* ISP…
MT. VERNON – The Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Internal Investigation continues its investigation into the discharge of an Illinois State Police Officer’s duty weapon during a motorist assist on May 9, 2023 at 3:30 a.m. on Interstate 64 near milepost 72. During the incident, an altercation occurred and 23-year-old Brandon L. Griffin of Albuquerque, New Mexico brandished a firearm. Griffin and an officer exchanged gunfire and Griffin was fatally shot. An ISP officer was also shot and was taken to an area hospital. The Officer has since been released and is recovering at home.
Griffin’s wife, 31-year-old Christine J. Santos, was present at the time of the incident and is currently being held at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on a no-bond arrest warrant out of New Mexico for bond violations on a pending aggravated assault with a firearm case in which Griffin was her co-defendant.
In accordance with ISP’s commitment to integrity and public transparency, the video of the event is being made available to the public and can be found by clicking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc01KTJOEI8.
This video is being released after consultation with and authorization by the Jefferson County State’s Attorney. ISP provided Griffin’s mother the opportunity to review the video before its release to the public.
This remains an ongoing investigation being conducted by ISP and is under review by the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s Office. No additional information is available at this time.
I can totally understand if you don’t watch the video, but both troopers seemed to handle things pretty well during some serious chaos. At one point, Griffin yelled as he was struggling to break free: “I was in the military. You’re gonna have to shoot me.” Griffin continued resisting, eventually obtained a gun from the car and shot one trooper and then the other trooper fired at him in response.
- Red Ketcher - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:41 pm:
Justified for sure
- Drury's Missing Clock - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:42 pm:
“officer involved shooting”
c’mon Rich
- Been There - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:43 pm:
Wow. Personally I think both ISP showed a lot of restraint. Ten years ago they might have even been admonished for showing too much. But things have changed and in my mind that makes it an even a more dangerous career. But also there was no doubt that with too many bad cops things needed to change.
- vern - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:51 pm:
This clearly justified shooting would be a great time for ISP to drop the grammar games. ISP is willing to say “Brandon L. Griffin of Albuquerque, New Mexico brandished a firearm,” so why can’t they say “the officer shot him” instead of writing themselves in knots to not say that?
- Manchester - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:53 pm:
So the woman was wanted for aggravated assault with a firearm and the male was he co-defendant. The ISP troopers had this knowledge, had good reason to arrest the subjects and to fear for their safety. The subjects, without question, resisted arrest, retrieved a gun and fired on the troopers first, injuring one of the troopers. From what I can see in the video, the troopers exhibited admirable restraint. It’s terrible that the young man died but his own stupidity led to his death.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:54 pm:
Completely justified. The only thing I noticed is the officers maybe should have called for backup sooner.
- Big Dipper - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 12:58 pm:
These two officers impressed me with their professionalism and actions.
- Cubs in '16 - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:01 pm:
The nit-pickers are out in force today. “Griffin and an officer exchanged gunfire and Griffin was fatally shot” is not an ambiguous statement. As for ‘officer-involved shooting’, this is a commonly recognized phrase in law enforcement used to describe incidents in which a police officer discharges his/her weapon during the course of official duties and causing bodily harm or death to another.
- Occasionally Moderated - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:03 pm:
Glad these Troopers are all right. I agree they showed a lot of restraint.
A couple things: The taser worked, until it didn’t. I hate those things. They just cannot be depended on.
If you listen, you can hear that very early on the trooper who is verbalizing instructions is starting to be out of breath. I hope that anyone who reads this remembers this and listens for it in the future when viewing these kinds of videos. Until you experience it, it is hard to understand how quickly you become physically spent and sometimes the escalation of force is due to physical exhaustion.
Again glad these men are o.k.
- My opinion - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:05 pm:
The ISP showed the video to the family. There were no redactions to the video. Both suspects had felony weapons charges against them. It appears everything was done according to procedure.
