Tuesday, March 5th 2013, 10:47 pm
A Logan Country Sheriff's Deputy finds himself on the other side of the law after faking an officer-involved shooting. The deputy says he woke up Monday morning to find a man standing in his kitchen.
Now he admits it was all a lie.
3/5/2013 Related Story: Logan County Deputy Fired After Making Up Story About Intruder
Deputy Adam Striegel says the suspect stabbed him in the arm, but he managed to shoot at the suspect as he was trying to get away. Police say after Striegel's stories during questioning didn't match up, he finally confessed to fabricating the report, even going as far as stabbing himself.
"It's a black eye for all of law enforcement," Capt. Richard Stephens said.
Capt. Stephens with the Logan County Sheriff's Office says trust is of paramount importance in law enforcement.
The Sheriff's office says Striegel was still in the police academy. He had only been training since September.
"No indicators for us for abnormal behavior," said Stephens. "He hadn't distinguished himself as someone we didn't trust. He was just like everyone else in the academy getting through it."
At about 8:30 a.m. Monday, Striegel says he was attacked in his home with a knife. Now he says there was never an intruder.
Two Guthrie schools were put on lock down and searched after the alleged officer-involved shooting. The lockdown was lifted after a few hours. Deputy Striegel even gave a very detailed description of the suspect he said was heading toward the schools.
"It's kind of scary, you know, somebody would make something like that up, and they end up locking down the schools," said neighbor, Phillip Eichor.
A person who matched the suspect's description, an Hispanic male wearing dark clothing, with a thin mustache was arrested not too far from the deputy's home. That suspect was later released after a polygraph test.
"I'm glad nothing came of it," said Eichor. "If he became an officer, that would be pretty bad."
The Sheriff's office says it happened to be a random chance a deputy actually found a man matching the suspect description. They don't know why the deputy made the story up.
Authorities have not arrested the Striegel yet, but the Sheriff's office did fire him Tuesday. It's now up to the District Attorney to decide whether or not to file charges.
March 5th, 2013
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