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3 Iowa officers cleared in fatal shooting after a traffic stop

Des Moines officers fired after driver shot at them in Sept. 16 altercation

Crime scene investigators work at the scene Sept. 16 where two police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire in Des Moines. (Cody Scanlan/Des Moines Register via AP)
Crime scene investigators work at the scene Sept. 16 where two police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire in Des Moines. (Cody Scanlan/Des Moines Register via AP)

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DES MOINES — A county attorney cleared three Iowa police officers Monday in an early morning September fatal shooting of a man who shot at officers after a traffic stop.

Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham said her review of the Sept. 16 shooting in Des Moines found the officers were justified in the shooting of Joshua Green, 37. She reviewed squad car dashboard and police body camera footage.

The two officers who were shot survived and have been released from a hospital.

Officers stopped a car driven by Green about 1:40 a.m. for an equipment violation. He then briefly drove away before crashing into a truck. Other officers arrived and as they tried to subdue Green with a Taser and pull him from his car, Graham said he “produced a handgun and began shooting upward, toward the officers.”

Three officers then fired their guns at Green, who was killed.

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