- Vote Quimby - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:05 pm:
Thankful for professional LEOs like these two officers.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:13 pm:
All I will say to this is that it’s a good example of why video, during incidents, is incredibly important and not designed to make more difficult an almost impossible job at times in law enforcement.
Rich as it, the troopers handled this pretty well, the chaos around, caught on video, shows a truly dangerous part of law enforcement that can happen each and every shift.
- Lurker - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:19 pm:
Cops are being too nice to criminals and it’s inane.
RIP James Camp
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:24 pm:
–This video is being released after consultation with and authorization by the Jefferson County State’s Attorney.–
Interestingly, in Will County we are still waiting for the video from a fatal shooting of an unarmed man with his hands up, by a Will County Sheriff sniper.
The event took place May 10th, of last year.
Glasgow refuses to release the video.
- Red headed step child - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:33 pm:
Rich as it, the troopers handled this pretty well, the chaos around, caught on video, shows a truly dangerous part of law enforcement that can happen each and every shift….
Which is on every cops mind every minute which is,why they do what they do sometimes even if them general public doesn’t understand or agree with it. This started as a motorist assist call.you never know. We need to get back to giving Leo more benefit of doubt before the angry mobs demand justice..
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:42 pm:
===which is,why they do what they do sometimes even if them general public doesn’t understand or agree with it.===
If you mean assault members of the public or other things?
I tried to merely comment… but to make my comment a reason to have an aside about the “benefit of the doubt”, how about grab my first part… which is as important to what I typed…
===All I will say to this is that it’s a good example of why video, during incidents, is incredibly important and not designed to make more difficult an almost impossible job at times in law enforcement.===
There’s no need for benefits of doubts with video.
I support LEOs, they have an incredibly tough and at times needlessly dangerous because of circumstances that the human element makes impossible.
These troopers were professional and handled this pretty well.
Video like this leaves no reason for doubt in incidents.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:42 pm:
“The taser worked until it didn’t. ”
How Axon keeps a monopoly on those things I’d really like to know.
- Give us Barabbas - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:55 pm:
The shooter seemed to have disproportional strength, have to wonder if that’s just crazy adrenaline or if he’s chemically altered, either of which might explain why taser seemed ineffective.
I’ve watched it three times and I’m still not sure if the trooper shot the guy and hit him, or if he missed and the guy shot himself while diving into the car. Stuff happens fast.
Something that occurred to me watching this is, wondering why as policy they don’t move to close the car doors first, once they decide to make the arrest, and/or get between the car and the offender(s). Isolating the perp from his escape vehicle (though it wasn’t going anywhere in this case, being broken down) and potential weapon access. When the wife moves to go around to the other side of the car, I was expecting her to reach into it and pull a gun out herself, potentially could have gone down that way.
But it’s easy to think about this, sitting at a keyboard, taking time and replaying the video; they had two seconds and I think they did the best they could, in the moment. Still, I wonder if the isolation/separation idea ever comes up in training.
- cermak_rd - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:56 pm:
Kudos to the ISP and Jefferson County assistant states attorney for making this public almost immediately and for having the sensitivity to show it to relatives first.
- cermak_rd - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:58 pm:
I don’t think officer-involved shooting is an ambiguous or double speak word. It is a phrase meant to include no judgement for the act, usually because no one knows exactly what happened yet, or because the weapon was properly fired pursuant to the officer’s job.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:10 pm:
Every cop’s worst nightmare. Both these suspects knew if they were taken into custody, their arrest warrants from New Mexico would be discovered.
These troopers gave them more chances to cooperate than I would have. Commendable restraint on the part of the police.
Someone who even points a gun at police seals their own fate.
The officer who fired should receive a commendation for protecting his partner in a deadly situation.
- Just Observing - Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:17 pm:
I think the officers did a great job handling the situation. I disagree with those that say the officers were being “too nice.” First, they probably are just nice guys and it carries with them in their jobs. Second, them being “nice” probably plays in their favor often. Third, I don’t know how being “less nice” would have helped — they were polite but pretty assertive and were doing their best to control the individuals.