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Commonwealth’s Attorney finds officer-involved shooting of woman outside Naval Station Norfolk justified

Posted at 12:05 PM, Jun 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-29 19:19:36-04

NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney has found that the officer-involved shooting of woman outside Naval Station Norfolk in 2017 was justified.

The CA said after an investigation into the incident that Norfolk Police Officer D. Dreyer's actions were "appropriate and justified."

On July 17, 2017, Dreyer questioned India Nelson about a two-vehicle crash which happened after Nelson drove the wrong way on West Admiral Taussig Blvd. She was accused of hitting a car driven by her husband, Andrew Fraser.

The CA said during the questioning Nelson pulled out a semi-automatic handgun that was in her clothing and fired at her husband, hitting him. As he dropped to the ground the CA said Nelson continued to shoot so Officer Dreyer pulled out his service gun and fired toward Nelson.

As Nelson shot the gun the CA said another officer was in danger who was behind Nelson's husband.

Because of this, the CA said the use of force by Dreyer was appropriate and protected a fellow officer and other citizens who were nearby.

Click here to read the entire report from the Commonwealth's Attorney.