Update | 4:04 p.m.
The victim of an officer-involved shooting is expected to survive, Juneau Police Chief Bryce Johnson said at a news conference Saturday.
Two Juneau police officers responded to a single-vehicle crash early Saturday morning. They determined the Jeep Cherokee involved in the crash was the same one that failed to stop during an attempted police traffic stop earlier. Police did not pursue the vehicle.
“Vehicle pursuits are incredibly dangerous,” Johnson said. “People die all the time in vehicle pursuits, including the person in the vehicle, innocent third-parties and the police officers.”
“So we are unwilling to put the public in at risk of death unless there’s a significant crime that has occurred,” he said.
Johnson said that at the time of the attempted stop, JPD couldn’t determine if a significant crime had been committed.
Johnson said the driver in the crash, a 38-year-old Juneau man, refused officer instructions and a sergeant called dispatch to report that the man had barricaded himself in the vehicle.
One minute later, the officers requested medical assistance for the driver after he suffered a gunshot wound. An officer had shot him, according to a news release.
Johnson did not know how many times the officer fired.
“I do not know. There were not a whole bunch,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to speculate whether there was one or two. It was a small number.”
It is Juneau Police Department policy to withhold the names of officers involved in officer-involved shootings for a minimum of 24-hours.
Dash-cam videos and officer-carried digital recorders will also be part of the investigation.
“We do not have the body cameras in place now, so there were no body cam recordings,” Johnson said. “The vehicles that were at the scene are equipped with dash-cam videos. We have secured them. We do not know what they were able to capture yet at this point.”
Officers also carry digital recorders, Johnson said, and they will be part of the ongoing investigation.
Update | 12:28 p.m.
A 38-year-old Juneau man injured in an officer-involved shooting early Saturday morning had been driving a gray Jeep Cherokee that failed to stop for a Juneau police officer earlier.
According to a police news release, a police officer attempted to stop the vehicle about 12:56 a.m. in the area of Egan Drive and Mendenhall Loop Road. The vehicle failed to stop for the officer, who did not pursue the vehicle.
About 3:55 a.m. a female Juneau resident called police dispatch and reported that her husband told her he had been in an accident out the road. Her husband, a 42-year-old Juneau man, was a passenger in the vehicle. He did not name the driver.
About 4:19 a.m., police located the single-vehicle crash in the 16500 block of Ocean View Drive. The vehicle was off the road and in the trees, according to the news release. Police positively identified the vehicle as the same Jeep Cherokee that evaded police earlier.
The driver was identified as a 38-year-old Juneau man.
Police said he did not comply with an officer’s instructions and an on-duty sergeant notified dispatch that the driver had barricaded himself in the Jeep.
Within one minute, officers requested medical assistance for the driver who had been shot one time by an officer.
Alcohol appears to be a factor in this incident.
The district attorney and Alaska State Troopers Bureau of Investigation are assisting in the ongoing investigation.
Original story | 11:45 a.m.
A 38-year-old Juneau man injured in an officer-involved shooting early Saturday on Ocean View Drive has been medevaced to Seattle.
Lt. David Campbell said the officers were responding to a vehicle crash. The officers contacted a man who was in the area. He was later shot by one of the officers.
Police did not disclose other details about the shooting.
“We’re still investigating the case and I don’t have the answers as far as as the chain of events that happened on the scene that resulted in the shooting,” Campbell said.
An ambulance transported the shooting victim to Bartlett Regional Hospital before he was flown to Seattle.
Neither officer was injured, according to the release. They have been placed on administrative leave.
Police withheld the names of the shooting victim and police officers.
Earlier, the police department Twitter account posted a tweet that Point Lena Loop Road was closed.
Point Lena loop Rd is closed. Emergency personnel are on scene.
— Juneau Police Dept. (@JuneauPD) December 3, 2016
Campbell said he didn’t know whether there were or would be charges filed.
An investigation is ongoing.
Police said more information will be released later today. A news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. today.
The last officer-involved shooting occurred in 2007, when Juneau police officers shot and killed Randall Clevenger, 40. Clevenger reportedly raised a samurai sword and advanced on the officers.
Campbell said a 2012 incident in which former police Lt. Troy Wilson was involved was not classified as an officer-involved shooting because Wilson was no longer an officer and no active duty officers fired shots. No one was injured in that incident.
