By Police1 Staff
NEENAH, Wis. — Police released dash cam footage in a deadly shooting that occurred during a Dec. 5 hostage situation, Post-Crescent reported.
Video shows the hostage, Michael L. Funk, escape out the back door of a building while the hostage-taker, Brian T. Flatoff, engages in a shootout with police. When Funk pulled a handgun, police said he was shot because he ignored commands to drop the weapon. However, Mike Petersen, another hostage in the incident, believes police should be held responsible for Funk’s death.
“It looks to me like they executed him, for no reason,” Petersen told the publication. “I sure didn’t see ML threaten the police. Definitely not. He was interested in getting the heck away from the building and they just opened fire on him.”
Flatoff let Peterson and another hostage, Ryan Moderson, go after police shot Funk.
The department’s chief defended the officers’ actions in a statement, saying the responding officers were the “most highly trained officers in the state” and “acted in accordance with their training.”
The video appears to contradict information in the statement, which said Funk was given commands by police to drop his weapon.
Chief Kevin Wilkinson told the news site the video does not give an indication verbal commands were directed to Funk and that the statement was based on witness accounts of the incident.
“If it turns out that there were no commands, as we don’t hear in this video that you posted today, then that would indicate that those witnesses were wrong,” he said.
City attorney Jim Godlewski said officers were not required to give warning because they faced immediate danger.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice was investigating the shooting due to a state law that requires independent investigations in fatal officer-involved shootings.
Funk’s widow, Theresa Mason-Funk, filed a $3.5 million wrongful death claim against the department and the three officers who shot him.
Flatoff, 46, faces 11 felony charges, including felony murder and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, in connection with the standoff. He also faces additional charges for the disturbance before the standoff.