| P-1 Quick Review -- *Don’t get in a position where you’re caught or trapped physically by the car (like standing in the V of an open door: if the car backs up, you’re stuck.) Craig Stapp is a firearms training sergeant for the Tempe, AZ PD and a member of the Technical Advisory Board for the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University. |
Investigators say the fatal shooting during a March 17 traffic stop was within the bounds of the deadly force law
By Bob Von Sternberg
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Read original news account
As the green Ford Explorer erratically lurched to a stop on a rural Sherburne County road, state trooper Andrew Thelen stopped his squad car, walked up to the driver’s side of the SUV and began talking to the driver.
Barely a minute later, the driver grabbed Thelen’s arm, gunned the engine and roared off at a speed approaching 60 miles per hour.
Roughly 13 seconds later, after repeatedly telling the driver to stop, Thelen shot him once in the head and held on to the car until it had dragged him 1,655 feet, his feet repeatedly scraping along the road.
The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that Thelen’s shooting of William Krawchuk, 27, on March 17 was justified under the state’s statute on authorized use of deadly force.
“The trooper feared for his life because of [the driver’s] speeding and weaving,” Sheriff Bruce Anderson said. “He faced injury or death if he hit the pavement, was run over or was driven into a row of [nearby] trees.”
Anderson also said Krawchuk had a blood-alcohol content reading of 0.288, more than three times the legal limit for driving. In his car were an open container of alcohol, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, Anderson said.
Court records show that Krawchuk had been convicted of drunken driving at least three times, and he had several other run-ins with the law, including domestic assault and disorderly conduct. A family member has declined to comment about the case, and no one answered the door Tuesday at his home near Big Lake.
Thelen has been on paid administrative leave since the confrontation, which left him with “relatively minor lacerations, abrasions and deep soft-tissue injuries,” said patrol Lt. Jeff Huettel. “He’s doing well, exceptionally.”
Thelen has been with the patrol for about three years and in law enforcement for about 10 years. Huettel said he doesn’t know when Thelen will return to work.
Thelen and patrol officials expressed condolences to Krawchuk’s family, Huettel said.
During a press conference held to announce the ruling on the shooting, Anderson played video and audio recordings that showed how the incident played out over little more than an hour on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Dispatchers received the first 911 call at 1:07 p.m. “He’s almost hit numerous people head-on,” an unidentified female motorist said of a car she spotted eastbound on Hwy. 10 near Becker. “He is all over the road.”
Four minutes later, a second woman called dispatchers. “He’s swerving all over the place ... oh my gosh, he’s trying to pull over ... He’s kind of just all over, doing what he’s doing ... oh, this is not happening.”
Three squad cars converged on Krawchuk’s SUV, and Thelen stopped him on 142nd Street just east of County Road 11. Just before the SUV sped off, Thelen or the other officer on the scene told him to “get out.”
After Krawchuk took off, Thelen told him several times to stop before placing his gun barrel against Krawchuk’s head, warning that he would shoot, Anderson said. The driver looked at the trooper twice, “but was unresponsive,” Anderson said.
After Thelen fired his gun and leaped from the side of the SUV, the vehicle rolled to a stop in a snowy farm field, 1,891 feet from the original traffic stop.
“We have a suspect down,” one officer said.
©2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.