Wisconsin Man Made 911 Call Before Being Shot By Police


Updated: April 17th, 2006 11:08 AM PDT



LISA SCHUETZ
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin)



The man shot and killed by a Madison police officer Wednesday morning had called 911 from behind a locked bathroom door at a gas station and told the dispatcher that he believed that people were trying to kidnap him, officials say.

New and more accurate details surrounding the shooting of Victor Montero-Diaz, 45, and a yet-unnamed 33-year-old bystander emerged from Wednesday's chaos.

Those details provided enough information for District Attorney Brian Blanchard to announce at a news conference Thursday that neither of the officers involved will be charged in connection with the incident.

Kuldip Singh Mavi, the owner of the BP Amoco, said a store clerk, Saurav Ram, told him that Montero-Diaz came in that morning and asked for the bathroom key, which hangs on a hook near the door. Not long after that, Ram saw two police officers arrive.

Officers Kip Kellogg, 47, and Kirby Harless, 54, responded to Montero-Diaz's call, which came in at 8:09 a.m. according to dispatch logs, said Chief Noble Wray. He said there was no way to know from the call whether the man was delusional or if the call reported a real kidnap attempt.

When police arrived, the clerk confirmed that Montero-Diaz had been in the bathroom for about 20 minutes, Wray said.

At least one of the two witnesses who had been doing business at the gas station at the time told investigators that the officers announced that they were Madison police several times, said Blanchard.

But Montero-Diaz told them he didn't believe that they were police, Blanchard added.

The officers got another key from the clerk and opened the door, Wray said. Montero-Diaz, who had a steak knife in his belt, attacked the officers and in the ensuing scuffle, bit Harless on both arms and stabbed Kellogg once in the bicep, both Blanchard and Wray said.

Kellogg used a Taser stun gun on Montero-Diaz, but it had no effect and the struggle continued, Wray said.

The witnesses said he was screaming unintelligibly, Blanchard said. Harless had a grip on Montero-Diaz's left arm when Kellogg fired three rounds into Montero-Diaz from a crouching position at close range, one of which was a fatal injury to the chest, Wray said.

Kellogg administered first aid on Montero-Diaz until an ambulance arrived, but he died at the scene.

One of the two witnesses, who had been coming to help the officers, was struck in the leg by a ricocheting bullet, Wray said. He was treated for the non life-threatening injury at UW Hospital.

Police are not releasing the bystander's name at his request, Wray said.

Both officers were treated at Meriter Hospital. Harless was released Wednesday and Kellogg was released Thursday morning.

Wray said there is some evidence to suggest that Montero-Diaz had been suffering from hallucinations or delusional thinking before Wednesday's incident.

Coroner John Stanley said toxicology tests have been performed to determine if Montero-Diaz was under the influence of drugs -- legal or illegal -- at the time of his death, but it will be weeks before the results are in.

It's Blanchard's understanding that the dead man's parents are in Europe and will be in Madison in a couple of days. His sister lives in Florida, Blanchard said.

Blanchard said he went to the scene Wednesday, watched the videotape the gas station provided that captured parts of the incident and read the police file which included detailed statements by both officers. It's obvious, he said, that there's no reason to hold the officers liable for what happened.

Wray said that when a "death struggle" is occurring, officers don't have time to wait until a person stops moving so they can shoot them in the leg or arm and incapacitate them without seriously wounding them. They are trained to do what they must to stop the attack, he said.

But Madison Police Lt. Brian Ackeret said he will be conducting an "administrative review" of the incident to determine exactly what had happened, which is standard procedure on all police shootings, he said.

Sounds like a good shoot.

Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell....

Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot.

+1

Try not stabbing police

The witnesses said he was screaming unintelligibly, Blanchard said. Harless had a grip on Montero-Diaz's left arm when Kellogg fired three rounds into Montero-Diaz from a crouching position at close range, one of which was a fatal injury to the chest, Wray said.

Holy shit, imagine shooting at such close range in circumstances like that.

Bet you this turns into a dog shooting anti police thread.

Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell....

Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic.

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic.

or a zombie!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. or a zombie!

so do you need to shoot meth users in the head to kill them?

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. +1

I'd prefer to wait for the blood tox tests to come back, but it does sound like a Tweaker gone off the deep end.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. or a zombie! so do you need to shoot meth users in the head to kill them?

