Getaway car driver charged in fatal East Troy shooting

Frank Schultz | June 18, 2016

ELKHORN—A Walworth County criminal complaint describes some of what happened the night a sheriff's deputy shot a Milwaukee man in the parking lot of an East Troy restaurant.

The complaint against Jose G. Lara, 31, of Milwaukee contains new details of what happened as officers confronted suspects in a car at Roma's Ristorante and Lounge the evening of Feb. 24.

Lara is charged with conspiracy to deliver cocaine and attempting to flee a traffic officer.

The complaint describes officers with guns drawn confronting a car in the parking lot.

The car “squealed its tires and drove at a high rate of speed directly at Deputy Juan Ortiz of the Walworth County Sheriff's Office,” the complaint states.

Ortiz and a town of East Troy officer both had weapons drawn, and Ortiz was “giving verbal commands,” the complaint states.
The complaint does not describe anyone firing a weapon, however. No details of the actual shooting are mentioned. The man who died from the shooting, 21-year-old Christopher J. Davis, is not mentioned.

The complaint says the car left the parking lot with officers from various law enforcement agencies in pursuit with lights and sirens.

The chase proceeded on County ES and Interstate 43 at speeds exceeding 100 mph, the complaint states.

Lara was driving, and the complaint mentions one other man in the car in addition to Davis. That man has not been charged.

The chase entered Waukesha County and ended in Muskego, where Lara and a back-seat passenger fled on foot but were taken into custody, officials said earlier.

The incident apparently began when village of East Troy police arranged for an informant to buy about 14 grams of cocaine from a man at the Roma's restaurant, the complaint indicates.

The back-seat passenger, who as of Thursday afternoon had not been charged, was the one who arranged the cocaine buy with the informant, the complaint states.

Lara told one of the state agents that the back-seat passenger had asked for a half ounce of cocaine to sell, and Lara obtained the cocaine for him and agreed to drive to the drop-off location, according to the complaint.

Lara admitted he threw the cocaine out the car window during the chase, according to the complaint.

The state Division of Criminal Investigations has been investigating the shooting for more than three months. The complaint cites information gathered by DCI agents.

Online court records indicate the state Department of Justice is prosecuting Lara's case, not the Walworth County district attorney.
Deputy Ortiz was placed on administrative duty after the incident, officials have said. Walworth County Sheriff Kurt Picknell could not be reached for comment.