30 year-old Allen Locke was shot by Rapid City Police Officer Anthony Meirose over the weekend.
Police reports say Locke had a knife and charged at the officer.
Rapid City Police Captain Dan Rud says law enforcement officers use many manners of force throughout their careers including tackling fleeing suspects and tazing some that are resisting arrest.
But he says Rapid City police officers are instructed to use lethal force only if their life or the life of a third party is in jeopardy.
“Lethal force is the ultimate use of force. You know, using deadly force is when somebody may die, and officers know that, they understand that, but they don’t take that option lightly. But we also train officers that when you first become a police officer you have to have made the decision in your mind that you’re able to take somebody’s life if you have to, to either to save your own life or to save somebody else’s life, and to hesitate to do that sometimes costs the life of an officer,” says Rud.
Captain Rud says Rapid City police officers train throughout the year with firearms and the use of force.
The investigation into whether Rapid City Police Officer Meirose was justified when he opted to use lethal force against Locke continues and is being conducted by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and the South Dakota Attorney General’s office.
