What started as a traffic stop for running a red light in Wisconsin quickly escalated into a high-speed pursuit, followed by a car accident, and a shootout that left the suspect dead and a police officer in critical condition.
The Greenfield Police Department released body camera footage and dashcam video on Thursday showing the police officer-involved shooting from the early morning hours on Aug. 22.
Tyran Lamb, 31, ran a red light in front of Greenfield police officers near Milwaukee. Officers pulled over Lamb around 1:36 a.m., but the driver accelerated and drove away before the officer could exit the police cruiser. The driver pulled over and then drove away on at least three occasions. When a second squad car arrived to box Lamb in on the shoulder, he sped away. Police deployed a spike strip, but the vehicle continued to evade police.
Lamb raced through red lights and stop signs, but smashed into a pickup truck at an intersection. With Lamb’s vehicle disabled, police moved in on the suspect. Guns drawn, the officers demanded that the suspect show him his hands 18 times. Lamb refused to comply.
The vehicle’s airbags deployed, which made it difficult for the officers to see the suspect. A male officer approached the front passenger side of the vehicle and yelled for the man to show his hands. Video shows Lamb fire shots through the windshield, striking the officer. He also fired at the other officer but missed.
The officer falls to the pavement and screams, “Shots fired! Shots fired! I’m hit!”
Another officer took cover by the police cruiser and another took cover behind the pickup truck. The suspect ran toward an officer as they both exchanged gunshots. Lamb is seen on video leaping over the officer and running away while blindly shooting at the cop.
Bodycam video shows one officer treating the severely wounded cop who was shot in the chest, leg, and finger.
“Please don’t let me die. Please don’t let me die, OK,” the downed officer pleads to the other officer. “Please don’t let me die, I’m begging you.”
A 36-year-old Greenfield officer with three years of experience was shot multiple times and is in critical but stable condition, WMTJ-TV reported. The other officers are a 32-year-old with over a year of experience and a 22-year-old with three years of experience, which is who returned fire on the suspect.
Lamb was later found dead at the crime scene.
Greenfield Police Chief Jay Johnson said, “We nearly lost a police officer in the line of duty at the hands of a dangerous felon.”
Johnson said the violent incident is the “kind of danger police officers face every day.” He commended the officers’ “bravery” and “heroism.”
Content warning: Graphic video
Greenfield WI Officer Shot 08/22/21
www.youtube.com