No Charges Against Officers Involved in Fatal Shooting
Saturday, July 7th, 2018 -- 6:13 AM
-A Loyal Police Officer and Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy involved in a shooting of a suspect will not be charged.The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has reviewed the investigation into the fatal shooting of Kelly Abbott on May 11th of this year in the Town of Grant and determined that the actions of City of Loyal Police Officer Jacob Schar and Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Klemm were a reasonable act of self-defense. As a consequence, neither officer will be charged with any criminal offenses in connection with the incident. The shooting stemmed from an incident back in May that involved the officers trying to stop Abbott for defective taillights. Abbott fled the scene and both officers pursued him and used spike strips to end the pursuit. Abbott then got out of the vehicle, walked toward the officers and raised a handgun at them. The District Attorney’s Office concludes that both Officer Schar and Deputy Klemm were reasonable in their belief that they were in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm due to the suspect’s actions of ignoring all police commands, raising a firearm toward the officers, and subsequently firing the gun. Both officers’ use of deadly force under the circumstances was reasonable and, therefore, privileged under Wisconsin law.
The investigation was completed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation with some assistance from the Wisconsin State Patrol. Although the District Attorney’s Office is still awaiting the final autopsy report, it has received and considered the preliminary autopsy findings. It does not appear there would be any additional information within the final autopsy report that would change the analysis of the District Attorney’s Office regarding the actions of the officers as it relates to their use of deadly force.
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