COLUMBIA – The Columbia man who died after a police patrol car ran him over Saturday night as his wife sat in a car nearby was under court order to stay away from her.
But Tuesday, many questions remained about why Jeremy Setzer, 24, was lying in Clark Lane, and whether he was alive or dead when Columbia police Officer Alan Mitchell struck him.
Although the Boone County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy Monday, results will not be released for at least another day or two, Capt. Zim Schwartze said. The investigation into Saturday night's bizarre fatal incident was ongoing, so police have declined to release further details.
Setzer was struck by the car about seven miles away from the couple's home.
Setzer was arrested on March 5 after police responded to a domestic assault and peace disturbance call. According to a probable cause statement filed in Boone County Circuit Court on March 11, Setzer attacked his wife, Crystal Setzer, while she was in the car trying to leave the couple's home in the 5100 block of East Bonne Femme Road.
A witness said Setzer punched his wife in the face several times through the car window.
According to the statement, his wife then got out of the car and Setzer chased her around it several times. Setzer then continued to drag his wife back into their house by the arm.
Setzer was charged with third-degree domestic assault and peace disturbance. One of the conditions of his $1,000 bond was that he not have any contact with his wife or the witness, whose name is listed as C.S. in the statement. He was scheduled to appear in court on March 30 for a counsel status hearing.
He died Saturday night at the scene of the crash at Clark Lane near Lambeth Drive after being run over by a police cruiser, driven by Mitchell, who has been with the police department for six years.
Columbia Police Capt. Stephen Monticelli said Mitchell is thought to have acted properly in the accident.
Mitchell was disciplined for misconduct in May 2005.
The disciplinary action stemmed from the breakup of an East Campus party in February 2005. Mitchell and several other Columbia police officers entered a house on Rogers Street to break up a party.
Six people were arrested that night on suspicion of interfering with a government operation.
Several people at the party later filed formal complaints with the police department, saying police used excessive force in the arrests.
Disciplinary action was taken against Mitchell. Randy Boehm, the police chief at the time of the incident, said Mitchell did not have a valid reason for entering the house.
Mitchell is on administrative leave.
Monticelli said the leave is not disciplinary but standard procedure after an officer goes through a traumatic accident.