Officials: Man shot, killed by police shoved trooper

OKMULGEE, Okla. (AP) – The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a man shot dead after being told to leave a flooded area had grabbed a trooper and shoved him to the ground.

At a news conference, the agency showed a police video in which two men – the Fischer brothers – tramp through water toward a pair of police officers. OHP spokesman Capt. Paul Timmons said Nehemiah Fischer knocked over one trooper before being shot.

Timmons also said that troopers identified themselves by loudly announcing "state troopers" and then Nehemiah Fischer assaulted Trooper Mark Southall, who has been on the force for eight years.

"Nehemiah Fischer walked directly to Trooper Southall, grabbing and shoving him to the ground," Timmons said.

Southall and Trooper Michael Taylor discharged their weapons.

Taylor graduated from the academy last June and has been with the force for about a year.

Fischer’s father, J.R. Fischer, told The Associated Press on Monday that the behavior didn’t sound like that of his son, who was an assistant pastor at a Tulsa church who studied the Bible daily. The father described his son as "gentle as a dove with people who needed a hand."

The other brother, Brandon Fischer, 41, was arrested on complaints of assaulting a police officer and public intoxication. Brandon bonded out of jail around 5:20 p.m., flanked by several people trying to shield him from reporters. He did not respond to questions.