MADERA – Late Thursday evening the officers from the Madera Police Department shot and killed a driver who was wielding a knife following a traffic collision on the northbound exit to Freeway 99 at Cleveland Avenue. Officers were responding to a call of a suspected drunk driver traveling on the wrong side of the road on South Gateway Drive.
Madera Police dispatchers received a call around 10:00pm that the suspect was driving in an erratic manner. The caller stayed on the phone with dispatch as he followed the car onto Freeway 99 from the H Street entrance, through the city of Madera before the suspect crashed into a black car at the Cleveland exit on the north side of town.
In the other vehicle were a father and his young daughters who wear not injured in the collision and were safely removed from the scene before the officer involved shooting occurred.
Officers attempted to get the suspect to exit his vehicle but he refused. According to police reports the driver became aggressive towards the officers and armed himself with a large butcher knife from inside the vehicle. The suspect began cutting himself with the knife and hitting the windows from within his car.
Officers fell back and took cover in a defensive position behind their vehicles and ordered the suspect to throw out his knife and exit the vehicle which he refused. When the suspect finally did exit the vehicle he still had the knife in hand and charged at the officers who were forced to fire several rounds, stopping the suspect’s advancement. The suspect died at the scene as a result of those gunshots.
The suspect has been identified as Michael Robert Novak of Madera. He was a white male adult, 59 years of age with past residencies in San Francisco, San Diego and Kelseyville, Madera Police Chief Dino Lawson told BVN that the suspect was a U.S. Navy Veteran who has been suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), but who refused help from the Veteran’s Administration and was self medicating.
Lawson said the suspect had called Madera Police earlier Thursday complaining that people were climbing over his fence but did not want to speak to police. Officers responded to the suspects residence and were unable to find anyone on his property.
Prior to last night the only other contact Madera Police had with the suspect according to Lawson was a series of bizarre phone calls on the Fourth of July last year. Lawson believes this tragic series of events was a case of “suicide by cop”.
When asked why officers did not chose a less than lethal solution to this incident, Lawson said the suspect was wearing a large jacket because of the weather that would have made the Taser less effective and that the corporal on scene was in the process of retrieving the bean bag shot gun from his squadcar when the suspect exited his vehicle and began charging at the officers with the knife.
The intersection of Cleveland and North Gateway Avenues as well at the northbound entrance and exit at Freeway 99 on Cleveland was closed for some time during the late night/early morning hours as law enforcement conducted their investigation. The area is now open to traffic.
The Madera Police Chief says the incident involved three officers and a sergeant. All four officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation.
At this point, it is unclear if drugs or alcohol were a factor. The Madera District Attorney's Office and the Madera County Sheriff's Department are investigating the shooting.
