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Hwy. 212 shooting detailed: New documents and dash camera videos show the confusion and tension before police killed a couple.

Smith, Kelly; Olson, Rochelle. Star Tribune; Minneapolis, Minn. [Minneapolis, Minn]24 Dec 2014: B.1.

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Redacted squad car dash camera videos and more than 500 pages of documents show Matthew Serbus, 36, of Brooklyn Center, ignoring repeated commands by officers armed with rifles and handguns, yelling at him to get out of the car after it crashed in Eden Prairie following a pursuit. According to BCA documents, the couple separated so officers fired shots at Serbus.








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Public documents released Tuesday revealed the dramatic, tense minutes that led up to the deadly shooting of a couple by police officers on Hwy. 212 nearly a year ago.

Redacted squad car dash camera videos and more than 500 pages of documents show Matthew Serbus, 36, of Brooklyn Center, ignoring repeated commands by officers armed with rifles and handguns, yelling at him to get out of the car after it crashed in Eden Prairie following a pursuit.

Instead, Serbus pulls his girlfriend, Dawn Pfister, 34, of Elkhorn, Wis., out of the stolen car, waving a knife before officers shoot him. And although officers reported that Pfister was an apparent hostage, police say she then grabbed the knife, with one officer saying she was "slinging it" toward them before she was shot.

The new details offer the first full account from the four officers who shot the couple Feb. 7. Last week, a Hennepin County grand jury declined to indict them.

"I went through so many different options and things to try and get them to eliminate their threat so that we could help them," said State Patrol trooper Mark Lund.

At about 7:30 a.m. that day, police responded to a call of a car speeding erratically after rear-ending a car. In a stolen red Saab, Serbus and Pfister then led police on a chase before the car, with one flat tire and a popped-up hood blocking the windshield,

slowed and crashed into a sound wall.

As Chaska Sgt. Brady Juell pursued the car, he took out his rifle and laid it across his lap in preparation for what he told investigators looked like a "high-risk stop."

"This just isn't normal," he said. "These people were so determined to try to get away from us or to keep the cops away from 'em."

For three minutes, grainy videos show Lund repeatedly shouting at Serbus to get out of the car and put up his hands. "Get out of the car, get out of the car!" he yells. "You draw and I'll [expletive] kill you. Get out of the car now!"

Serbus steps out, then ducks into the car. Carver County Sheriff's Cpl. Nathan Mueller said Serbus went back and forth three or four times, never saying a word.

"The look on his face ... I knew that he was not gonna comply," Mueller told investigators. " ... It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. ... the whites of his eyes were the size of a baseball."

Meanwhile, Lund keeps screaming. "Show me your hands! Show me your hands!"

But Serbus "didn't react, didn't care," Juell said, adding that the man looked drugged.

An officer yells at someone to get a rifle after seeing Serbus grab something from the vehicle. Dash videos then show Serbus pulling Pfister from the car.

"Lay down so we can help you!" Lund says. "Sir, you don't want to die here!"

The couple face each other, moving stiffly. Other officers on the scene told investigators it appeared they were hugging or dancing in a weird way, chest to chest.

"At this time I transferred my thinking to this is not a hostage situation and this is kind of a thing where she and him have made some plan," Chaska officer Trent Wurtz told investigators.

Mueller told investigators Serbus kept reaching at his back like he was pulling at something while one hand was around Pfister's waist, and it appeared they were talking.

"Lay down right now!" officers shout. A bang is heard and video cameras show Pfister starting to fall to the ground, but Serbus pulls her back up.

On the video, officers are heard saying that Serbus is going to stab Pfister and the video ends. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension cites state statute that allows it to redact video or photos "clearly offensive to common sensibilities."

According to BCA documents, the couple separated so officers fired shots at Serbus. He fell and pulled Pfister down with him, officers said.

Then, Lund told investigators, Pfister brought the knife up over her head and was stumbling to get to her feet -- about 6 feet away from officers, with the knife facing them. Officers shot at her. Serbus regained the knife before officers fired again at him, they said.

All of the officers involved told investigators the couple posed a public safety risk.

"I-I feel a ton of grief for these families, for these people that made that choice," Juell told investigators, adding he has headaches from the shooting and doesn't sleep well. "Um, but what gets me through is I know I did what I had to, I had no choice. ... I thought he was gonna try to kill her and have us kill him."

Bob Bennett, an attorney hired by Pfister's family to pursue a case against the officers, had a different view.

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life," he said. "It's a sham. It's false. They walked up to her and executed her. They have to hope no one sees the unredacted videos."

Kelly Smith - 612-673-4141

Credit: KELLY SMITH; ROCHELLE OLSON; STAFF WRITERS


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Subject
Death & dying
Criminal investigations
People
Serbus, Matthew
Pfister, Dawn
Lund, Mark
Juell, Brady
Mueller, Nathan


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