Wisconsin officer charged after striking man with his car at traffic stop in 2021

A Green Bay police officer was charged Wednesday with felony misconduct in office after he struck a man with his squad car in 2021 following a traffic stop.

The Brown County district attorney’s office also charged Green Bay officer Matthew Knutson, a 13-year veteran of the department, with negligent operation of a vehicle, a misdemeanor, stemming from the incident. Knutson, 40, has been on paid administrative leave since October pending the investigation.

According to the complaint, Knutson made a traffic stop after a vehicle appeared to not yield a right of way. Dash-cam and officer body-cam video of the incident played at a Tuesday news conference shows the driver of the car pulled over running away as Knutson pursues in his squad car and another officer chases on foot.

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Knutson’s squad car later strikes the man, knocking him to the ground where he is then apprehended by officers.

Knutson said in his report of the incident that the fleeing driver ran “directly in front of me” and he unintentionally hit him with his squad car, which he said was going less than 5 mph.

But the complaint alleges that video evidence does not show the man running directly in front of Knutson’s squad car.

“We take all allegations of misconduct by Green Bay Police officers seriously, and I am committed to handling them in a way that is objective, thorough, and fair to all involved,” Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis said in a statement.

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Davis did not say at the news conference whether the man struck by the patrol car was injured. The complaint says the man complained of leg pain after being hit by the car.

The misconduct in office charge is publishable by up to 3.5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The other charge carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Knutson had previously been suspended for 30 days in 2018 following an internal investigation that determined he sent “inappropriate” messages from computers used by officers and was slow to cooperate with an investigation into separate harassment complaints involving other officers.

Knutson did not have attorney listed in the online court database. He is scheduled to make an initial appearance May 17.