UPDATE: The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, at the request of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, has been leading the investigation of an officer involved death that took place on August 5.
The decedent was previously identified as 53-year-old James A. Quealy of Beaver Dam.
DCI has completed the interview of the involved officer. The officer is being identified as Joseph Nicholas, who has worked as a deputy of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office since February 2007.
The officer has not been involved in a previous officer-involved shooting.
The Wisconsin DOJ-led investigation of this incident has been a collaboration between DCI, the Wisconsin State Patrol, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, the Beaver Dam Police Department, the Beaver Dam Fire Department, the Dodge County District Attorney’s Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, and the Fond du Lac Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has been fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation.
DCI is continuing to collect evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to the Dodge County District Attorney when the investigation concludes.
-----
UPDATE: Dodge County Sheriff, Dale Schmidt has released the identity of the man killed in an officer involved shooting on August 5th. 53-year-old James Quealy from Beaver Dam was killed as deputies conducted a wellfare check.
The name of the deputy involved in the incident has not been released. The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident.
-----
The Dodge County Sheriff's Office reports they were called to investigation a man threatening suicide in the City of Beaver Dam on Friday around 6:45 PM.
The department also heard the man had access to a firearm.
Beaver Dam Police Officers established a perimeter to keep the public safe. Contact was made with the subject and he indicated he wished to commit suicide by cop. The subject began waving around his firearm during the incident. Suicide by cop is a method of committing suicide by creating a deadly force situation in which a law enforcement officer is forced to deadly force stop a potentially deadly threat to the lives of both law enforcement and the community.
Due to the nature of the incident and the potentially dangerous situation, Beaver Dam Police requested the assistance of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office at 7:40pm. Unified Command was set up between Sheriff Dale Schmidt and Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger and a cooperative approach was taken in dealing with this incident. Negotiations were initiated early in the incident and continued with the hope of resolving the situation peacefully.
Unfortunately at 8:46pm the suspect turned his weapon on a deputy sheriff and fired. This forced the deputy to return fire in an effort to stop the threat presented to him and the community. The suspect was shot and killed in the gunfire exchange. The deputy sheriff was uninjured.
The deputy is a 9 year veteran of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. No additional information will be released on the deputy pending the investigation. The deputy and the deputy’s family are being attended to so that we can provide them with resources to meet their needs while maintaining the integrity of the investigation. The deputy has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave pending the investigation.
The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) responded at the request of the Sheriff to conduct the investigation into the incident. This is done so that we can obtain a thorough and accurate investigation of the facts by an outside agency as required by state law. DCI worked through the night to complete the investigation and will continue in coming weeks.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and the Beaver Dam Police Department would like to thank the Beaver Dam Fire Department and Paramedics for their assistance at the scene along with the Dodge County Emergency Response Team. We would also like to thank the professionals at the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations, Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for their knowledge and expertise in conducting a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation of the facts. Sheriff Dale Schmidt indicates that he is confident that when the full investigation is complete, the facts will show the deputy used appropriate force to protect the community.
