Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
MILWAUKEE - Police have charged a man who was shot Wednesday outside Milwaukee Police Headquarters.
Investigators determined the woman who shot the man was acting in self-defense.
She was only in police custody for several minutes after the shooting.
Witnesses backed up her account of what happened.
Police said Joseph Drier, 59, attacked the woman after arguing that she should not have a handicapped parking placard in her car.
"It happened so fast. All I knew was the panic. I was fighting for my life. I was afraid," the woman told WISN 12 News.
She did not want to be identified Friday.
The 28-year-old woman said Drier attacked her as she returned to her car.
"I said, 'Don't walk up on me,' and he turned around and went and got something -- a weapon," she said.
It turned out to be a steering wheel lock.
She said Drier swung it at her as she held him off with one hand.
That's when she reached into her purse and pulled out her handgun.
"I'm screaming for help at the top of my lungs. No one would help me. I was scared. I felt like my life was in danger," she said.
She fired one shot and hit Drier in the leg.
"An FBI agent came out of nowhere and told me, 'Freeze, FBI, put the weapon down.' I put it down, he said put my hands up and step away from the weapon, which I did, because I was afraid," she said.
She was not parked in a handicapped spot and had paid to park.
"I didn't want to shoot to kill... I felt like I didn't need to do anything more. All I wanted was help, and that was my help," she said.
Drier told police the woman looked too young to be using a handicapped placard.
He said he was "sick of people taking advantage of the system."
According to a criminal complaint, Drier said he threatened to hit the woman with the steering wheel lock and she shot him.
Drier admitted he was wrong for confronting the woman and he believed she shot him in self-defense, police said.
Investigators said they interviewed numerous witnesses who saw the shooting.
The woman has had a concealed carry permit for the past two years.
Drier was charged with criminal damage to property with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.