Poplar Bluff officials investigating shooting involving police officer

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Further details have emerged as the investigation continues into an officer-involved shooting last week.

An autopsy performed Friday, Feb. 10, revealed the subject, 30-year-old Michael R. Johnson of Poplar Bluff, had severe self-inflected injuries and his cause of death was a gunshot wound.

Butler County Coroner Jim Akers said Monday, Feb. 13, he could not speak to the number of gunshots or self-inflicted cuts because the investigation is ongoing. Toxicology tests are now underway.

"Tox is pending. But due to his actions, it's believed he was under the influence of drugs," Akers said.

He added Johnson was not known to have a history of mental illness.

At 8:09 a.m. Feb. 7, Poplar Bluff police were dispatched to the 700 block of North 11th Street regarding a male subject walking in the area with blood on him. Officers reported they found Johnson walking in the 700 block of North 12th Street — a few blocks from Poplar Bluff Junior High School — covered in blood and holding what appeared to be a knife.

Sgt. Clark Parrott of state Highway Patrol reported the blood was Johnson's own.

"It was his blood. There was not anybody else associated with this incident," he said.

When officers made contact, Johnson began inflicting bodily harm to himself with the suspected knife before charging at the officers, who fired their weapons, according to reports. Johnson was pronounced dead at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

"Officers receive training for subjects with bladed instruments. And under the influence of drugs (the subject's) pain threshold is reduced," Akers explained. "I want to stress to the public how dangerous drugs are, and people under the influence who may normally be nice and kind, once they have drugs and alcohol, their personalities change and they act in a way that's not normal for them."

Immediately after the incident, three officers at the scene were placed on administrative leave and the Highway Patrol was called in to perform an independent investigation. One officer has since returned to work, according to officials.

The investigation is continuing. Akers said he and Butler County Prosecutor Kacey Proctor will receive further reports "in near the future" and collaborate "to determine if officers' actions were justified."

Poplar Bluff Police Chief Mike McClain said officers receive extensive training and in a given situation, residents can "absolutely" be confident officers will take reasonable action.

"We have use-of-force training annually. It's part of our CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) accreditation that not only our use-of-force policy be reviewed yearly by officers but that we also have use-of-force refreshers on an annual basis," he said.

De-escalation training is mandatory for all department members as part of this yearly training.

"We have both video and in-person training that we try to acquire for officers to meet the minimum 24 hours of continuing education required by POST (Peace Officer Standards of Training) yearly, and there is a specific unit on de-escalation that is required yearly," he said.

Two officers remain on leave, he said, but the department has worked together to share the load.

"It has had a small impact on staffing levels. We collectively took steps to ensure continuity of service to the public," McClain said.

This has included "some detectives working the road, if you will, for patrol division and other members of the department stepping up and working their days off to cover the void."