St. John police officer on leave

A St. John police officer has been put on paid administrative leave after he shot at who turned out to be a Hammond police officer early Tuesday morning.

St. John Police Chief Steve Flores said in a release Tuesday that at around 2:30 a.m. November 29, one of his officers was checking on a suspicious vehicle near the intersection of West 93rd and Cline Avenues. At one point, the officer got out of his vehicle with a flashlight to check the area around the vehicle for its owner or driver when a second vehicle drove toward and nearly hit him as he was standing on the road shoulder, Flores said.

The officer, “fearing for his life,” fired several shots at the vehicle, which continued driving away from the scene, Flores said.

The officer then returned to his police vehicle and caught up to the driver, who he then took into custody, Flores said. Neither he nor the driver were injured, but the St. John officer was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

The Post-Tribune learned Tuesday that the driver at whom the St. John officer shot was a Hammond Police officer; Hammond Police spokesman Lt. Steve Kellogg directed comment to St. John and the Lake County Sheriff ’s Department, which has been called in to investigate. Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr., in a release deferred to Flores’s release but said that County can’t confirm any details at this time because it’s an ongoing investigation.

But in a series of posts to Twitter, Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. confirmed that the driver was a Hammond Police officer who lives in St. John.

“Last night, an OFF DUTY Police Officer was fired upon, multiple times, by an ON DUTY, St. John, Ind. Police Officer,” McDermott posted. “We are happy to report that, other than property damage to his vehicle (a bullet hole in the passenger’s seat), the officer is physically unharmed.

“The off-duty Officer (a St. John resident), maintains he did nothing wrong, just maneuvered his vehicle to other side of the road to give space to ongoing traffic stop. Suddenly, the Hammond officers vehicle was fired upon (multiple times) by the St. John Officer. This instance of Deadly Force was dangerous & unnecessary. The St. John officer who made the decision to use deadly force, is a danger to society & doesn’t deserve to wear the badge of Hoosier Law Enforcement.”

Flores said further details will be released when County concludes its investigation.