By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
A Joplin police officer shot and killed a suspected drunken driver Sunday night after being sprayed with Mace by the man during a foot chase, police said.
David C. Bogard, 34, of Joplin, died at a local hospital after the shooting in a field on the south side of the city. The name of the officer was being withheld by the Joplin Police Department pending an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
In a news release Monday, the department said the officer tried to stop a vehicle that Bogard was driving at 9:36 p.m. near 15th Street and Connecticut Avenue on suspicion of drunken driving. The driver attempted to elude the officer, and a short vehicle pursuit ensued, ending on a dead-end street north of 32nd Street and west of Connecticut Avenue, police said.
The driver got out and fled, and the officer chased him on foot into a field, according to police. As the officer caught up to him, Bogard sprayed him with Mace, police said.
Police Chief Lane Roberts said in a telephone interview Monday that Bogard was shot shortly after he sprayed the officer with the Mace. Roberts told the Globe that the officer may have believed that the man was reaching for a weapon in his waistband when he fired the shot.
“The officer won’t be interviewed for a couple of days,” Roberts said. “That’s standard procedure. What we have right now is his initial overview of what happened.”
Roberts would not say if any weapon other than the Mace was found in Bogard’s possession. He said that is a question the state patrol’s investigation will address. He said some potential witnesses to the shooting are being interviewed by investigators.
The police chief said the Mace that was used on the officer was in Bogard’s possession and was not taken from the officer. He said officers are issued a pepper spray, but not Mace.
“He had his own Mace that he (apparently) had purchased, the key chain-type of thing that people can buy,” Roberts said. “But I don’t know that it was on a key chain.”
Bogard was taken to a Joplin hospital, where he died Sunday night. The officer did not require medical attention as a consequence of being sprayed with the Mace, Roberts said.
Roberts said an autopsy likely would be performed on the shooting victim, but he did not know if one had been scheduled by late Monday afternoon.
Passengers
Joplin police Chief Lane Roberts said other people were in the vehicle that David C. Bogard was driving before he was shot by an officer Sunday night. The chief said it was his understanding that at least two of the passengers also fled on foot.
