Deadly Force Incident Last Night
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| Sun, 09-07-2003 - 3:40pm |
Last night, one of the officers in one of the villages had a domestic violence call. The village is one of 8 posts where there are only 1 or 2 officers in the community. This village is like 450 people and he is the only officer out there right now.
So he gets the call, goes to the house and gets shot at. He returns fire and guess what? Kills the guy.
Now, I post this because this doesn't happen too often with our PD. It is the second time in 14 months that an officer has been fired on and returned fire (last time, the officer missed the suspect.) And I think it is only the second time in 25 years that an officer has killed someone.
How do your departments deal with this? Does it happen often? Do worry about your SO being in this situation? I have complete confidence in my DH when it comes to firearms and use of deadly force. He will make the appropriate decision for the situation, and he will end the threat.
This other officer will have a 3-day administrative leave, and most likely the department will move him from the village back here to the "big town"--he was being reposted here in October anyway, they just may send his replacement earlier I guess.
It is a gut-check for everyone when this happens, though, you think?
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Last weekened a patron shot another patron .... and then they WANTED the cops.
I read on the net earlier about a man who shot and killed his son (14) while he was running with his cross country team - then after a stand off with police, killed himself.
Turns out his wife HAD a RO on him b/c she feared this.
Emotions esp with family situations are very, very dangerous.
I'm sorry this happened and even if it doesn't happen to often, it's still hard to deal with.
My DH's city is relatively big (and a crime haven) so there are usually several incidents of gun-fire calls, gun calls or whatnot a week but they usually end peacefully thank goodness.
How do your departments deal with this? Does it happen often? Do worry about your SO being in this situation?
-- The most recent deadly force incident involving a police officer with DH's department was actually last Christmas. A colleague of DH's shot and killed a young man. The young man turned out to be a drug dealer who had pointed a gun at the officer and gotten off one round, that missed. The officer fired back and hit him a few times.
What happens administratively is that the officer is immediately taken off the street and actually arrested. But it's not like a handcuffs, put in jail arrest. Procedures follow the traditional protocol of any homicide -- the union gives the officer a lawyer, there's an internal affairs investigation, preliminary hearings etc. and a grand jury is convened. Once the grand jury is called in, it's almost always found to be justifiable homicide and no charges are returned. The officer is off the hook and free to returnto his job with no prejudice. This is mostly to cover legal bases and other things I don't fully understand but it is my understanding that this is typical for most larger departments.
-- I don't worry about DH that much. Like you, I know he'll make the right decision. I also firmly (VERY FIRMLY) believe in his philosophy which is, if he has to take out his gun to use it on someone threatening his life, he shoots to kill.