a high speed pursuit <\/a>on Wednesday this week, in a gun confrontation with law enforcement north of Medina.<\/p>\nHe reports that\u00a027 year old Michael Andrew Schieffer, \u00a0last known to be from Jamestown, died following the incident.<\/p>\n
Kaiser says the City of Bismarck issued a warrant for Schieffer\u00a0 for driving under suspension.\u00a0 A Jamestown police officer attempted to pull him over while driving his vehicle, around 11:38 a.m. in the 1900 block of 12th Avenue Northeast, and the pursuit followed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MEMORANDUM
\nto: Special Agent Kelly Wimer, ND Bureau of Criminal Investigation, kw430@nd.gov
\nChief Scott Edinger, Jamestown Police Department, sedinger@nd.gov
\nSheriff Chad Kaiser, Stutsman County Sheriff\u2019s Office, chkaiser@nd.gov
\nfrom: Fritz Fremgen, State\u2019s Attorney, Stutsman County
\n511 2nd Ave SE, Jamestown, ND 58401
\nOffice: 252-6688, ffremgen@nd.gov
\nsubject: officer involved shooting, BCI 18-107
\ndate: March 16, 2018<\/p>\n
Reports from North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Kelly Wimer were sent to the Stutsman County State\u2019s Attorney for review.
\nThis is a tragic situation. Law enforcement used restraint and self-control balancing the execution of their duty with preserving everyone’s safety.
\nThe issue is whether the law enforcement officers who followed Schieffer to execute an arrest warrant and to try to make an arrest for DUS and fleeing or attempting to elude, and eventually
\nfired at Schieffer ought to be criminally charged.<\/p>\n
A Jamestown Police Department officer saw Schieffer driving, knew Schieffer’s driver’s license had been suspended recently, called dispatch, confirmed Schieffer’s license was suspended, and
\nattempted to initiate a traffic stop. Schieffer did not stop. The officer also asked whether there were any warrants for Schieffer’s arrest and dispatch informed the officer there was a warrant.<\/p>\n
Jamestown Police Department followed Schieffer out of town but eventually discontinued the pursuit due in part to the speed involved and the distance from town.
\nStutsman County Sheriff’s deputies and ND Highway Patrol picked up the attempt to apprehend Schieffer.
\nOn the 21st of February 2018, the day of the shooting, Schieffer was on the phone with his friend K. Interviewed after the shooting, K told the BCI investigator that K returned a message from Schieffer and had a voice conversation with Schieffer over the phone. K said that during the
\nvoice conversation K could hear sirens in the background, Schieffer sounded frantic, and that Schieffer told K that Schieffer was in a high speed chase in Jamestown, was not going back to prison, had a firearm, and had shot at the police in an attempt to get the police to shoot him. K indicated to the investigator that K told Schieffer to pull over, put his hands up, and tell the
\npolice he had a gun.<\/p>\n
A law enforcement officer interviewed in regard to the pursuit reported that Schieffer held a handgun outside the window of Schieffer’s moving vehicle and fired two rounds at the pursuing law enforcement officer. The deputy reported hearing the report of Schieffer’s handgun over the
\nsirens. The deputy reported he felt that Schieffer was trying to kill him. The deputy reported giving Schieffer about a \u00bd mile of space. Rounding another corner, the deputy reported Schieffer again put the gun outside Schieffer’s window and appeared to discharge another two rounds.<\/p>\n
The deputy reported Schieffer drove into a snow drift and got stuck.
\nThe deputy stopped about a \u00bd mile from Schieffer’s stuck vehicle and stood behind the tail gate of his patrol vehicle using binoculars to observe Schieffer. The deputy saw Schieffer had a cell phone in one hand and a pistol in the other.
