STURGIS, MI – The fatal shooting of a fellow trooper was "at the forefront" of Michigan State Police Trooper Timothy Wagner's mind last month when he pulled his handgun and pointed it at an 18-year-old woman during a traffic stop near Sturgis.

That's according to a written statement Wagner provided to Detective 1st Lt. Chuck Christensen after Christensen informed Wagner he was under investigation for allegations of excessive force. The statement is included in a nine-page report by Christensen obtained by the Kalamazoo Gazette under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

Wagner was westbound on U.S. 12 at about 5:35 p.m. April 15 when he spotted the woman's eastbound red Pontiac, which he clocked on radar going 77 mph in a 55 mph zone, according to the report.

In-car video from Wagner's cruiser shows him doing a U-turn to catch up with the Pontiac. The driver pulls over to the shoulder about 45 seconds after Wagner made the U-turn and about 35 seconds after he activated his lights and siren.

Wagner exits his cruiser with his handgun drawn and approaches the Pontiac.

"With the recent incident involving the murder of Tpr. Paul Butterfield while approaching a vehicle at the forefront of my mind I elected to 'clear' the vehicle for my safety as I feel the vehicle could have suddenly pulled to the side in an effort to lure me into a vulnerable position where I could easily be shot," Wagner later told Christensen in his statement.

Video from Wagner's dash-mounted camera shows him handcuffing the woman then taking her to his cruiser, where the conversation between the two is recorded. The woman apologizes to Wagner, telling him she was trying to get home because she had gotten a call from her father informing her that the family's home had been broken into.

St. Joseph County dispatchers confirm the report of the break-in to Wagner as the woman sits in his patrol car.

Wagner tells the woman, "I chased you for two miles with my lights and sirens at almost 80 mph. Do you see a problem with that?"

"Yes, I do," she responded. "I honestly didn't see you."

John McDonough

At the end of the audio captured from inside the car, Wagner asks the woman, "How'd you like having a gun pointed ...." The rest of his statement is inaudible.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough, who was asked by Michigan State Police to review the incident, focused on that statement in calling for Wagner, a 19-veteran of MSP, to be fired.

McDonough considered whether to authorize charges of felonious assault and conduct unbecoming a public official against Wagner, but ultimately decided his handling of the traffic stop did not warrant criminal charges. In a statement issued Wednesday, however, the prosecutor wrote that he was "appalled and disgusted" by Wagner's conduct.

MORE:

"When he asked if she enjoyed having a gun pointed at her I became sick to my stomach," McDonough wrote. "... I do not want Trooper Wagner to have the opportunity to do anything like this again and certainly not in St. Joseph County."

Attempts by the Kalamazoo Gazette to reach Wagner through his union, the Michigan State Police Troopers Association, were unsuccessful. Wagner has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation by MSP that is ongoing.

In a statement issued Wednesday, officials at MSP's Coldwater Post, where Wagner is stationed, said: "The video associated with this traffic stop clearly shows actions by the trooper that are not consistent with department policy. Inappropriate behavior like this is not condoned or tolerated."

MORE:

Christensen began his investigation of the incident April 22, after the woman's parents filed a complaint.

The woman's father told Christensen that he was at his home in Bronson on April 15 reporting a break-in to another state trooper, Keegan Riley, when his son let him know that his daughter had received a traffic ticket. The man told Christensen that later, as he was walking through his kitchen he saw his daughter and "noticed (she) was crying."

"He said he told her not to worry about it (traffic ticket) and she told him a gun had been pointed at her," Christensen recounted in his report. "Next, he asked Trooper Riley about the situation and Riley explained to him he heard the radio traffic and that the traffic stop took place because of the driver attempting to flee.

"(He) told me he asked (his daughter) about the situation and she responded that she never saw the police officer until she was pulled over ... Later in the interview he explained that (his daughter) told him the trooper asked how she liked having a gun pointed at her, which really made him angry."

The woman later explained to Christensen that she had been at baseball practice on April 15 when she received a call from her father that their house had been broken into. She left practice wearing her baseball pants and hooded sweatshirt and got into her car after removing her cleats.

As she was making her way to Bronson on U.S. 12, the woman said "she noticed police lights in her rearview mirror near Halfway Road and immediately pulled over."

After she was handcuffed by Wagner, the woman said "she was confused and scared and kept telling the officer that she was sorry but added her house had just been robbed so she was trying to make it home. (She) admitted to me during this interview she was driving too fast and was speeding," Christensen said in the report.

Once Wagner confirmed the woman's statement about the break-in at her home, she told Christensen, Wagner's demeanor changed and "he told her that they were 'going to take this as a learning experience' and explained he would be writing her a traffic ticket but added he should be taking her to jail because of her refusal to stop."

"(The woman) told me at one point during this exchange she apologized to the officer about scaring him and he replied that it was okay and stated to her 'you didn't like having a gun pointed at you, did you?' And she responded no."

In the statement Wagner provided to Christensen on April 28, he made no mention of the remark to the woman about having a gun pointed at her.

Wagner did say that after he clocked the woman's car at 77 mph he observed in his mirror that the car "appeared to continue accelerating" and never braked "as virtually every vehicle on the road will immediately brake after passing a fully marked patrol car in broad daylight."

Wagner said that after he began pursuing the woman's Pontiac, it initially did not slow down and was traveling at more than 80 mph. After he stopped the car, Wagner said he was aware there were no other officers in the area and a backup officer "was some distance away."

"Based on my 19+ years working road patrol chasing a vehicle for a mile with lights and siren activated to conduct a traffic stop is extraordinarily unusual," Wagner said. "I have previously been involved in pursuits of this distance which resulted in the driver's subsequent attempt to flee on foot. I therefore considered this incident an attempt to Flee & Elude, which is a felony, and positioned myself to intercept the driver should they flee on foot."

Wagner's comment about Butterfield stem from that trooper's fatal shooting last fall. Butterfield was shot in the head by Eric John Knysz without warning or provocation after he pulled over Knysz for a traffic stop on Sept. 9 in Mason County.

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.