WEST PALM BEACH — For his actions that ended with the death of Romen Phelps, Sgt. Christopher Nagel was deemed a hero.
The West Palm Beach police officer was cleared of all wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Phelps, an unarmed man who crashed his van into Dreyfoos School of the Arts in 2022. Nagel, who was not wearing a body camera, confronted Phelps on the theater stage and said Phelps tried to grab the officer’s gun. Nagel shot him once in the chest.
Nagel’s identity, revealed this month in public records, was shielded for nearly two years in accordance with Marsy’s Law, the 2018 state constitutional amendment meant to grant more rights to crime victims. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in December that no victim — police or otherwise — can mask their identity behind the law.
According to his personnel file, Nagel began working for the West Palm Beach Police Department in 2007, the same year Phelps graduated from Dreyfoos. Employee records indicate that Nagel was investigated for six use-of-force incidents over the course of his 16-year career. Details about the incidents are sparse; two involved Tasers, and others involved his hands and feet.