Prosecutor clears 3 Iowa officers in fatal shooting after a traffic stop

By The Associated Press

FILE - Crime scene investigators work at the scene where two Des Moines police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire in Des Moines, Iowa, early, Sept. 16, 2024. (Cody Scanlan/The Des Moines Register via AP, file)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Cody Scanlan]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A county attorney on Monday cleared three Iowa police officers in a September early morning fatal shooting of a man who shot two officers after a traffic stop.

Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham said her review of the Sept. 16 shooting in Des Moines found the officers were justified in the shooting of Joshua Green, 37. She reviewed dashcam and body camera footage.

The two officers who were shot survived and have been released from a hospital.

Officers stopped a car driven by Green at about 1:40 a.m. for an equipment violation. He then briefly drove away before crashing into a truck. Other officers arrived and as they tried to subdue Green with a Taser and pull him from his car, Graham said he “produced a handgun and began shooting upward, toward the officers.”

Three officers then fired their guns at Green, who was killed.