WAUKESHA — A 50-year-old unarmed man is dead after Waukesha police officers shot and killed him while responding Tuesday morning to a theft in progress call.
"If the suspect would have complied, this would not have happened,” said Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson.
Chief Thompson defended his officers who shot and killed a man they thought was reaching for a weapon that they later learned wasn’t there.
"Anytime there's a loss of life, it's a sad day,” he said.
Chief Thompson says four officers first tried to de-escalate the situation by using verbal commands. He says that was followed by unspecified non-lethal options before turning to deadly force. It’s something that department policy says can only be used as a last resort.
"Preliminary investigation shows the officers acted within state statutes, department policy, department training and filled the mission of the Waukesha Police Department,” Chief Thompson said.
TMJ4 wanted to talk to an expert with no ties to the Waukesha Police Department to see if they thought deadly force was necessary based on the facts provided by the Waukesha Police Department.
"It takes the average officer .32 seconds to respond,” said Chief Roy Taylor.
Taylor is a police chief in North Carolina who’s led local, state, and federal units over the past three decades. He says the police standard for turning to deadly force is universal.
"Do you reasonably believe that the use of deadly force is necessary to protect your life or the life of somebody else,” he said. “So it may like in this case turn out that the person doesn't have a weapon, but it's imperative to remember, they don't have to, it's just they've presented a threat to the officers and they had a reasonable belief that that threat was real."
Chief Taylor also trains officers on use-of-force policies.
“What are police trained to do in this situation where a suspect appears to be reaching into their pocket for a weapon?” TMJ4’s Ben Jordan asked.
"If possible, if they have enough time to give verbal commands, they would respond by drawing their weapons. They may have already had their weapons out because of the nature of the call and they may have had them down by their side or just out of their holster, but they would aim at the person, give them verbal commands to show their hands and if they continue to draw the weapon, say we're going to shoot and then fire,” Chief Taylor said.
Wisconsin Professional Police Association data shows this situation is fairly uncommon in the state.
W.P.P.A. Executive Director Jim Palmer says it’s just the second time since 2019 that a law enforcement officer has shot and killed an unarmed person.
“What would you say to those in the community who argue this never should have escalated to deadly force?” Jordan asked.
“I think the public is always within its rights to have questions and to pose those questions and I think it's important to allow the investigative process to run its course,” Palmer said.
All four officers involved in this deadly police shooting have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol. The Milwaukee Police Department is the outside agency investigating the shooting.
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