| By Big Radio News Staff |
Authorities say a South Beloit police detective was justified shooting a female teen March 16 as she tried to peel away from a traffic stop while a passenger had the detective pinned inside her vehicle.
The Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office says body cam footage shows armed robbery fugitive Ray Castro was laying on South Beloit Police Detective Paul Reed, and had the detective pinned down in the front seat of a red, Saturn vehicle.
At the time, Reed was trying to arrest Castro during a traffic stop in South Beloit, and the two had gotten in a tussle that spilled from the roadside into the Saturn’s front seat area.
The girl peeled out in the Saturn with Reed hanging partway out of it. The Saturn knocked another officer off his feet and veered across lanes. That’s when Reed shot the girl once in the leg, which caused the girl to pull over in a ditch. The girl was later treated for injuries and released.
The state’s attorney says Reed was justified shooting the girl because he was protecting himself and motorists along a busy, four-lane stretch of Highway 51 where the situation played out.
Prior to the shooting, the detective and another officer had tried to get Castro to get out of the vehicle, but Castro and the girl continued to lie about Castro’s identity, even as police had ID’d Castro as a fugitive. At one point, Castro did get out, but he broke free and tried to jump back in the car while shouting at the girl driving in Spanish “Gas, Gas!” and “Floor it!”
The state’s attorney’s report says body cam images show Castro was laying on top of Reed as the girl was peeling away. Reed said he kept trying to put the Saturn in park, but couldn’t reach the keys to shut off the vehicle. He says he was worried the girl would drive the vehicle straight into oncoming traffic and cause a “severe” crash.
Reed says he could feel the car speeding up and veering across the road toward oncoming traffic, although he couldn’t see out the vehicle because Castro was on top of him and had his head and shoulders pinned down. Reed pulled his gun with his free arm and shot the girl in the right leg.
Later, as officers were putting the girl’s leg in a tourniquet, police say the girl was on the phone with her mother.
The girl’s mother later told detectives she’d been on the phone with her daughter throughout the incident, including during the gunfire, and had urged her daughter and Castro to get out of the vehicle and surrender.
Officers recovered a bullet casing from between the seats and a bullet on the floor after the incident.
During the incident, Ray Castro escaped police, stole an SUV, and fled north into Beloit with multiple police in hot pursuit. A Roscoe, Illinois officer shot Castro dead after police say he tried to ram officers with the stolen SUV.
Rock County’s District Attorney already has ruled the shooting of Castro as justified.