Less than 24-hours before Officer Andrew Delke gave chase to, and then fatally shot, Dan Hambrick last Thursday, he was in another foot chase – of what he thought was an armed suspect.
According to an arrest warrant signed by Andrew Delke, he states he observed an 18-year-old black male near the basketball courts at University Court. As Officer Delke approached the area on foot, he says he saw the male “clutch the front of his waistband and started blading his body away from officers”, which caused Delke to believe he may be armed.
Delke then shouted “POLICE, STOP”, and the male took off running, and Delke gave pursuit on foot. While the male was running from officers, he continued to grab his waistband, and eventually tripped and fell, and while being taken into custody, stated:
I have some DICE. I’m a gambler, that’s why I ran. I was using the dice to gamble”
Upon search, his pocket contained dice, and a car key.
The subject was arrested booked on a stolen car charge, which was unknown to officers until after the interaction and chase. He was booked into jail at 11:47 PM, less than 24 hours before Officer Delke would give chase to Dan Hambrick before fatally shooting him, multiple times, resulting in his death.
