SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Investigators have determined that a state trooper who shot and killed a motorist during a traffic stop in Chicopee last year was justified in using deadly force.
Trooper Thiago Miranda shot 23-year-old motorist Wayne Edwards of Springfield twice after pulling him over for speeding on Interstate 291 last August.
The investigation by the Hampden district attorney’s office says Edwards resisted arrest and struggled with the trooper. The trooper opened fire when Edwards put his vehicle into drive and started to pull away with the trooper’s body halfway out of the vehicle.
The report says Miranda “feared he would be seriously injured or killed” if the car drove away with him hanging outside and his feet dragging on the road.
The report concludes that the trooper’s actions are “legally excused.”
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