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No Charges to Issue in Justified Fatal Shooting of James Lukasiewicz
Officers arrived at the apartment at 6:28 a.m. and Mr. Lukasiewicz informed them that he would not open the door and threatened to kill the woman inside. At 6:30 a.m. fearing for the life of the woman, Officer A gained entry by kicking in the door. Once inside, Officer B entered with a taser drawn and was followed by Officer A who had had his gun drawn. Both officers directed Mr. Lukasiewicz to get on the ground. The officers observed him in the bathroom standing over the woman victim and repeatedly stabbing her as he held her over the toilet.
The woman screamed for Mr. Lukasiewicz to stop stabbing her. He failed to stop, and Officer A grabbed him by the shirt and told him to step away. He continued to stab the woman. Officer A fired two shots in defense of the victim, striking Mr. Lukasiewicz in his back and another in his shoulder causing him to fall to the floor.
The woman was observed to have serious stab wounds to her neck and face which caused life threatening amounts of bleeding and a collapsed lung. She was transported to a local hospital for treatment and survived. Mr. Lukasiewicz was secured, and officers gave him medical attention at the scene until medics arrived. He succumbed to his wounds and was pronounced deceased by a doctor on the day of the incident.
In Michigan, the law provides that a person has the right to use deadly force to defend others, if at the time they acted there was an honest and reasonable belief that others were in danger of death or serious injury. In this case, the officers arrived at the scene and heard the victim screaming that she was being stabbed. Officers kicked the door open when they were denied entry. As soon as they were in the apartment, the officers observed Mr. Lukasiewicz attacking the victim, who was bleeding profusely. When Mr. Lukasiewicz was ordered to move away, he continued his deadly attack on the victim, Officer A* then fired his weapon twice in defense of the female victim.
No charges will issue in this matter. Officer A's actions were justified. He acted in lawful defense of the stabbing victim in this case.
*WCPO does not give the name of an uncharged person.
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