This scenario may look and sound familiar. A Kyhoga County deputy chase, crash, and shooting. >> DROP THE GUN. DROP THE GUN. >> Only this time, a near miss. >> SHOTS FIRED. SHOTS FIRED. Put the gun down. [screaming] >> Imagine being professionally declared unfit to be a police officer. And instead of being removed from policing forever, you get a badge upgrade, a rifle, and a downtown beat. What could possibly go wrong? Well, exactly what you think went wrong did go wrong twice. And both times, two unarmed teenagers ended up staring down bullets fired by a deputy who failed field training because he panics under pressure. 16th body camera video shows only six seconds go by from the time the deputy hops from the cruiser to when he fires his gun four times. The deputy says the guy who bolted was reaching. You don't see what the deputy saw in a dark field. >> Where's the gun at? I >> got no gun. I don't got no gun. >> Why were you reaching that? >> The deputy believes the 19-year-old driver dropped a gun. He begins searching for it himself. And this goes on for most of the rest of the video. >> Juice, did he have a gun? I saw a gun. >> Got out, reach in, saw a gun. >> Yeah, I I thought I saw I mean, it was really dark. >> We'll get to why the search raises questions. But first, who is the deputy? >> So, the star of today's episode of Let's Hire Literally Anyone is Kyhoga County Sheriff's Deputy Is Vajusi. Back in Mentor, Ohio, his first department, he lasted nine months. Why? Because supervisors said he hesitated, cracked under stress, and quote, "Lacks confidence, and is afraid of making a mistake, which is wild because policing is literally the career where mistakes equals dead people." >> We've told you about him before. Is Vajusi of the sheriff's downtown safety patrol >> last October >> got a gun? >> October 2024. Two teens downtown Cleveland. Deputy Veusi pulls up, jumps out, and within seconds opens fire. No, not after giving commands. Not after confirming a threat. Not after assessing the situation. Nope. He jumps out and shoots like he's playing a VR simulator on easy mode. And what weapon did these teens have? Absolutely none. Not a gun, not a knife, not even a vape pen menacing enough to warrant a police panic attack. >> GET THE ON THE GROUND. Get the on THE GROUND. RADIO. SHOTS FIRED. SHOTS FIRED. >> SWEAR TO GOD, THAT WASN'T ME. I swear >> was reaching. >> I swear that wasn't me. He shot Aisha Rogers 15year-old son after another chase within seconds of getting out of his cruiser. >> I saw no gun. I saw nothing silver. I did see a child running from the police and I heard six gunshots. >> That first shooting still under investigation when the second one happened. >> Fast forward to May 2025. Different teens, same deputy, same move. Exit cruiser. Immediate gunfire. Zero weapons found. At this point, it's not policing. It's muscle memory. >> I just am a little concerned here that this particular officer's immediate goto is lethal force within split seconds of exiting his vehicle. >> Kani Tore is a former police officer and police use of force researcher. He reviewed body camera video in both shootings involving Veici. Video in both cases shows Vajici searching the crime scenes after he fired his gun. >> When there is the discharging of a firearm, no officer thereafter should be involved in investigating the scene. Um, this is a conflict of interest at this point. >> In May, he's back and forth in the field with a flashlight looking for a gun. Can I get out? I'm two minutes out. Don't walk through the area. >> His sergeant repeatedly telling him to take five. >> I can't even find my showcases. >> They would be wise to either remove or send back to the academy for training because there's going to be a situation where someone will lose their life. >> Vicusi was sworn in as a Kyahoga deputy in June 2023. Two months later, he got a spot on the downtown safety patrol. It hit the road that August to help Cleveland with increased crime, including a mass shooting. It's >> an opportunity to be an ambassador, as well as enforce the law. >> Since its inception, the eight-man detail claims to have confiscated nearly 300 illegal guns, made nearly 5,000 traffic stops, and more than 100 felony arrests. But how much vetting did Sheriff Harold Patel do before assigning Vajici to this unit? >> Experts reviewing his history didn't hold back. One said he is not wired to be a cop. Another pointed out he had clear psychological stress issues under pressure, which is a bit of a problem in, you know, a job where every decision is made under pressure. >> News 5 investigators and the Marshall Project Cleveland dug into his background. In late 2020, Vejusi was a Cleveland police recruit, but police say he resigned after the first week of the academy. Weeks later, Menor police hired him. Records revealed his first training officer said Vajici showed major issues with officer safety, that he frequently ignored his training on patowns and searches, froze up in stressful situations, and was easily confused or frazzled. It was recommended Veici be removed from field training. He resigned the same day. >> But instead of saying, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't hand this guy guns in authority," he gets picked up by the Kyhoga County Sheriff's Department and tossed onto the Downtown Safety Patrol, also known as the we put the most questionable officers where the most people are. Because nothing says public safety like assigning someone labeled unfit to the busiest part of the city. In 2022, Vajici became an East Cleveland police officer. The records we got from the county did not show his history in East Cleveland or his problems in mentor. >> If you leave agency to agency and you fail what we call the field training um part, which is important um to preparing officers for their assignments, then that should be a red flag. Sheriff Patell says they do background checks and polygraph on everyone they hire. >> Did you know that he had issues in mentor didn't finish FTO training >> right now? I don't have all those details and I'm not going to get into that discussion right now. >> Okay. How much of a concern do you have with a deputy that has fired his gun twice in seven months? >> Uh that's anytime a firearm is fired there's concern and we make sure that uh the wellness of the individual, the legality of it and the investigation again has to be complete to talk further about. This isn't about one deputy. This is about the pipeline. Fail at one agency, another hires you. Shoot at teens, you stay on duty. Documented unfit, put downtown. The system isn't broken. It's functioning exactly how it was built.