Police Release Details of Overnight Officer Involved Shooting
A full-scale investigation is underway after an officer involved shooting in the city early Friday morning.
Police have filed charges against the suspect, and the officers are on administrative leave.
It started just before 1 a.m. when police tried to stop a car along Holland Street, for running a couple of stop signs.
They say the driver - Deandre Tate, 30 - took off, leading them on a short chase across East 3rd Street.
The chase ended at the Soldier's and Sailor's Home at 3rd and Reed streets. That's when police say Tate jumped out of his moving vehicle and ran, "The suspect, Mr. Tate, during the course of the foot pursuit, turned and fired upon the officers, at that point the officers returned fire," said State Police Lt. Wayne KIine.
The officers were not hit.
State Police would not say how many times the officers fired their weapons, but that they hit Tate twice, once in the chest and in the abdomen. Investigators say the officers immediately administered first aid, and Emergycare rushed Tate to the hospital, where police say he's in critical but stable condition.
State Police are handling the investigation. Lt. Kline says they activated the PSP Major Case team, who collected evidence and reconstructed the scene, "It's really common practice across the commonwealth that any time a police agency is involved in a use of force incident, particularly a shots fired or an officer-involved shooting, the district attorney's all have a policy and that policy is an outside agency comes in, " said Lt. Kline. "And that's to be transparent and have an impartial set of eyes look at the situation," Lt. Kline continued.
State Police investigators recovered Tate's firearm, which came back as stolen. They also impounded the vehicle he was driving and collected physical evidence from the police cruiser, which had a bullet hole in it. State Police also recovered shell casings from the scene and examined tire imprints.
State Police also filed a dozen charges against Tate. Those charges include two counts of assault of a law enforcement officer, and two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, "The evidence all points us in one direction, really that these guys were justified in the actions that they took," said Lt. Kline. "But ultimately we're going to complete our investigation and give our results to the DA's office and he's going to make the final decision," Lt. Kline continued.
Tate is awaiting arraignment, which is contingent on his medical condition.
Police also interviewed a woman who was inside the vehicle with Tate, but police say she was not hurt and is not facing any charges.
Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri says early evidence shows the officers acted appropriately, "My review of the reports that have been generated thus far indicate the use of deadly force by the Erie police officers was absolutely appropriate," said Daneri. "And at least at this time, although the investigation is not complete, but at this time there will be no charges approved by my office against these two police officers who again were fired upon by this defendant," Daneri continued.
Erie Police say the three Erie officers involved are on paid administrative leave. Two of the officers fired the shots, while a third was providing backup.
Erie Police Chief Don Dacus says he supports his officers, and given the early information about the case, he's confident their actions were justified, "I absolutely do believe based on the facts that I am aware of right now, that they did act justifiably. They were fired upon, and there are supporting witnesses that indicated as such, and I'm just glad that they're safe and okay, and at home with their families where they belong," said Chief Dacus.
Chief Dacus says while this shooting is a reminder of the dangers of the job, he says the officers followed their training, "That is the nature of the job, you never know know when the worst-case scenario is going to happen. But that's what we train for, that's what we try to prepare them for, and they fall back on their training when required," said Chief Dacus.