It can't hurt to try!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. or a zombie! so do you need to shoot meth users in the head to kill them?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. or a zombie!

Wearing MARPAT !

Quoted: Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic.

But there are a lot more trustees of modern chemistry wandering around than there are genuinely psychotic people.

Go with the odds, baby.....Go with the odds.

Taser on a guy with a deadly weapon?

These two cops are lucky they didn't get a darwin award for this one.

He won't do that again.

Quoted: Bet you this turns into a dog shooting anti police thread.

Don't they all?

Obviously he was having a bad "trip."  

Oh well, I guess he'll never wake up from the dream.

Quoted: Taser on a guy with a deadly weapon? These two cops are lucky they didn't get a darwin award for this one.

With the second guessing they get, it's not surprising they tried it.  then again it might have been the only thing he could grab at that point in time with a free hand.  Sounds like something you see in tag-team wrestling.

Quoted: Taser on a guy with a deadly weapon? These two cops are lucky they didn't get a darwin award for this one.

In the officers' defense, did they know he had the knife when they used the Taser? In most cases where a knife is used, unless the victim observes it, the typical knife stab wound is often mistaken at first for punches.

Good shoot, in fact, I'd say they almost used too much restraint. Technically, if someone is within 21 feet of an officer and is holding a knife/acting aggressive/etc. and begins to make some sort of stabbing/throwing motion with the knife hand, deadly force is almost always authorized. These guys waited until they had been actually stabbed before using a tazer, and only after that failed did the tweaker recieve some free-of-charge lead chunks via air mail. I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised at this in a city like Madison.....that city is so horrendously liberal that any cop probably gets his face on the front page of the paper for looking at a black person. They are under a prety scrutinizing eye there.

IMHO, use of force limitations/lawsuits/accountability/etc. can be dangerous if taken too far. This is an example of that: they could easily have been killed in the stabbings, and yet refused to use deadly force at that point, in all likelyhood simply out of a fear of being sued by the ACLU, destroyed by the media, harassed by commie liberal yuppies, etc. This fear could very, very easily have cost one or both of them their lives. But it all worked out good, so no gripes here.

Sounds good to me

my give a damn meter is at zero at this point

God Damn, it's got to suck to be a cop some days...

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a good shoot. Ten bucks says the guy was tweaking on meth and was paranoid as hell.... Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. or a zombie! so do you need to shoot meth users in the head to kill them?

Considering the stories I've heard from EMTs about finding them with horrible injuries, yeah.


Sounds like a good shoot.

I read that twice, and can only say I'm glad the officers neutralized the threat before he hurt someone else, or them.



Oh, $10 says the thread stays civil.

Quoted: Quoted: Taser on a guy with a deadly weapon? These two cops are lucky they didn't get a darwin award for this one. In the officers' defense, did they know he had the knife when they used the Taser? In most cases where a knife is used, unless the victim observes it, the typical knife stab wound is often mistaken at first for punches.

Agreed.  At least they ultimately did the right thing and they're okay.  That's all that matters.

I'll bet his family sues the police for wrongful death and the city settles for at least $600K.

Quoted: Taser on a guy with a deadly weapon? These two cops are lucky they didn't get a darwin award for this one.

My thoughts exactly.  Me thinks they should reconsider that approach.

Quoted: Quoted: Clinically, a chronic meth user is indistinguishable from a paranoid schizophrenic. But there are a lot more trustees of modern chemistry wandering around than there are genuinely psychotic people. Go with the odds, baby.....Go with the odds.

Either way these officers were dealing with a nutcase.  I think it was a good shoot.

Quoted: My thoughts exactly.  Me thinks they should reconsider that approach.

SOP is usually for one officer to deploy the tazer while the other officer covers with the lethal weapon. Here, however, it seems that the officer who fired the tazer also fired his sidearm. The close quarters must have made it difficult for the other officer to respond with lethal force.

The fact that the tazer "had no effect" is interesting to me, as there must have been some technical malfunction.

Quoted: Quoted: My thoughts exactly.  Me thinks they should reconsider that approach. SOP is usually for one officer to deploy the tazer while the other officer covers with the lethal weapon. Here, however, it seems that the officer who fired the tazer also fired his sidearm. The close quarters must have made it difficult for the other officer to respond with lethal force. The fact that the tazer "had no effect" is interesting to me, as there must have been some technical malfunction.

Or perhaps the taser didn't penetrate clothing to make contact with skin, for whatever reason.