PRATT, Kan. – 45-year-old Bradley G. Verstraete is in critical, but stable condition after being shot by officers who say he confronted them with a hunting knife and ax handle.
A news release from the Pratt Police Department says officers were dispatched to an apartment complex around 9 p.m. Saturday after a report of a disturbance. The department says officers encountered Verstraete who was wielding the weapons and they ordered him to drop the knife and handle but he didn’t comply.
The release says efforts to subdue him with a taser were ineffective. Police say he then charged the officers while threatening to kill them, and the officers shot him.
It was about a year ago that Judge Trish Rose discharged him in a case here in Hutchinson where he was accused of threatened officers with a machete. He had been convicted in the case and the Kansas Court of Appeals upheld the conviction for one count of felony battery of a law enforcement officer, but ruled that Judge Trish Rose used the wrong statute to order to Bradley Verstraete to Larned.
A second jury in a later trial found Verstraete “not guilty,” of aggravated assault charges against law enforcement because they thought he suffered from a mental illness. You may recall that Judge Rose order Verstraete to Larned for an indefinite period after that decision.
Judge Rose at first denied the request for relief in that case, but eventually discharged the case saying he had served his time.
Verstraete threatened law enforcement officers with a machete when they responded to a concern for welfare case. They were called to a home at 726 East 1st, on the report of residents having trouble with Verstraete and he reportedly threatened four officers with the machete when the arrived at that home.
Whether any charges will be filed for the Pratt County incident remains unknown.