South Dakota prosecutors on Monday charged a Sioux Falls man with first-degree murder and aggravated evading in the death of a sheriff’s deputy who was struck while putting out spikes during a police chase.
Joseph Gene Hoek, 40, was ordered held without bail during his first court appearance in connection with the death of Moody County Chief Deputy Ken Prorok, 51, of Wentworth, who was killed during the chase Friday.
People around Hoek described him as having a “downward spiral” marked by drug use and escalating threats of violence, Special Agent Jeffrey Kollars of the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation wrote in a court filing Sunday.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is prosecuting the case himself. He said he still needs to investigate any mitigating factors, then talk to Prorok’s family, and then the sheriff and his deputies, before deciding whether to seek the death penalty.
“I believe the attorney general should lead from the front and I have always tried to do that,” Jackley told The Associated Press. “Especially when it involves a law enforcement officer who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Hoek’s lawyer, Manuel De Castro, told AP that his initial impression is that Hoek was “overcharged” and that “there are some mental health issues that need to be investigated.” But he said he is still gathering information.
“I know it is an emotional matter for everyone involved. But we will go from there,” he said.
Kollars wrote that Madison police responded Friday afternoon to a call about a man, identified as Hoek, making “homicidal threats” near the business where the caller worked. Police saw his car and tried to stop him, but Hoek drove away on Highway 34 toward Interstate 29, according to the officer.
The chase reached a speed of 115 mph (185 km per hour). Prorok stopped to initiate traffic spikes on Highway 34. But a witness said he saw the oncoming car deliberately swerve and hit the deputy before it went into the ditch and overturned, the officer wrote. Hoek took off on foot. The witness followed Hoek, ran him over and held Hoek until officers arrived, the report said.
Prorock died at the scene. Hoek was checked at a hospital, but was not seriously injured.
Kollars wrote that he interviewed Hoek after he had waived his right to remain silent. The officer wrote that Hoek told him that he had gone to the business to collect money from the caller, who he believed owed him money.
“When Hoek was told that a deputy sheriff had died as a result of his actions and decisions, he responded that he did not believe me,” the officer wrote. But Hoek had claimed that he suffers from anxiety and panic attacks that sometimes affect his memory, the officer said.
Investigators who searched the car found suspected THC vapors, suspected marijuana paraphernalia and “blunts” and containers of cold medicine, the officer wrote. Outside the car, they found an apparent bong and an unopened bottle of liquor, he said.
When asked about medications, Hoek told authorities he was experiencing pain and had been prescribed the narcotic painkiller hydrocodone during several emergency room visits. But he said many doctors denied him the medications he wanted. He said he had used medical marijuana for anxiety “days before” and had been prescribed the anxiety drug Xanax, but he could not remember the last time he used it.
Hoek also said he had been kicked out of several family members’ homes, but did not indicate why.
The person who called police told investigators that Hoek was a “family friend” who “began to scare him” and “began acting strangely lately,” which led to the person being issued a restraining order and a ban on was trespassing, the officer wrote.
Hoek’s mother told investigators she believed her son “had mental health issues and was self-medicating” but was smart enough to fool mental health professionals who were evaluating him so he would be quickly released without help. She also said he was addicted to dextromethorphan, a cough medicine that is sometimes abused.
One person said Hoek’s “downward spiral” escalated after she obtained an order of protection against him last month and that he “became increasingly physically violent,” the officer wrote.