CARROLLTON, MO (KCTV) -
An police officer, accused of firing his service weapon on a fleeing suspect, is facing a felony assault charge.
Lynn Ward is no longer on the payroll at the Carrollton Police Department, but the police chief wouldn't say if he was suspended, fired, or quit.
The man Ward allegedly shot at was someone who was, by all accounts, more of a nuisance than a danger.
It was Sept. 2 when the man who lived in a Carrollton home called police about a fight across the yard. Someone at a neighboring house had yelled that another man was trying to stab him.
But that potential stabbing victim, 30-year-old Willie Lackland, also had warrants and a reputation for running from police.
A charge filed last month for resisting arrest described him running, stopping for an officer to catch up, taking off again and then "attempting to negotiate his warrants" with the police chief by phone.
This time, Lackland was hiding behind a little bush when Officer Ward informed him he had warrants. Charging documents allege Ward chased Lackland 71 feet, yelling for him to stop, before firing.
Ward then discharged one round from his handgun at the back of Lackland, a court affidavit states. Officer Lynn Ward was booked into the same jail as the suspect he was chasing, though his charge is a felony. The potential penalty for Ward is more severe than that of the criminal he was trying to take in.
Police wouldn't say what the warrants were for, but from according to court records, Lackland had violated probation on a misdemeanor conviction for leaving the scene of an accident.
Lackland was not hit by the gunfire.
KCTV5 left messages for Ward and his attorney but received no response.
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