A Ballwin Police officer will require long-term medical care after being shot and critically injured during a traffic stop Friday.
Officer Mike Flamion is in stable but critical condition at a St. Louis-area hospital, Ballwin Police Chief Kevin Scott said Tuesday.
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UPDATE, July 18: Ballwin Police announced new details regarding Flamion’s condition today. Watch the video below for an official announcement from Chief Scott.
Flamion is paralyzed from the neck down after a bullet caused “catastrophic damage to his spinal cord,” Scott said Monday. Flamion is able to communicate by moving his head, but he is still intubated and unable to talk.
“As of today, Officer Flamion remains in intensive care. He is intubated, and he is paralyzed from the neck down,” Scott said. “Mike is, however, very alert. He recognizes all of his family, all of his friends, all of his coworkers.”
Scott added that “it is ever apparent that he will require extensive long-term medical care.”
Flamion was struck in the neck during the attack earlier this month, leaving him incapacitated and unable to defend himself, Scott said.
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“It is coming to light that his life, and that of his family, will forever be changed by his injuries,” Scott said in a video released online. “He will require long-term medical care.”
Scott didn’t elaborate on Flamion’s condition other than to note that the officer has a “long and difficult journey” ahead. A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $100,000 for Flamion and his family.
Flamion was conducting a traffic stop at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 8, in the 300 block of New Ballwin Road when he was attacked. According to police, Flamion was walking back to his patrol car to check the status of the driver he’d pulled over for speeding when the driver rushed from behind, firing at least three shots and striking Flamion in the neck.
Officials have called the shooting an “ambush.”
“It was clearly an ambush, an attack,” St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch told reporters, adding that one shot may have been fired after the officer went down. “There was no confrontation, no argument, no nothing.”
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar added: “Make no mistake, we believe during this investigation that Ballwin officer was ambushed, period.”
The gunman sped away from the shooting, according to police. When an officer from another department spotted the car about four miles away, the suspect fled on foot until officers caught and arrested him.
The prosecutor’s office has charged Antonio Taylor, age 31, with assault of a police officer, armed criminal action, and a felon in possession of a firearm. Taylor was on probation for a weapons violation in St. Louis and was paroled last year, police said.
Investigators haven’t said if the shooting had racial overtones like the Dallas sniper attack that killed five officers the night before. Taylor is black, and Flamion is white.
Famion joined the Ballwin Police Department in December 2014, and he’d previously served as a De Soto, Missouri, police officer for seven years.
“Officer Flamion is highly regarded by everyone in the department. His sense of humor and professional demeanor make him a centerpiece of our department,” Scott said after the shooting. “Mike is an outstanding officer whom the citizens of Ballwin should be proud to call their own.”
Ballwin police investigators say they believe several unidentified witnesses were driving or running nearby during the shooting. If you have any information related to Friday’s shooting, contact St Louis County Police Department’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons at 314-615-5400.
Contact Lindsay Toler by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
