Crookston officer cleared in fatal June shooting
A Crookston police officer has been cleared in a deadly shooting on June 30, prosecutors announced.
The Crow Wing County Attorney’s Office reviewed the case for the Polk County Attorney due to a possible conflict of interest. The Attorney’s Office said that Officer Nick Fladland’s use of deadly force was authorized under Minnesota law and that they won’t be bringing charges against him.
As previously reported, law enforcement responded to a report of two men fighting at a homeless shelter on East Third Street on June 30.
RELATED: Crookston officer fatally shoots man, BCA investigating
According to a letter from Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan, a shelter resident told officers that a man named “Chris” was having a mental breakdown and had thrown him against the wall when he tried to help. Officers were led to “Chris,” who was identified to be Christopher Ryan Junkin, 44.
Prosecutors say that Junkin was sitting naked on a pile of rubble on the floor and had a “large metal object” in his hand. He dropped the object and eventually lunged at officers, and Fladland tased him.
Junkin fell down the flight of stairs he was on top of, and officers tried to arrest him, but he reportedly tucked his arms underneath his chest. Prosecutors say he then jumped to his feet, was tased again, and ran down a perpendicular hallway. Junkin reportedly was yelling expletives and “I’ll never give in.”
Prosecutors say Junkin threw a plastic garbage can at officers and lifted it up as if to throw it again. Officers deployed tasers and pepper spray.
He then ran into an open room, came back out into the hallway and continued running and lunging at the officers. Fladland fired several rounds at Junkin, hitting him three times.
Junkin fell to the ground and officers ordered him to put his hands behind his back, but he didn’t. Eventually, officers were able to put handcuffs on him and gave him first aid, but he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
A resident told investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that Junkin had been screaming, “going nuts,” throwing and breaking things and running at the officers. They added that “officers didn’t want to get close to [Junkin]” and “didn’t wan’t to use lethal force or even try to take him down.”
Another resident told investigators that Junkin was breaking things, “storming” at officers and acting violent and “out of his mind.” He added that the pepper spray deployed by officers didn’t appear to slow Junkin down.
“Although Junkin did not have a weapon on him at the time he was shot, given his physical stature, the level of aggression he was exhibiting towards the officers, and law enforcement’s position on the stairwell when he lunged at them, it was reasonable for the officers to believe Junkin would cause them great bodily harm or death if they did not respond with deadly force,” prosecutors said.
Ryan also noted that Minnesota law has established that “bare hands” alone can be “deadly force” under the state’s first-degree assault statute.