LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Kentucky State Police are investigating a late night shooting in St. Matthews that involved two state troopers.
KSP said Troopers Eddie Whitworth and Brian Miller were attempting to serve criminal arrest warrants at a Stonemill Village apartment located at 850 Washburn Ave. on Feb. 9. The Shelby Co. Sheriff's Office had secured the warrants earlier in the day for Cleveland Askew Jr., 35, of Simpsonville, Ky. Police said the warrants were issued for Wanton Endangerment in the first, Terroristic Threatening in the third degree and Animal Cruelty in the second degree. They were the result of Askew's alleged actions earlier in the day in Shelby County.
"A lot of times, the sheriff's departments will serve warrants that come out of our cases, but for whatever reason, these troopers from Post 12 came down and decided to serve this warrant tonight and this is what happened," Trooper Jeff Gregory, with KSP, said.
Gregory says Trooper Whitworth and Trooper Miller knocked on the door of the apartment and Askew opened the door and displayed a firearm. Police say Whitworth fired three shots striking Askew. KSP said Askew was injured in the head and another part of his body.
A next door neighbor, who wished not to be named, said she heard the shots and opened her front door to see what had happened.
"You could see his feet hanging out the door, breathing really loud gasping for air. The gun, I guess was his gun, was laying closer to my apartment," his neighbor said.
She captured the next several minutes on her cell phone, alarmed at how she believed police seemed to disregard the man on the ground.
"In the video, they're just walking around him and some outside the apartment. I even heard someone say, get him a towel so he can hold pressure," the neighbor said.
"Put that on there," you can hear an officer say, handing Askew a towel.
Moments later, an officer notices the neighbor watching behind her door. Their conversation is also caught on camera.
"Close the door," he says.
"I just wanted to make sure everything's OK," the neighbor says, while closing the door for a moment.
"Everything's fine. We're taking care of it. We're professionals. Close the door, please."
"Why aren't you helping him?" the neighbor asks.
"There's nothing we can do. EMS is on the way. Close the door, please," the officer says.
Neighbors said it took almost 20 minutes from the time they heard the shots until medics arrived on the scene.
"By that time, he had stopped breathing and his body was limp," the neighbor said.
Askew was then taken by ambulance to the University of Louisville Hospital where he is listed in serious condition in the ICU.
EMS told WHAS11 they received a call from dispatch at 11:44 p.m. and KSP said the shooting happened at 11:12 p.m.
A KSP spokesperson, Sgt. Michael Webb, said those moments are very stressful and troopers must first make sure the scene is safe. Troopers are not trained to deal with serious trauma, like what Askew suffered, and had to wait for EMS, according to KSP.
The investigation into this shooting continues.
