Police said the suspect drove several blocks with an officer clinging to the driver’s side before the officer opened fire.
MILWAUKEE, WI. — A Milwaukee police officer shot and killed a 35-year-old man Thursday morning after the man sped away in a flatbed tow truck with the officer hanging from the driver’s side, police said, turning a parole check on the city’s south side into a deadly chase.
Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said the encounter began about 10 a.m. in the 1900 block of S. 12th St., where a Milwaukee officer and a Department of Corrections agent were trying to check on a man wanted for a parole violation. The case matters now because it left one man dead, sent a veteran officer to a hospital with nonfatal injuries and opened an outside investigation into whether the shooting was justified. The death also raised fresh questions about the risks officers face around moving vehicles and how police handle wanted suspects during street encounters.
Norman said the suspect was sitting inside a full-sized flatbed tow truck with a passenger when the officer, who was in full uniform, approached and ordered him to get out. Police said the man refused. When the officer tried to remove him, the truck suddenly took off at a high rate of speed, leaving the officer clinging to the driver’s side window and door area. The truck moved several blocks from near 12th and Burnham to the area of 15th and Grant, according to police. Norman said the officer repeatedly ordered the driver to stop and warned that he would shoot if the truck kept going. “This was a totally avoidable incident,” Norman said at a briefing near the scene. “There is a time and place, when you have a disagreement with law enforcement, to be able to have your day in court.”
Police said the driver kept going, and the officer fired his weapon while still attached to the moving truck. The truck then came to a stop near 15th and Grant. The driver died from his injuries at the scene. Family members identified him as Jonathan Otto, 35. A witness, Ana Rios, told local television crews she saw the truck speeding by with the officer hanging from the side and shouting for the driver to stop. Police said a passenger in the truck was not hit by gunfire but was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Norman said the officer involved is 46 and has more than 21 years with the department. He was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Police have not said how many shots were fired, where Otto was struck or whether any body-camera video will be released. Norman also said investigators still must determine whether the officer could have broken free or whether he became trapped on the moving truck.
Online Wisconsin court records show Otto had multiple cases tied to fleeing police in stolen vehicles and was on probation through 2029. That history became part of the early public debate over the shooting, with supporters of the police account pointing to the danger of a speeding truck and critics focusing on the officer’s use of deadly force at close range in a dense neighborhood. Otto’s family said the loss was devastating and questioned why the encounter ended in gunfire. His mother told local reporters that her son should have stopped but did not deserve to be shot. She described him as a father of two and said relatives want fuller answers about the final seconds of the chase. So far, police have not publicly described whether the Department of Corrections agent was close enough to see the shooting unfold or whether other officers reached the truck before it stopped.
The shooting unfolded in a part of Milwaukee’s near south side lined with homes, small businesses and steady daytime traffic, making the chase especially alarming for people who watched it happen. Encounters involving moving vehicles are among the most dangerous calls officers face because they can turn from an attempted stop into a life-threatening event within seconds. The Milwaukee Police Association echoed that point in a statement after the shooting, saying vehicle incidents can escalate rapidly and leave officers with little time to react. Still, police shootings from or around vehicles often draw close scrutiny from investigators because they raise hard questions about immediate danger, available alternatives and the split-second decisions officers make while trying to survive. In this case, some key facts remain unsettled, including the exact speed of the truck, how the officer was positioned as it moved and whether he had any safe path off the vehicle before he fired.
The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team is handling the case, with the West Allis Police Department leading the outside review, a common step in officer-involved shootings in the region. The Milwaukee officer has been placed on administrative duty, which is routine. Investigators are expected to gather body-camera footage, witness video, radio traffic, forensic evidence from the truck and statements from the passenger, officers and nearby witnesses. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to determine the official cause and manner of death. Prosecutors will eventually review the investigative file to decide whether the officer’s use of force was legally justified under Wisconsin law. Police have not announced any criminal charge tied to the parole violation stop itself, and no court date related to the shooting had been announced by Thursday evening. The next major steps are the completion of the outside investigation, release of autopsy findings and any public decision by prosecutors on possible charges or closure of the case.
By Thursday afternoon, yellow police tape still marked the area near 15th and Grant as residents tried to piece together what had happened on a route many use every day. Some stood on sidewalks and replayed witness video on their phones. Others asked whether the officer had any real chance to let go once the tow truck started moving. Rios said the scene was shocking because the truck was moving so fast while a squad car followed behind with emergency lights on. Otto’s family, speaking through tears in television interviews, said they were struggling to understand how a parole check turned into a fatal shooting in broad daylight. Police, meanwhile, stressed that the officer had been dragged for several blocks and kept ordering the driver to stop. The sharp difference between those views is likely to shape public reaction as more evidence, including any video from officers, emerges in the days ahead.
As of Thursday night, investigators had not released the officer’s name, the number of shots fired or additional video. The next milestone is the outside investigative team’s evidence review, followed by autopsy results and any future public update from Milwaukee police or prosecutors.
Author note: Last updated March 12, 2026.