Two Davenport Police officers were placed on administrative leave after a man was shot by police Thursday morning, October 10, 2013.
According to a Davenport Police Department spokesperson, Davenport Police Patrol and Traffic Units were dispatched to the area of 16th and Warren Street because of a person prowling vehicles and garages at 7:58 a.m., Thursday, October 10, 2013.
Officers found the suspect, a 21-year-old man, in an alley between 15th and 16th streets just west of Warren in Davenport. Police said the suspect was placed in a "stop and frisk" position on his knees and was seen with a handgun in his waistband.
“I stood right here, I watched the whole thing,” said Kevin Ruffin. Ruffin’s truck was parked in the alley between 15th and 16th Street. He was out checking over his tools before heading to work when he saw the suspect walking in the alley.
“The boy, he was walking from that way, was coming up this way,” said Ruffin.
He watched as an officer told the man to get down on the ground.
“He said, 'Move and you're dead,'" said Ruffin.
“A couple, maybe thirty, forty seconds later, the second officer pulls up and he yells out, 'There’s a gun!' That's standard procedure. Just about that time, this individual comes to his feet and starts running to the north,” said Major Don Schaeffer, Assistant Chief of Police.
“The cop told him to lay down, he didn't lay down; he got up, tried to run and got shot,” said Ruffin.
Police say the suspect was reaching for a gun, but from Ruffin’s point of view and where he was standing, he said he did not see that.
“If I was in that situation, I don't know what I would've done you know? But he didn't pull his gun or anything like that. Like I said, the cop told him to lay down, instead of him laying down he got up and tried to run. He didn't reach for anything, he didn't really give them a hard time, he just tried to run and cops shot him," said Ruffin.
But police say evidence shows the suspect was reaching for a gun.
“You can see him on the video on the camera of the squad car, where he crosses in front of it that he's clearly reaching for a gun that's in his waist band,” said Schaeffer.
Initial information indicated three to four shots were fired. It was unclear how many of the shots hit the man and where he was possibly injured.
According to the Davenport Police Department, the suspect was treated at the scene and taken by ambulance to Genesis West Hospital, where he had surgery.
The officers placed on administrative leave are Officer Michael Jacobsen, who works the Patrol Division, and Officer Thomas Runge, who works the Traffic Bureau.
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office is continuing the investigation.