CULVER, Ind. — A northern Indiana sheriff's deputy won't be charged in the fatal shooting of a motorist who fled an attempted traffic stop and eventually pinned the deputy between two vehicles.
Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman announced Monday that Marshall County Sgt. Matthew Brown's actions in November's killing of Dylan Bush, 33, were justified under Indiana law.
NOTE: The video above is from a Nov. 29, 2021, report on this shooting.
Chipman wrote in his report that Brown had believed deadly force was necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to himself and that Bush "was not going to stop of his own volition," the South Bend Tribune reported.
A Culver police officer was alerted about a suspected drunk driver on Nov. 28, 2021. The officer spotted the suspect's car on State Road 17 just before 2 p.m. and tried to pull it over.
But the driver, later identified as Bush, fled and began leading local officers on a 30-minute chase through Marshall County.
According to Chipman's report, officers eventually maneuvered Bush off a roadway and into a parking lot where they boxed his vehicle between their police cruisers.
Police say the parking lot was in the 1100 block of North Lake Shore Drive in Culver, a town about 30 miles southwest of South Bend.
The report says Brown exited his cruiser, gun drawn, and he shouted for Bush to surrender. That's when Bush drove forward, pinning Brown between the officer's cruiser and his vehicle.
Brown fired three shots, striking Bush. After being shot, Bush drove several hundred feet and crashed into an unoccupied car in a nearby parking lot, according to Indiana State Police.
Medics pronounced Bush dead at the scene.
State police said the deputy was taken to a local hospital, where he was checked out and released.
An autopsy determined Bush had a blood alcohol content of .23%, or nearly three times Indiana's legal limit of .08% for drivers.