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Officer shoots man during fight

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A police officer in Minnesota fatally shot a man after the man rear-ended the officer’s marked SUV, then got out of his car and started fighting with the officer, authorities said.

Authorities have not said whether the man had a weapon when the St. Paul police officer shot him during the fight Sunday evening. Police Sgt. Mike Ernster said the officer’s body camera was activated, but the video has not been released.

Ernster said the officer was stopped at a stop sign in the city’s Midway neighborhood when he was “suddenly struck from behind by another motor vehicle. The officer exited his vehicle and was immediately confronted by the driver of the striking vehicle and a fight ensued.”

The shooting comes as police deal with a stretch of violence in the city that led police Chief Todd Axtell to beef up street patrols.

In a Facebook post, Axtell said the officer was “faced with one of the most gut-wrenching situations imaginable” and it “is a tragedy for everyone involved.” He extended condolences to the family of the man who died and said his department will do what it can to support the officer.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating. The bureau said Monday that it was conducting interviews with those involved and with witnesses. An autopsy was also being completed.

According to local media reports, at the time of the incident, someone could be heard on police emergency radio shouting, “Drop the knife, drop the knife!”

Ernster confirmed that the St. Paul officer made those radio transmissions, but said that state investigators were processing the scene and he did not know whether a knife had been recovered.

The names of the officer and man were not immediately released. The officer was placed on administrative leave, which is standard in police shootings.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that a City Council member and the head of the St. Paul NAACP joined community members in calling for the release of the officer’s body camera footage.

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