Prosecutor finds shooting ‘justified’

A Harrison County police officer who shot and killed a man after a pursuit on Interstate 64 early this year has been cleared in the case.
Crawford County Prosecutor Nicholas Haverstock, in a statement yesterday (Tuesday), said he met with Deputy Josh Cole of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Dept. on Monday to inform him of his decision. Present with Cole was Harrison County Sheriff Rodney (Rod) Seelye.
‘I informed Deputy Cole that no charges would be brought against him relating to the Jan. 4, 2017, shooting of Richard Jackson on Interstate 64 in Crawford County,’ Haverstock said.
The prosecutor cited Indiana Law 35-41-3-2 and 35-41-3-3 as Cole’s justification for using deadly force.
‘After reviewing police reports, dash-cam video, photographs and Deputy Cole’s statement, the evidence is clear that he was left with no other option but to employ deadly force against Richard Jackson,’ Haverstock said.
According to the prosecutor, earlier in the evening of Jan. 4, after stabbing his stepfather in Kentucky, Jackson fled to Indiana, where he bumped a car on the interstate in Harrison County and rammed a fully marked police vehicle on I-64 in Crawford County before stopping on the interstate and charging at officers with a weapon.
‘Deputy Cole was in the lead pursuit vehicle and had approximately three seconds to decide what to do before he would have been stabbed by Richard Jackson,’ Haverstock said. ‘The deadly force he used was reasonable, necessary and legal under Indiana law. This matter is now closed.’