Two northwest Indiana towns are at odds over an incident early Tuesday morning that saw one police officer open fire on another.
No one was injured, but the Lake County Sheriff has launched an investigation into what happened.
The incident occurred near the intersection of Cline Avenue and West 93rd, on the East Edge of St. John, Indiana. A St. John police officer was outside of his squad car, according to the department, checking on a suspicious abandoned vehicle. In a statement, Chief Steven Flores said the officer reported seeing another vehicle ”traveling toward him nearly striking him.”
“Fearing for his life,” Florez said, “the officer fired several shots at the vehicle,” which continued to travel away from the scene.
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The driver of that vehicle was an off-duty Hammond Police officer who Mayor Thomas McDermott said was driving to work. McDermott said his officer “gave a wide berth” to the St. John squad car and likely never saw the other officer.
"Somebody could have died,” McDermott said. “We are lucky he didn’t.”
McDermott said the St. John officer “unloaded his on-duty service weapon” firing six shots into the Hammond officer’s private car. One of the bullets, he said, went through the passenger seat.
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“He does have bullet holes in his car and obviously he was shaken up,” McDermott said. “I mean he is a police officer who was fired at by another police officer.”
No one was injured, but McDermott said the St. John officer then pulled over his officer, who was driving his private car at the time. The Hammond mayor said his officer was handcuffed and held for over an hour before being released without charges.
“He was treated like a criminal,” McDermott said.
St. John Police declined an interview, citing the ongoing sheriff’s investigation.
McDermott said his officer not only experienced trauma, but extensive damage to his vehicle.
“Using deadly force should be the last alternative, but it seems like it is getting more common for police officers just to bust their weapon out and start firing,” he said.
McDermott said he often advocates for police and appreciates that police officers are human and that they do make mistakes.
“This officer from St. John made a mistake,” he said. “He needs to be punished.”