\nSchieffer walked towards the parked officers sometimes circling but generally continuing his advance towards the officers. One law enforcement officer used a public address system and others yelled at Schieffer pleading with Schieffer and commanding Schieffer to put his gun down
\nand stop advancing toward the officers. This was going on when Schieffer was about 200 yards from the officers. Schieffer was seen putting the pistol to Schieffer’s own head as well as bringing the gun up possibly at officers. Schieffer responded to the officers’ requests by saying “Shut the f*** up, I’m trying to talk.” It is clear Schieffer heard and considered the pleading of
\nthe officers. The officers warned Schieffer that if he continued to advance he would be shot.<\/p>\n
Schieffer continued to move toward the officers.
\nOfficers conferred and determined a landmark beyond which it was unsafe to allow Schieffer.
\nAs Schieffer approached the landmark, officers screamed at Schieffer to drop his gun. A deputy felt that Schieffer was going to do something and Schieffer said something unintelligible
\nimmediately after which Schieffer brought his gun up and shot a round. The deputy reported he returned fire at Schieffer. Other law enforcement officers also fired on Schieffer. Officers discussed whether to rush in and administer aid to Schieffer or wait for back up. They chose to wait and gave first aid after back up arrived and until medical treatment providers arrived.<\/p>\n
Generally, in making an arrest, an officer is under no obligation to retreat but has the legal right to press forward to accomplish the arrest. State v. Washington, 2007 ND 138, \u00b616, 737 N.W.2d
\n382, 389.<\/p>\n
As Schieffer approached the officers from a half mile away with a handgun and when Schieffer raised the handgun; there was probable cause to believe Schieffer had committed the felony
\noffense of terrorizing. When Schieffer fired at the officers, there was probable cause that Schieffer had committed several other felonies.
\nA law enforcement officer is justified in using deadly force to effect an arrest or prevent the escape from custody of an individual who has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving violence, or is attempting to escape by the use of a deadly weapon, or has otherwise
\nindicated that the individual is likely to endanger human life or to inflict serious bodily injury unless apprehended. NDCC \u00a7 12.1-05-07(2)(d); Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 11-12, 105
\nS.Ct. 1694, 1701, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985); Smith v. Freland, 954 F.2d 343 (6th Cir. 1992); Sanders v. City of Minneapolis, 474 F.3d 523 (8th Cir. 2007); Whitaker v. Pima County, 640 F. Supp. 2d 1095 (D. Ariz. 2009); Ridgeway v. City of Woolwich , 924 F. Supp. 653 (D. N.J. 1996);
\nAnnotation, Right of Police Officer to Use Deadly Force in Attempting to Arrest . . . 83 A.L.R.3d
\n174.<\/p>\n
Schieffer had committed a felony involving violence and the officers were justified in using deadly force to effectuate Schieffer’s arrest.
\nBesides the licensed peace officer\u2019s power to arrest, every North Dakotan has the right to defend himself from imminent unlawful bodily injury. NDCC \u00a7 12.1-05-03. Additionally, a person is justified in using force upon another person to defend anyone else if the person defended would be justified in defending himself and the person coming to the defense has not by provocation or otherwise forfeited the right of self-defense. NDCC \u00a7 12.1-05-04. The law enforcement officers legitimately exercised the right to defend themselves and each other.
\nNo charge is warranted for any law enforcement officer involved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jamestown\u00a0 (CSi) Jamestown Police Chief Edinger reports that\u00a0 Officer Logan Hord of the Jamestown Police Department, assigned to the Stutsman County Narcotics Task Force, and Deputies Daniel White and Casey Yunck of the Stutsman County Sheriff\u2019s Office have returned to duty. No charge is warranted for any law enforcement officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141051"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141201,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141051\/revisions\/141201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Jamestown\u00a0 (CSi) Jamestown Police Chief Edinger reports that\u00a0 Officer Logan Hord of the Jamestown Police Department, assigned to the Stutsman County Narcotics Task Force, and Deputies Daniel White and Casey Yunck of the Stutsman County Sheriff\u2019s Office have returned to duty.<\/p>\n