The North Fond du Lac Police Chief says he believes the Winnebago County District Attorney made the right decision not to charge an officer involved in a deadly shooting incident following a traffic stop in the village and subsequent chase. The Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation found that officer Bryce LaLuzerne acted appropriately when he fatally shot the the suspect. NFDL Police Chief Pete Vergos says officer LaLuzerne had initiated a traffic stop in the village and the vehicle fled the scene. Vergos says law enforcement was trying to slow the suspect vehicle using a moving roadblock technique on I-41 when the suspect dialed 911 and told a dispatcher he had a gun. “He had the gun in his lap, said he was going to shoot officers, and that he was going to crash his car to try to roll it over,” Vergos told WFDL news. “At that time what’s going through an officers’ mind is very different from what we know afterward. Is he going to try and shoot me?” When the driver exited his vehicle and approach law enforcement the officer shot the suspect who died at the scene. “Looking at the facts that DOJ uncovered through this process it does appear that this was his (suspect) main goal. He set out to kill himself and he basically utilized a law enforcement officer in that process,” Vergos said. Vergos says officer LaLuzerne has been on administrative leave since the incident and was scheduled to return to active duty last week.
