KEWAUNEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Kewaunee County Sheriff Matt Joski says he has asked an outside agency to look at the report on this summer’s deadly shooting by one of his deputies.
Joski says the move follows protocol and allows for the agency to look at the report from a policy perspective.
District Attorney Andrew Naze won’t be filing criminal charges against any of the officers.
Joski tells FOX 11 that decision validates his officers’ actions.
“It’s absolutely comforting,” said Joski. “It’s reinforcing the fact that we do train effectively, we do have high quality men and women doing these jobs.”
22-year-old Tyler Whitmire is the one who was killed in the case.
In dash camera videos, you can see Whitmire run toward Officer Jordan Salentine with what investigators say is a kitchen knife over his head.
Sheriff Joski says Deputy Jamie Tlachac’s decision to shoot Whitmire follows state training. Joski says state policy allows for deadly force if a suspect with an edged weapon comes within 21 feet.
“Their actions would have been justified even earlier. When they did it, he literally came to rest at the feet of that officer. That is important to note because that was absolute criteria for deadly use of force.”
The department’s policy for weapons and use of force lays out five intervention options: officer presence, dialog, control alternatives like pepper spray or a Taser, protective alternatives, which include impact weapons and canine units, and the final option is deadly force.
“The information that was provided to us by the 911 calls, by the victims, by those witnesses, we had to come into that at a higher level,” said Joski.
Joski says he is still looking through the hundreds of pages in the incident report. He hopes to use it as a tool to help improve his department moving forward.
Whitmire’s family members described his actions that night as out of character.
