An Indiana man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and had recently been pardoned by President Donald Trump told authorities that he couldn’t afford to be in legal trouble just before a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot him during a traffic stop last month, body camera video released Thursday shows.
A special prosecutor said the Jasper County sheriff’s deputy was legally justified in shooting Matthew Huttle, 42, on Jan. 26.
Huttle ran to his vehicle, said he would shoot himself and raised a handgun after he was told he was under arrest for a traffic-related felony, and the deputy shot him after a struggle, special prosecutor Chris Vawter said in a statement released with video of the traffic stop.
“I can’t do it. I can’t go to jail for this, sir,” Huttle told the deputy as they stood at the rear of Huttle’s vehicle, body camera video shows.
Huttle runs toward the driver’s side door as the deputy yells, “Don’t you do it, buddy,” and Huttle gets in the car.
“I’m shooting myself,” Huttle says. The deputy says “No, no, no” and fires, the video shows.
Vawter said that there was a struggle and that the deputy saw Huttle raise a firearm.
The video is blurred during the shooting, and it is unclear what happened inside the vehicle right before it.
Investigators later found a loaded 9 mm handgun and ammunition in the car, Vawter said. “Dash camera footage confirmed that Huttle raised an object while inside the vehicle,” he said.
Huttle was among the 1,500 people convicted or charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and pardoned by Trump last month on the first day of his second presidential term.
In November 2023, Huttle pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to six months in prison.
At the start of the traffic stop, Huttle tells the deputy, “I just want to let you know that I’m a January 6 defendant,” the video shows.
“I stormed the Capitol. I’m waiting on my pardon,” he says, adding, “I can’t really afford to get into any trouble right now.”
Huttle was pulled over for going 70 mph in a 55-mph zone, the deputy tells him in the video.
Huttle tells the deputy that he is driving without a license and waiting on a “hardship license,” which allows people who have suspended licenses to have some driving privileges.
Huttle was found to be a habitual traffic violator, which is a felony, Vawter said.
While the shooting happened in Jasper County, the Clinton County Prosecutor’s Office was called in to complete an independent review of the shooting.
“The deputy was legally justified in using deadly force to defend himself,” Vawter said in the statement.
There was probable cause to arrest Huttle on a felony charge, and when Huttle reached for the weapon, he posed an imminent risk to the deputy, Vawter said. The investigation is closed, he said.
The deputy had been placed on administrative leave, which is routine after a shooting, officials said at the time. A voicemail left with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office after hours Thursday about whether the deputy was still on leave was not immediately returned.
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