Coroner: Man Killed in Portage traffic stop shot in 'torso and head'
Chicago Tribune
April 24, 2017 - 7:03PM
A 39-year-old Portage man killed near his home in an officer-involved shooting early Saturday, just hours after he was released from jail, suffered "multiple gunshot injuries to the torso and head," according to the Porter County Coroner's office.
William D. Spates had been released from the Porter County Jail after posting bond just before 10:30 p.m. Friday, according to a press release. He was shot and killed just a little more than three hours later during a traffic stop in the 5200 block of Roylal Avenue, authorities said.
Spates had been arrested Wednesday after an incident at his home and charged with strangulation and domestic battery, both felonies, and two misdemeanor counts of battery, according to the release. A 10-day no contact order had been issued against him, prohibiting him from going to his house during that time, according to Porter County Jail records.
The officer involved in the shooting, who authorities identified as Grant Crizer, 34, was put on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol for officers involved in shootings, Chief Troy Williams said. Crizer, who had been with the department since Aug. 17, 2014, had no disciplinary incidents during his time with the Portage police department, according to the release.
It was unclear why Crizer stopped the 2004 Jeep Liberty Spates was driving just before 1:50 a.m. Saturday.
A press release from the Portage police said the vehicle's registration was expired, but did not cite that as the reason for the stop. The Porter County Sheriff's office said late Monday that detectives had not yet interviewed Crizer.
"The reason for the traffic stop can not be determined until they speak with the officer that initiated that traffic stop," Sgt. Jamie Erow, sheriff's office spokeswoman, said. "I do not know one way or another if the plates were expired."
Spate's vehicle pulled into a driveway on Royal Avenue, according to a release Monday from Portage police. At some point, Spates put his vehicle in reverse, "accelerated rapidly" and "rammed our officer's fully marked squad car," according to releases from Portage police and the Porter County Sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office declined to elaborate Monday whether Spates and Crizer exchanged words before the shooting.
"This is still an ongoing investigation and can take weeks to complete," the sheriff's office said in a release.
Nevertheless, Erow said there was evidence that a stun gun had been deployed.
"Witnesses initially reported hearing the officer yelling commands to the driver and an engine revving, followed by six to seven shots fired," according to the sheriff's office release.
Crizer "radioed that shots had been fired, he needed another unit and that the suspect tried to run him over," according to a release. Crizer also requested medics and told EMS to "step up their response," according to the sheriff's office.
Another officer arrived on scene and performed first aid, but Spates was pronounced dead shortly after Portage EMS arrived on scene, the release states. Williams was informed and asked Porter County Sheriff's Department at about 2:05 a.m. to conduct an investigation into the officer-involved shooting, and Indiana State Police were also called to investigate, according to the releases.
Additionally, police determined that at the time of the traffic stop, Spates had a suspended license, according to police.
There is no body cam or dashboard recordings from the incident, as Portage police do not have that technology, Williams said.
Monday afternoon, neighbors around the scene of the shooting were out mowing their yards and coming and going from their homes. Any presence of police or crime scene tape was gone from the tree-lined Royal Avenue, which is a block long and dead ends, where the shooting occurred.
A neighbor on a perpendicular street a handful of houses away, Alma Rempis, said she saw the police lights from her window the night of the shooting. When she took her dog for a walk hours after the shooting, she said the smell of sulfur from the gunshots was still in the air.
Spates' home is just around the corner from the scene on Brown Street, about four houses away. Rempis, who has lived across the street for four years, said Spates had lived there for a handful of months before the incident.
Spates' wife did not comment Monday when reached by the Post-Tribune.
Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said in a press release that William Spates' toxicology reports are still pending.
Before joining the Portage department, Crizer worked at the the Lake Station Police Department since January 2008, according to a release from Portage police.
Portage police noted in a release that in Crizer's time in working for the police department, he was selected to serve on the department's SWAT team, had one chief's letter of commendation and received the department's Exception Service Award for his part in the apprehension without incident of an intoxicated driver on Aug. 31, 2015, "in which the suspect pointed his hand in the shape of a gun at Officer Crizer and another officer and yelled 'gun.'"
"Despite any rush of adrenaline he might have been experiencing at the time, Officer Crizer was able to recognize the driver did not in fact have a gun in his hands," instead using a stun gun, according to the letter attached to the release from police.
Lake Station Police Chief David Johnson said in an email that Crizer did not have any disciplinary incidents while working for the department and "he was a good officer in his time here."
No comments:
Post a Comment