Milwaukee police officer will not be charged for shooting and killing 31-year-old Herman Lucas

Milwaukee police officer Kevin Hansen will not be criminally charged for shooting and killing Herman Lucas near Silver Spring Drive in February, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern informed Police Chief Jeffrey Norman of the office's decision on Friday in a letter, saying "Lucas posed an immediate threat to the safety of Officer Hansen and anyone else in that vicinity."

Hansen shot Lucas 10 times on Feb. 21 around 1:48 p.m. following a high-speed chase and short foot pursuit near the BP gas station located at 9114 W. Silver Spring Drive.

Footage of the incident released by police on April 7 left more questions, as the video didn't provide clarity on whether or not Lucas, 31, was pointing the gun at officers when he was shot by Hansen while his back was turned. Hansen's arms were obstructing the view of the bodycam prior to shots being fired.

Lovern said Friday that "Lucas picked up the firearm and maintained possession of it. At this time, Hansen discharged his firearm ten times at Lucas, fatally injuring him."

The incident began with a traffic stop on the 7000 block of West Thurston Avenue on Milwaukee's northwest side. Police said officers pulled over the vehicle, driven by Lucas, for not having license plates.

Lucas initially stopped but then fled west as officers approached on foot. After traveling about a mile and a half with police in pursuit, Lucas disregarded a red light and crashed into another car at the intersection of North 91st Street and West Silver Spring Drive.

Lucas is seen exiting the vehicle from the driver's side and fleeing with a gun. Video shows Lucas running through a gas station parking lot while an officer yells "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!"

That is when Lucas attempts to scale a fence before falling to the ground and dropping the gun. Hansen discharges his weapon soon after Lucas picked up the gun from the ground, Lovern said.

Lovern said Hansen's use of lethal force was justified by state law as the officer had actual subjective belief that deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or others. Lovern said the investigation found that Hansen's belief to use deadly force was also objectively reasonable.

"Mr. Lucas was armed with a loaded semi-automatic pistol that he brandished in a public place while a uniformed officer was lawfully attempting to arrest him and refused to surrender the weapon or comply with lawful orders," Lovern said.

"Despite repeated orders to relinquish control of his firearm, Lucas picked up his gun after inadvertently dropping it while colliding with a fence. ... In addition, the Milwaukee Police Department follows the national standard that trains officers only to use force to stop a threat of death or great bodily harm."

As is the case with all fatal Milwaukee police shootings, the investigation was conducted by the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team. The lead agency was the Waukesha Police Department.

"Because the use of force by Officer Hansen was legally privileged, I am closing the criminal investigation into this incident and leave to your discretion any administrative decisions," Lovern said.

On the day of the shooting, Norman said Hansen was placed on administrative duty, however Norman only described him as a 43-year-old man with more than five years of service with the department. He was identified in Lovern's letter Friday.

Lucas was a Milwaukee resident who attended Holy Redeemer School and worked as a delivery driver for Auto Zone, according to his obituary. He's survived by his mother, stepfather, two siblings and one stepsibling.

Bystander video showed officers drag Lucas' body

A bystander video shared to social media shortly after the shooting shows an officer pick up Lucas' foot and drag him a short distance, leading to public concern and reaction from officials.

The bystander video begins by showing at least four police officers cautiously approaching Lucas’ body as it lays unresponsive on the ground in a corner of the gas station lot. The officers’ guns are drawn and at least one holds a tactical shield as they appear to shout orders at Lucas to put his hands on his side. Lucas never moves.

When bodycam footage was released showing more of the aftermath, police said at the time that officers conducted a tactical evaluation of the situation to determine if Lucas still posed a threat. An officer's bodycam footage shows officers close in on Lucas' body before one officer points out a gun near Lucas' body.

Once officers close in, the bodycam footage shows an officer grab Lucas by the foot and drag him several feet away from the corner. One officer states "Careful, his foot!" Lucas' other foot was caught along the fence.

Multiple officers then help pick up his body and move him further away. Police said Lucas was moved to attempt life-saving measures. Video shows one officer pumping Lucas' chest.

Police and elected officials discussed the treatment of Lucas' body at Common Council committee hearing in late June.

Fire and Police Commission Executive Director Leon Todd and Milwaukee police Chief of Staff Heather Hough explained to the committee that the department doesn't have specific standards in place for that kind of scenario and officers are instead expected to rely on training.

Hough said in the moments immediately after an officer uses deadly force on someone and it's not clear if that person is still alive or armed, briefly dragging the body to reposition it is regarded as an accepted method, citing Wisconsin Department of Justice training and standards.

The treatment of Lucas' body led to a strong reaction from elected officials. Ald. Mark Chambers said, “It wasn’t a good look, plain and simple."

Citing an ongoing investigation, Hough and Todd did not divulge much at the committee hearing, but said although there's no standard operating procedure that applies to the situation, the department’s code of conduct measures regarding integrity and respect do apply.

Ald. Milele Coggs pressed Todd and Hough on the idea of creating a specific standard for those situations, but the two resisted.

Todd said “there are certain circumstances ... where it’s impossible to predict every possible scenario and spell it out with specificity.” He said drafting a standard would have to include many factors, such as officer safety, public safety and the need to provide aid to the injured person.

It would be difficult to map out a “clear cut” standard when a gun is involved, there’s a need to provide aid to someone injured and “the officer has to make real-time decisions that are dangerous, where there’s a lot going on. I don’t know that a specific (standard operating procedure) is helpful here.”

Milwaukee police did not immediately respond Friday when asked if the treatment of Lucas' body was still under investigation.

Elliot Hughes contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee officer will not be charged for killing Herman Lucas