A man was fatally wounded in an officer-involved shooting Monday evening after fleeing a traffic stop in Cody, authorities say.
A Cody Police Department officer initiated a traffic stop at about 8:02 p.m. Monday in the 2600 block of West Avenue in Cody, which is a residential area, says a statement the agency released just after midnight.
The driver “failed to yield,” prompting officers to chase him through the city and east of it onto state Highway 14/16/20, the statement says.
The statement doesn’t say whether the suspect was male or female, but Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker confirmed Monday morning to Cowboy State Daily that he was an adult male. After notifying the man's family, Gortmaker identified him publicly as 22-year-old Lucas James-Erick Alvesteffer.
The pursuit continued to mile marker 58, where the suspect’s vehicle suffered a mechanical failure and became inoperable.
Cody Police Department Lt. Juston Wead told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday interview that the vehicle was a truck, though he declined to give make and model, and that the mechanical failure wasn’t a product of any law enforcement technical interventions. The traffic stop stemmed from the man's lack of a license plate, Wead added.
“Upon contact with the suspect, an officer-involved shooting occurred,” says the CPD statement. “The suspect was fatally wounded. No officers were injured during the incident.”
The statement doesn’t say whether the suspect brandished a weapon or was found with one after his death. Wead declined to comment on the question of weapons involved.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, which is now investigating the incident as an outside agency, did not immediately return an email and voicemail request for comment.
One officer fired, and that officer has been placed on leave as per standard practice, said Wead.
It is standard practice in Wyoming for DCI to investigate officer-involved shootings, compile a report and send that report to either the top prosecutor of the county where the shooting happened, or to an appointed special prosecutor.
Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric did not immediately respond Monday to a phone message request for comment.
Gortmaker noted an autopsy for Alvesteffer is set for Thursday.
Busy Night
The Wyoming Highway Patrol closed down that stretch of highway for the investigation, and it did not reopen until about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Park County Sheriff’s Office also assisted, spokesman Monte McClain confirmed to Cowboy State Daily.
And it was a busy night all around, McClain added. Sheriff’s deputies responded to an incident between Cody and Powell in which two vehicles hit and killed a cow at about 9:40 p.m.
The cow died. One person was taken to the hospital, said McClain, who added he wouldn’t have the specifics of how the two vehicles hit the cow for a span of hours at least.
Also around that time high winds surged in Cody, causing tress in the city park to topple onto power lines, he said.
“We dispatched city electric, and the fire department, and they stood by until they could get the line deenergized and the tree off the power line,” McClain said.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
