted holding handgun
The CHP officer was seated in his driver’s seat, and Balaskovits was standing in the pickup’s open driver’s door area. He was about 13 to 16 feet away from Aston. Prosecutors said the officer got out of the patrol vehicle and saw Balaskovits holding a handgun in his right hand.
The District Attorney’s Office released an image captured on the CHP patrol vehicle’s dashboard camera. The image, captured at 5:55 p.m., shows Balaskovits holding the handgun with his right hand in front of him with the weapon’s muzzle pointed toward the ground.
Authorities later determined the handgun was a Springfield model 1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol registered to Balaskovits, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said the officer could see Balaskovits had the gun pointed in Aston’s direction shortly before Balaskovits turned his body toward his pickup and his handgun in an easterly direction away from the officer.
Aston then saw Balaskovits look toward the front of his pickup, where the off-duty investigator was, along with a bystander who had spent the past several hours with Balaskovits. Prosecutors said Balaskovits then directed his attention back toward Aston, and the officer believed Balaskovits was “sizing up his area.”
Gunshots fired
Balaskovits then moved toward his pickup’s interior while staring directly at the CHP officer and moving his handgun toward Aston. Prosecutors said the officer believed Balaskovits was moving to get cover in the pickup while turning the handgun toward Aston.
“Fearing for his life and the safety of the people behind his patrol vehicle and those behind Mr. Balaskovits’ vehicle, Officer Aston responded by firing seven shots, striking Mr. Balaskovits three times and causing him to drop his handgun and fall to the ground,” Riebe said in the letter.
Witnesses told investigators that Balaskovits “wasn’t himself” and “in a dark place” since June, and his demeanor had “rapidly deteriorated” from 4 to 4:30 p.m. earlier that day “as he was unable to form full sentences, was incoherent and easily confused,” prosecutors said. Autopsy results showed methamphetamine in Balaskovits’ system.
The following day, CHP investigators searched the pickup. Prosecutors said the investigators found a loaded .45 caliber ammunition magazine in a driver’s side pocket; a black powder pistol in a holster in a plastic bag in the rear seat; a .410-gauge break-action shotgun in a black bag on the rear seat floorboard; three boxes of .45 caliber bullets and a box of 12-gauge shotgun shells.
The investigators also found in the pickup an unspecified amount suspected meth in a small plastic bag in a backpack and two prescription bottles containing anti-anxiety/depression medication, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 3:53 PM.
