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Twenty-three rounds were fired during a pursuit in Sioux Falls that ended with South Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper being hit by a car.
The South Dakota Attorney General's Office released an incident report Tuesday evening saying that Trooper Andrew Steen and the two Lincoln County deputies who fired at 25-year-old Rachel Coleman were justified in using lethal force.
It was all an attempt to try to slow down the repeat drunk driver who is now charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and DUI while Trooper Steen remains hospitalized as he recovers from a traumatic brain injury.
The report says Steen tried to pull Coleman over around 2:30 a.m. on October 17 for erratic driving. But Coleman led authorities on a pursuit that reached 80 to 90 miles per hour.
It neared an end in the parking lot of the shopping center at 57th Street and Western Avenue where it says Coleman hit Steen's car twice. That's when Steen got out of his car and yelled at Coleman to stop.
The report goes on to say Coleman accelerated and Steen fired his gun as Coleman drove into the storefront of a business. Steen ran toward the car when Coleman accelerated once again, hitting Steen as he was firing his gun at her. When Steen was hit, he was pushed onto the hood of Coleman's car. Investigators say the vehicle reached speeds of 29 miles per hour before Steen was no longer on the hood.
Lincoln County Deputy Tom Krull was near the entrance of the parking lot and hearing the radio traffic of 'officer down,' he fired his gun 14 times as Coleman left the parking lot.
Coleman was later arrested about a half-mile away. The report says she had been hit by at least three rounds.
Now Coleman sits in jail, facing charges that could send her to prison for the rest of her life while Steen recovers from the injuries he suffered after trying to make a traffic stop.
The report says Coleman's blood alcohol level four hours after her arrest was 0.079, which is just below the legal limit.
Read the entire report online.
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