CANAAN, N.H. (AP) — The fiancée of a man shot dead by a New Hampshire state trooper over the weekend says he was running away to avoid being arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Saeti Tobin tells the Valley News that she was riding with her fiancée 26-year-old Jesse Champney of Enfield on Saturday night when police began following them. The pair crashed their car before Champney headed toward the woods.
Trooper Christopher O’Toole, who remains on paid administrative leave, shot Champney four times in a field, killing him. Tobin said she believes Champney was not armed nor did he have drugs. He was scared, she said, and “wanted to be with his family for the holidays.”
The attorney general’s office says the incident remains under investigation.
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