Munster officer on leave while ISP investigates

The Indiana State Police have released the name of the Munster Police officer involved in a shooting last week while trying to apprehend a car theft suspect.

Officer Brett Scheffel, a 10 ½-year veteran with the department, will remain on paid administrative leave until ISP finishes its investigation and the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office reviews the report, ISP spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield said in a release Tuesday.

It won’t release any further information.

Indiana State Police detectives, meanwhile, filed seven charges against Roy Viverette.

Those charges include unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony; criminal recklessness, resisting law enforcement and auto theft, all Level 6 felonies; and theft, a Class A misdemeanor, ISP spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield said in a release

Saturday.

Viverette, 30, was arrested Wednesday evening.

At around 7:40 p.m. on Feb. 1, Munster officers were canvassing the area of Ridge Road and Manor Avenue for a stolen 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which they found at the Mobil Gas Station, 323 Ridge Road, Fifield said.

When the officers drove into the station’s parking lot, the suspect, now known as Viverette, got into the Jeep and hit the police cars with it, Fifield said.

An officer then shot his gun at the Jeep, striking the windshield, Fifield said.

Viverette got out and ran west from the station, at which point officers gave chase and shot him with a stun gun, Fifield said. They then performed first aid on him, and medics took him to a local hospital before transporting him to the Lake County Jail, he said.

Viverette also has an active, full-extradition warrant out of Cook County, Illinois, for numerous offenses there, Fifield said.