Police said the officer fired after a man wanted on a parole violation drove off with the officer hanging from the truck.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A Milwaukee police officer shot and killed a 35-year-old tow truck driver Thursday morning after the driver sped away during an attempted arrest, dragging the officer for several blocks on the city’s south side, police said.
Milwaukee police said the confrontation began around 10 a.m. on March 12, when officers and a Wisconsin Department of Corrections agent tried to take the man into custody on a parole violation near South 12th Street and Burnham Street. Chief Jeffrey Norman said the driver refused orders to get out of the flatbed truck, then accelerated while the officer was still attached to the driver’s side. The shooting quickly became the latest critical incident involving Milwaukee police, sending the case to an outside agency for review and raising immediate questions about the officer’s use of force, the suspect’s actions and what video evidence will show.
According to police, the officer approached the truck while the suspect sat inside with a passenger. Norman said the officer ordered the man to step out, but the driver refused. The officer then tried to remove him from the truck, and the driver suddenly pulled away at what police described as a high rate of speed. As the truck moved through nearby streets, the officer clung to the driver’s side window and running area while yelling for the man to stop. Witness Ana Rios said the scene looked unreal. She said she saw the truck moving fast with the officer hanging on and heard the officer scream for the driver to stop. Police said the truck continued for several blocks before the officer fired.
Norman said the officer gave repeated commands and warned the driver he would shoot if the truck did not stop. When the driver kept going, the officer fired, striking him and bringing the truck to a stop. The driver died from his injuries. By Friday morning, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner had identified him as Jonathan Otto, 35, of Germantown. Police said the passenger was not hit by gunfire and was taken for medical evaluation as a precaution. The officer, a 46-year-old man with more than 21 years on the force, was treated for nonfatal injuries. Authorities have not said exactly where Otto was struck, how many shots were fired or whether the officer was able to free himself before the truck stopped. Those details remain under investigation.
Police and local news reports said Otto was being sought on a parole violation at the time of the encounter. WISN reported that family identified him Thursday, and the station also reported that he had been on probation in cases involving fleeing police in stolen vehicles. Norman, speaking at the scene, called the shooting a preventable event that put the officer, the passenger and the driver at risk. His comments framed the incident as one that began with an effort to arrest a wanted man and turned within seconds into a moving, high-risk confrontation. The location near 12th and Burnham, then the later stop near 15th and Grant, became a major police scene as investigators marked evidence around the truck and surrounding roadway.
The investigation has been turned over to the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, with the West Allis Police Department serving as the lead agency. That is standard practice in many officer-involved shootings in the area, meant to place fact-finding with an outside department rather than the officer’s own agency. Norman said the Milwaukee officer was placed on administrative duty, which is routine after a police shooting. Investigators are expected to review officer statements, witness accounts, dispatch records and available video, including dash camera footage recorded by a nearby driver. Authorities have not announced when body camera video, if any exists, may be released. They also have not said when the completed findings will be sent to prosecutors for a charging review or whether any separate parole paperwork tied to Otto’s case will be made public.
At the scene, family members and witnesses described a sudden and violent end to what began as a daylight arrest attempt on a busy stretch of the south side. Otto’s mother told local television that her son did not deserve to die, while also acknowledging his prior record. Witnesses said the truck moved so fast that they were stunned the officer stayed attached at all. One witness said officers began trying to help the driver almost immediately after the truck stopped. The police union later issued a statement saying vehicle encounters can turn life-threatening in seconds and that the officer is expected to recover. For residents nearby, the image that stayed with them was not only the gunfire but the sight of an officer hanging onto the side of a moving truck in the middle of a neighborhood street.
The case remained under outside investigation Friday, with Otto publicly identified and police still withholding more detailed findings about the shooting itself. The next major milestone is the release of investigative updates from West Allis police and, potentially, any video that shows the encounter from start to finish.
Author note: Last updated March 13, 2026.