The pickup driven by the suspect sits between two rammed police cruisers in the parking lot of the Holiday gas station on the corner of N. 27th St. and 6th Ave. N. (Photo courtesy of KULR8)
An as of yet unidentified man was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being shot by police as they were attempting to stop his vehicle in Downtown Billings. A police officer saw a possibly stolen Ford F350 pickup potentially used in a theft pull into the parking lot of Albertsons on the corner of N. 27th St. and 6th Ave. N. which he then followed to the parking lot of the Holiday gas station across the street.
As a second police car came in from the opposite side, coming nose to nose with the pickup, the driver accelerating and rammed the police cruiser in front of it before reversing and ramming the one behind it, pushing it into a third police cruiser. Two of the officers, Brett Hilde and Jeremy Boeckel, were already out of their vehicles while Officer Tracy Icard was inside one of the vehicles. According to Billings Police Chief Rich St. John the officers then opened fire at the driver’s side of the vehicle, hitting the suspect an undisclosed number of times.
Hilde and Boeckel are both currently on paid leave as is policy for any officer after discharging their weapon in the line of duty pending an internal investigation. Chief St. John said the entire incident took place within a sixty second timeframe and that the suspect was transported to the hospital with what he was told were non life threatening injuries. Officer Icard was transported to the hospital for minor injuries but was released shortly after. No charges have yet been filed and St. John says the department will be taking their time in sorting the situation out.
