‘You Get What You Ask For,’ Paramedic Says Of Woman Shot By Cop

BURLINGTON, IA — An Iowa paramedic is in hot water for comments he posted on Facebook saying that a Burlington mom was accidentally shot and killed by police in 2015 because “she couldn’t follow the law” and “sometimes you get what you ask for.”

Steven Imhoff posted the comments after hearing news of a $2 million informal settlement reached between the city of Burlington and the family of Autumn Steele, who was shot in front of her toddler in January 2015 when a police officer was simultaneously trying to quell a domestic dispute and ward off a surprise attack by an aggressive dog.

The problem with Imhoff’s posts was that he represented himself as a paramedic the Burlington Fire Department. He did formerly work for the department, but doesn’t now. He told the Des Moines Register he will update his Facebook page and remove the reference to the fire department.

Imhoff’s posts on the Burlington Cop Watch Facebook page caused quite a stir. They’ve since been removed, but a screengrab obtained by the newspaper shows one of them:

“Yup, still dead cause she couldn’t follow the laws or rules put in place by the courts. 2 million is cheap to get someone to shutup when lawyers are involved because your mother and daughter couldn’t listen and follow the rules. Sometimes you get what you ask for.”

The moderator of the police watchdog page responded, “You shouldn’t be a paramedic for making comments like that.”

Imhoff told the Register he hadn't gotten around to updating his profile and removing the reference to his former job and called Facebook "fake news." He said he made the posts because he was frustrated about comments on the anonymously run Burlington Cop Watch page, which he thinks is unfair to emergency responders.

When Steele was fatally shot, she had just spent the night in jail on domestic abuse charges. Police Officer Jesse Hill was escorting her back to her home to pick up some belongings when she and her husband, Gabriel, began arguing as he loaded their 4-year-old son into a vehicle. A restraining order was in effect barring her from contacting him.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene complicated by slippery, icy conditions that caused Hill to fall while firing his weapon. A report by television station WQAD quoted a witness who said Steele was “beating up” on her husband.

When Hill "ran over to break up the fight, the dog ran over to the cop, kind of in a playful way (and) jumped up on the cop's back," the witness said. "I don't believe the cop ever even seen the dog until he was on his back. He spun around trying to deal with the dog. He pulled his weapon and he was firing at the dog.

"I believe he shot one before he went down, but I'm not positive about that," the witness continued. "It happened so quickly, so both shots might have happened while he was falling down, during which he hits the lady and she went down."

Steele’s family settled the federal wrongful death lawsuit for $2 million on June 6, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The suit was brought by Gabrielle Steele, along with Autumn Steele’s mother, Gina Colbert, and Sean Schoff, who was listed as a friend of the Steeles’ two young sons.

In a statement, Colbert said “the dollar amount is recognition by the City of Burlington and Officer Jesse Hill that Hill acted in a wrongful and unjustified manner in shooting and killing my beautiful daughter.

Hill was not charged in the shooting and returned to work.

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