The Minneapolis ICE shooting and the realities of vehicle assaults

On January 7, an ICE officer in Minneapolis was involved in a fatal shooting after a female driver accelerated her vehicle toward officers during an attempted arrest. According to public statements, the vehicle struck an officer and continued forward, crashing into parked cars. The incident remains under investigation.

Generally speaking, I would not be discussing an officer-involved shooting hours after it happened. Usually, too little information is available and too much investigation remains before meaningful assessments can be made.

However, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey already held a news conference dismissing any claim of self-defense in this case. Given that public judgment, I felt compelled to share my perspective to provide balance based on training and experience — not to reach a legal conclusion, but to explain how officers experience vehicle-based threats.

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My unique perspective

As Police1 readers may know, I served as a police officer for 33 years and as a use-of-force instructor for more than 40 years. I have written a textbook on tactics for deadly force encounters and have testified on behalf of officers as an expert witness in the past.

My perspective also comes from a personal experience early in my career that permanently shaped how I teach and think about vehicle assaults.

A night on foot patrol

One night while on foot patrol, I witnessed a vehicle turn the wrong way onto a one-way street and strike another car head-on. As I approached the scene, the offending driver backed around a corner and stopped. It appeared neither driver was injured.

My partner checked on the driver who had been hit while I approached the offending vehicle, which appeared to be waiting for contact.

As I crossed the intersection, the driver’s eyes met mine — and something changed. In that instant, I knew he was going to drive at me. After that brief glance, he put the car in gear and deliberately drove toward me.

He hit me.

I didn’t shoot. Being a wrestler, I instinctively placed my hands on the front of the car and shot my legs back, as if defending a takedown. The car drove through me. I rolled up and over the hood and off the passenger side. Another officer picked me up and we pursued the driver of the vehicle that hit me. After a long pursuit, he became hung up on a median and I was able to get to him before he continued his flight and peel him out of the vehicle to arrest and handcuff him.

The aftermath

The impact put me in splints and a cast, and those injuries affected me permanently. I could never again run marathons or perform a jump spinning back kick.
And yes, that still annoys me. I loved that kick.

Whenever I feel the residual pain to this day, I’m reminded that shooting that suspect would likely have been defensible — and might have spared me lasting injury.

At any rate, the experience taught me something I now pass on to others: if a car hits you and does not kill you, it does not make you stronger.

Thoughts in the moment

It’s difficult for people to understand what goes through a cop’s mind in the moment between recognizing a vehicle is going to hit you and the moment of impact.

With that in mind, I’ll explain how an officer in this type of situation may perceive events, based on training and experience — not as a reconstruction of this incident, but as a common pattern seen in vehicle assault encounters.

What an officer may perceive during a vehicle assault

1. The officer may approach from the front because circumstances place him there, not because it was a deliberate choice.
2. Other officers may be attempting verbal commands at the driver’s window, hoping to gain compliance.
3. A driver backing up creates uncertainty — officers reasonably wonder what comes next.
4. When the driver shifts into drive, one officer may attempt to open the door while others shout commands to stop.
5. For the officer in front of the vehicle, everything slows down as the car accelerates toward him, transforming from transportation into a deadly weapon.
6. In that instant, the officer may experience rapid, parallel thoughts — survival, injury, family, and the possibility of death — all while trying to act.
7. The officer may attempt to move and draw simultaneously, knowing hesitation can be fatal. Backing up before accelerating can reasonably appear as a deliberate setup to strike.
8. Training kicks in as the officer recognizes the imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.
9. The officer may also recognize the danger to fellow officers near the vehicle, particularly those reaching inside.
10. As shots are fired, the officer may still be struck by the vehicle, relying on balance and movement to avoid being pulled underneath.

All of this can occur in a fraction of a second. When it doesn’t — when an officer freezes — the result can be catastrophic.

Even when a driver is incapacitated, the vehicle’s momentum may continue.

My assessment

Whether the use of force in Minneapolis is ultimately ruled lawful is a matter for investigators and the courts, not the Mayor, not the Governor, and certainly not a mob in the streets.

What should not be ignored is the reality officers face when vehicles are used as weapons — a reality that unfolds in fractions of a second and leaves no margin for hesitation.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay positive and stay prepared.

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