Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne has exonerated a DCI special agent, Nathan Peskie, in the shooting that already led to a not-guilty jury verdict against another agent, Mark Wagner. Ozanne wrote that Peskie was legally justified to fire his weapon at violent felon drug dealer Quadren Wilson because he reasonably believed that a fellow law enforcement officer, Wagner, had been shot.
The May 6 press release is headlined, “NO CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR DCI SPECIAL AGENT NATHAN PESKIE IN THE OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING INCIDENT IN THE CITY OF MADISON ON 2-3-2022.” However, if you Google Peskie’s name, you get no news stories about Ozanne fully exonerating him on May 6; mostly, you get stories about him testifying during Wagner’s trial. That’s not fair. At Wisconsin Right Now, we believe the public deserves to know that Nathan Peskie, like Wagner, a respected law enforcement officer, was also completely cleared.
“Under these circumstances, SA Peskie’s actions of firing his rifle into the vehicle of QLW was in response to his observations of a bullet hole appearing in the center of the driver’s side window and seeing SA Wagner falling out of his area of sight causing SA Peskie to believe law enforcement was being fired upon and possibly injuring SA Wagner,” said Ozanne. “Responding to that threat with deadly force is permitted under the law.”
We previously wrote that Ozanne’s earlier prosecution of Wagner was a sham prosecution that should have never been brought. We also outlined 9 key reasons it was a woke-fueled abuse of power.
As predicted, it took less than 90 minutes for a Dane County jury to acquit DCI agent Mark Wagner (no relation) on bogus charges that should never have been brought by DA Ozanne in the first place. Unfortunately Ozanne will face no consequences.https://t.co/UQ9Lroscwi
— Jeff Wagner (@jeffwagnerradio) March 27, 2024
The suspect, Quadren Wilson, was a violent felon who had been involved in drug dealing. In fact, he is currently facing a pending cocaine dealing charge in Dane County. In 2023, he was released by Tony Evers’ early release program on another drug dealing charge. He’s in the Dane County Jail at the moment on a parole hold, where the sheriff has ludicrously dubbed Wilson and other inmates jail “residents.”
“There is no dispute that Quadren Wilson has 26 prior convictions,” said prosecutor Matthew Moeser, during the trial. “There’s no dispute that he had a prior conviction for shooting someone. There’s no dispute that he was involved in drug dealing.” Wilson is an accused fentanyl dealer tied to an overdose death.
The suspect was not killed and did not end up having a firearm that day. However, Ozanne noted that, under Wisconsin law, which applies equally to members of law enforcement and to those who are not, “any person may use deadly force to respond to a genuine fear of deadly force to that person or any other person. In this case, the special agent (Nathan Peskie) was compelled to use deadly force when confronted by what he believed was evidence of a person firing a gun at law enforcement possibly injuring one of them.”
Nathan Peskie, DCI Special Agent, Will Face ‘No Potential Criminal Court Liability’
“The Dane County District Attorney’s Office concluded on Monday, May 6, 2024, that there is no potential criminal court liability for DCI Special Agent (SA) Nathan Peskie for the shooting incident in the City of Madison on February 3, 2022,” Ozanne wrote in the news release posted on his website. “This finding needed to wait until after the trial of SA Mark Wagner concluded to ensure no new evidence came to light that would impact the District Attorney’s decision. Prior to that trial, the District Attorney had received briefings from investigators, inspected the shooting scene, reviewed investigative reports and reviewed diagrams, photographs and other video evidence.”
According to the release, officers with many jurisdictions attempted to take a suspect in custody on February 3, 2022. They used a law enforcement maneuver to pin the suspect’s vehicle between two pickup trucks driven by DCI special agents.
Wagner and Peskie then exited the vehicle and approached the driver’s side. Both fired their firearms. The suspect did not have a firearm in the vehicle.
The Dashcam video showed Wagner falling backward. He indicated that he shot his firearm after he thought he heard a gunshot and “felt an impact on his shield knocking him to the ground.” He believed the suspect was shooting at him, the release says. It adds:
Agent Peskie told authorities he heard gunshots, saw a hole appear in the center of the driver’s side window and saw Wagner fall backwards out of his peripheral vision. He thought Wagner was hit with gunfire and then shot 3-5 rifle rounds into the vehicle. He saw an object in the suspect’s hand that caused him to believe the suspect had a firearm.
Peskie testified that he saw Wagner “go down violently”
His testimony was consistent with the physical evidence, according to Ozanne, who added that Nathan Peskie took steps to preserve evidence and secure evidence related to the investigation without being directed to do so.
Why did a jury previously find that Wagner’s use of force was also reasonable under the totality of circumstances?
Another officer had just broken Wilson’s car window with a crowbar-like tool. A projectile then struck and damaged Wagner’s shield, sending him flying backwards. He reasonably believed Wilson had shot him. He hadn’t. But a host of other civilians and agents thought Wilson had shot Wagner too.
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