The Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - Police defended their handling of a 30-mile chase from New Prague to Bloomington that ended when the driver shot himself to death.
The hourlong pursuit started when Derek Thrun, 33, of New Prague, ran a stop sign in New Prague about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Officers eventually bumped him off the road in Bloomington, where he got out of his truck while holding a gun.
Attempts to subdue him there with a police dog and an electrical stun gun failed when Thrun shot himself in the head, police said.
Investigators were still trying to figure out why Friday.
Erika Thrun, Derek’s mother, said she wished that officers had tried to shoot him in the leg so that “he might be alive today.”
Police Cmdr. Jim Ryan said he doesn’t know of any law enforcement agency that is trained to subdue somebody by shooting the person in the leg. When officers use their guns, they are instructed to stop the threat by shooting at the torso, he said.
“We tried less lethal options,” he said.
It was the second time in a week that a man has killed himself after a police pursuit in the Twin Cities.
On Oct. 2, Terris Fitten, 19, led Minneapolis police on a chase after someone called 911 to report he was despondent and had a gun at his home. After crashing into another vehicle, he shot himself, opened his door and fell out, police said.