Police
Driver fatally shot, as Vernon County Sheriff’s deputy hangs from vehicle
A driver was shot and killed by law enforcement leaving a traffic stop at a “high rate of speed,” while a Vernon County Sheriff’s deputy was “hanging from the side of the vehicle,” according to a news release.
It is unclear if the same deputy that shot and killed the driver was the one hanging from the vehicle, as described in the news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), which is investigating the law’s actions.
The situation began at 5:55 p.m. Friday, and shut down Highway 35 near Genoa, Wis., for several hours.
The DOJ release says deputies were called for a welfare check to a home on Gianoli Road. When they got there, a person left and deputies followed, pulling them over nearby.
According to the news release, during that traffic stop, the subject “turned on their vehicle and began to drive away at a high rate of speed with one deputy hanging on to the side of the vehicle.”
That’s apparently when the driver was shot. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
No other info on what happened was released. The DOJ’s release said to direct questions to the DOJ.
Around 8:30 p.m. Friday, Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson had updated the public on the highway being closed, but only called it a “critical incident.” The details above, on that incident, were released at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Vernon County Sheriff’s deputies were wearing body cams during the incident, the DOJ release says, adding that no deputies were harmed.
The deputy who shot the driver is on administrative leave.
The news release also added that all law enforcement are cooperating with the investigation, which is being led by the DOJ’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). It is being assisted by the Wisconsin State Patrol and the a DCI Crime Response Specialist.
Reports from the investigation will be turned over to the Vernon County District Attorney upon conclusion, the DOJ news release said.
Kent Porter
June 19, 2023 at 3:09 pm
I HAVE A GOOD IDEA DONT TAKE OFF FROM POLICE WHEN AN OFFICER IS HANGING ONTO YOUE CAR. YOU WILL PROBLEY GET SHOT THE OFFICER WAS RIGHT AND HAD A FAMILY HE WANTED TO GO HOME TO AT THE END OF HIS SHIFT. GREAT JOB
The reasonable one
June 19, 2023 at 4:28 pm
The officer made the decision to grab onto a vehicle as it was driving away and then killed him. He should never had done that. It is murder. He had no right to fire his weapon when he endangered himself, everyone on the planet knows that grabbing onto a vehicle as it takes off it’s not going to stop the vehicle. So the only reason was to do what he decided to do. He chose to kill a man for no reason. The man did not grab the officer and try dragging him to death with his vehicle, he was fleeing and that does not constitute his death. All too often officers are asked to go check on someone because their family or coworkers are worried about them and that is usually because they’re worried about suicide. Think of something happened to your child and you were worried that they might hurt them self because they could not emotionally and mentally ill handle what was done to them. Imagine you making a phone call thinking that you might be preventing your child from committing suicide or hurting themselves in someway and then getting a phone call saying that he tried driving away from them so they killed him. I’m sure he would want that officers head on a stick just like everyone else would.
George
March 8, 2024 at 12:31 pm
You are so right!
Trey
October 26, 2023 at 10:51 pm
cop intentionally put his own life in danger, to justify shooting that old man.