Jeremiah D. Johnson Identified As Drunk Driver Suspect Killer Of Deputy From St. Croix County
Jeremiah D. Johnson Identified As Drunk Driver Suspect Killer Of Deputy From St. Croix County
The suspect, Jeremiah D. Johnson – A deputy from St. Croix County, Wisconsin, was responding to a possible drunk driver who had driven into a ditch on Saturday night when he was shot and killed.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, deputy Kaitie Leising, 29, met the driver, Jeremiah Johnson, 34, at the scene of the car accident in Glenwood, Wisconsin, around 6:15 p.m. on Saturday.
Another car had stopped before Leising got there to help Johnson. Johnson was asked to perform a series of field sobriety tests before heading back to his car, but he refused. The DOJ claims that Johnson turned towards Leising after about eight minutes, grabbed a pistol, and shot her.
Sheriff’s deputy killed in Wisconsin by “evasive” DUI suspect who later killed himself
Leising was brought to a nearby hospital, where he later passed away, but not before the people in the car that stopped to assist Johnson began performing CPR on him. Nearly an hour after officers arrived at the scene and began searching the area, one of them came across Johnson, heard a shot, and saw him fall to the ground.
Near where Johnson was discovered dead, police found a gun. The DOJ claims that during the cops’ hunt for Johnson, no shots were fired.
With assistance from neighboring law enforcement agencies, the Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, the Division of Criminal Justice of the Wisconsin Department of Justice is leading the investigation.
The 29-year-old constable’s passing was announced by St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson on Sunday.
Leising has worked for the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office since 2022, the sheriff claims, and she previously spent close to two years with the South Dakotan Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
Our thoughts are with the family of Kaitie Leising and everyone she served with, said Sheriff Knudson. We will do everything we can as a law enforcement family to keep helping and consoling her family. We will miss her bright smile and engaging attitude. “Everyone she touched will remember her with love.”
