FreezeWarp
07-21-2009, 10:34 PM
A rather odd event that has happened recently in my home state is an undercover copy having shot an armed man, wearing nothing but swim trunks, when he put his arms up waiting to be arrested. The full account can be found here.
KASOTA, MINN. - An unmarked Dodge Durango tailed best friends Tyler Heilman and Kris Hoehn as they pulled into an apartment complex Monday afternoon after a day of swimming in the Minnesota River, the SUV having shadowed them through the streets of Kasota.
The Durango pulled up behind their car, blocking it in its parking space, and a man in a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans stepped out.
Minutes later, Heilman, 24, was bleeding on the ground, shot twice in the chest by the man who confronted him, Todd Waldron, a 10-year veteran of the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday, residents of this normally sleepy town were still trying to come to grips with how the confrontation so quickly escalated into bloodshed.
Authorities said Waldron fired what they believe were four shots after scuffling with Heilman during an arrest attempt. The sheriff's deputy had followed Heilman, whose history included arrests for burglary and assault, for close to 20 minutes after noticing him speeding, driving erratically on several streets and driving up a "steep embankment," said Andy Skoogman, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Authorities released few other details of the shooting at a morning news conference, but cautioned against drawing conclusions while the case is still under investigation.
"We are still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," Skoogman said. "Cases like this, you need to look at the totality of the evidence."
Waldron was not carrying a baton or a taser at the time, Skoogman said.
But Hoehn has no doubts about what happened.
His eyes red and his voice rising and falling with anger and sadness as he recounted his friend's death, Hoehn said Heilman refused to comply with Waldron's requests that he tell him who owned the car and hand over his driver's license.
"We didn't know who he was," said Hoehn, 24, adding that the man didn't identify himself as a law officer.
When Heilman started walking away, Waldron grabbed his shoulders, ordered him to the ground and announced that he was under arrest, Hoehn said.
Heilman then flipped Waldron to the ground and the two "wrestled," though no punches were thrown, Hoehn said. Heilman eventually pinned Waldron and only then saw the badge clipped to Waldron's belt. He then jumped off the deputy with his hands in the air, Hoehn said.
Waldron "sprang up and shot" without any warning, Hoehn said.
Heilman, who was dressed only in swim trunks, grabbed at two bullet wounds in his chest and staggered as blood oozed between his fingers.
" I'm done, man, I'm done -- what the hell?' " Hoehn recalled him saying between strained breaths.
Jolene Manderfield, who lives in the Valley View Apartments where Heilman was shot, supported Hoehn's account of the shooting occurring without any warning.
"[Waldron] just had that look on his face, 'What have I done? What have I done?'" said Manderfield, who pulled into the parking lot minutes before the shooting. "Why would you shoot someone that's unarmed? All he had on was a swimsuit, you know?"
Manderfield ran after Heil-man as he staggered around the apartment building, then collapsed on his stomach. When she and other witnesses turned him over he was unconscious, without a pulse, she said.
Soon after, Heilman's girlfriend of seven years, Abby Bauleke, arrived at the scene. The two have a 3 1/2-year-old son, Haydin, and lived nearby.
"Tell me it wasn't him!" Bauleke said to a friend at the scene. "Tell me it wasn't him!"
The friend confirmed her fears, and Bauleke's knees gave out.
"I felt so helpless," she recalled Tuesday, adding that their son doesn't know what happened. "It hasn't sunk in."
Heilman's father, Mark, arrived soon after and stood over his son's body as paramedics tried to revive him.
"My only son. My only child," he said. "I'm sure he had good reason to confront [Tyler] about the reckless driving, but he went about it all wrong."
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/51320642.html
KASOTA, MINN. - An unmarked Dodge Durango tailed best friends Tyler Heilman and Kris Hoehn as they pulled into an apartment complex Monday afternoon after a day of swimming in the Minnesota River, the SUV having shadowed them through the streets of Kasota.
The Durango pulled up behind their car, blocking it in its parking space, and a man in a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans stepped out.
Minutes later, Heilman, 24, was bleeding on the ground, shot twice in the chest by the man who confronted him, Todd Waldron, a 10-year veteran of the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday, residents of this normally sleepy town were still trying to come to grips with how the confrontation so quickly escalated into bloodshed.
Authorities said Waldron fired what they believe were four shots after scuffling with Heilman during an arrest attempt. The sheriff's deputy had followed Heilman, whose history included arrests for burglary and assault, for close to 20 minutes after noticing him speeding, driving erratically on several streets and driving up a "steep embankment," said Andy Skoogman, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Authorities released few other details of the shooting at a morning news conference, but cautioned against drawing conclusions while the case is still under investigation.
"We are still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," Skoogman said. "Cases like this, you need to look at the totality of the evidence."
Waldron was not carrying a baton or a taser at the time, Skoogman said.
But Hoehn has no doubts about what happened.
His eyes red and his voice rising and falling with anger and sadness as he recounted his friend's death, Hoehn said Heilman refused to comply with Waldron's requests that he tell him who owned the car and hand over his driver's license.
"We didn't know who he was," said Hoehn, 24, adding that the man didn't identify himself as a law officer.
When Heilman started walking away, Waldron grabbed his shoulders, ordered him to the ground and announced that he was under arrest, Hoehn said.
Heilman then flipped Waldron to the ground and the two "wrestled," though no punches were thrown, Hoehn said. Heilman eventually pinned Waldron and only then saw the badge clipped to Waldron's belt. He then jumped off the deputy with his hands in the air, Hoehn said.
Waldron "sprang up and shot" without any warning, Hoehn said.
Heilman, who was dressed only in swim trunks, grabbed at two bullet wounds in his chest and staggered as blood oozed between his fingers.
" I'm done, man, I'm done -- what the hell?' " Hoehn recalled him saying between strained breaths.
Jolene Manderfield, who lives in the Valley View Apartments where Heilman was shot, supported Hoehn's account of the shooting occurring without any warning.
"[Waldron] just had that look on his face, 'What have I done? What have I done?'" said Manderfield, who pulled into the parking lot minutes before the shooting. "Why would you shoot someone that's unarmed? All he had on was a swimsuit, you know?"
Manderfield ran after Heil-man as he staggered around the apartment building, then collapsed on his stomach. When she and other witnesses turned him over he was unconscious, without a pulse, she said.
Soon after, Heilman's girlfriend of seven years, Abby Bauleke, arrived at the scene. The two have a 3 1/2-year-old son, Haydin, and lived nearby.
"Tell me it wasn't him!" Bauleke said to a friend at the scene. "Tell me it wasn't him!"
The friend confirmed her fears, and Bauleke's knees gave out.
"I felt so helpless," she recalled Tuesday, adding that their son doesn't know what happened. "It hasn't sunk in."
Heilman's father, Mark, arrived soon after and stood over his son's body as paramedics tried to revive him.
"My only son. My only child," he said. "I'm sure he had good reason to confront [Tyler] about the reckless driving, but he went about it all wrong."
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/51320642.html