How to be a cop and shoot someone when you don't mean to....
Dec 29, 2018 1:29:01 GMT
Ozarks Tom, farmgirl, and 1 more like this
Post by BrewDaddy on Dec 29, 2018 1:29:01 GMT
I was relatively new to LE and working my first gig in a small town of about 2500 people. Usually only one cop on duty except for Thurs-Sun nights when we had two. I was teamed up with my field training officer and we were just driving around minding everybody else's business...
There was this narrow access road at the far west end of town that skirted around everything and let you pop up clear across town w/o attracting a lot of attention. Folks see us heading west and next thing they know we're in the east end of town... gotta keep 'em on their toes ya know....
It's around 2230 and we come across a small pickup with a canopy on it sitting on the side of the road pointed west. It's kinda sorta maybe sticking out into the lane a wee bit too close for comfort, so we turn around, park and make contact with the dooder standing there. We were only there to help, not write tickets or kill someone....
We asked if we could help and he said no, he was out of gas and waiting for a friend to show up. This was way back before cell phones so how he got in touch with someone out there was a mystery... We offered him a ride into town and he refused, then asked us if we could loan him some money for some gas if he walked into town... which would have been a waste of time since the only gas station was closed...
It's right here where that spidey sense starts kicking in... there's just something whacky with this guy... he's being cooperative but everything he wants from us doesn't make any sense, and he's refusing all the help we are trying to offer...
Finally my FTO has had enough and asks for some ID. After all, we could legally write a ticket so we can demand someone to ID themselves. He doesn't have his wallet on him and he says it's in the back of the truck in a big box. Fine - go get it....
At this point I'm pretty much assuming we're gonna be taking this guy to jail... it's just playing out the way it always does...
We go around the back, he opens the back up and we see the back is just a mess... crap and papers and stuff everywhere and he says he lives in the thing.... mmmmmmmmm okay if you say so...
Sure enough there's a big wooden box in the back and the guy crawls in there and starts to open it up. I'm at the right rear of the truck with the tailgate right next to my legs, my FTO is about 5 feet back and a bit to the left. We've both got our flashlights (keeping gun hand clear of course as always) bearing down on him from different angles... I can see what's going on with the right side of the dood, my FTO can see the left. BUT NEITHER OF US CAN SEE BOTH SIDES...
Since this guy was a bit off of course I had my hand on the butt of my gun but it was still holstered... no big threat here yet but I'm watching this guy like a hawk... I watch him reach his right hand in and pull out some papers and what indeed looked like something that could be a wallet... my FTO couldn't see that...
Just then the guy kinda tucks his right arm in and starts turning around to his left... I glance at my FTO thinking everybody's gonna be all happy soon and my FTO is clearing leather and drawing on the guy... All he saw was the guy tuck his arm in holding SOMETHING and start spinning around.... I could have sworn I saw muzzle flashes and gunfire....
Without even looking yet I draw my gun and start pulling the trigger... this 's gonna be over in about 2 nanoseconds and I want to come out breathing if I can... it just didn't kick in that I knew the guy wasn't pulling a gun on us, just that the reptilian part of my brain was trying to defend itself....
This guy was about 2 pounds of trigger pressure away from being hit by my .357 magnum... my FTO screams at the guy to drop it and show his hands which he did... we get him out, everybody calms down, Ran the guy through dispatch and he wasn't wanted or anything... we were kinda freaked so left and told the guy that if we came back through and saw the truck again we were going to have it towed since technically it was a road hazard... and that was the end of that... no arrests, no tickets, no harm done but that guy was a helluva lot closer to dying than most people ever get... and I'd have done 20 years for manslaughter...
Later I found out that I was soooooo close to discharging my revolver that the cylinder was actually out of battery, meaning that hammer was WAY back.
brew
There was this narrow access road at the far west end of town that skirted around everything and let you pop up clear across town w/o attracting a lot of attention. Folks see us heading west and next thing they know we're in the east end of town... gotta keep 'em on their toes ya know....
It's around 2230 and we come across a small pickup with a canopy on it sitting on the side of the road pointed west. It's kinda sorta maybe sticking out into the lane a wee bit too close for comfort, so we turn around, park and make contact with the dooder standing there. We were only there to help, not write tickets or kill someone....
We asked if we could help and he said no, he was out of gas and waiting for a friend to show up. This was way back before cell phones so how he got in touch with someone out there was a mystery... We offered him a ride into town and he refused, then asked us if we could loan him some money for some gas if he walked into town... which would have been a waste of time since the only gas station was closed...
It's right here where that spidey sense starts kicking in... there's just something whacky with this guy... he's being cooperative but everything he wants from us doesn't make any sense, and he's refusing all the help we are trying to offer...
Finally my FTO has had enough and asks for some ID. After all, we could legally write a ticket so we can demand someone to ID themselves. He doesn't have his wallet on him and he says it's in the back of the truck in a big box. Fine - go get it....
At this point I'm pretty much assuming we're gonna be taking this guy to jail... it's just playing out the way it always does...
We go around the back, he opens the back up and we see the back is just a mess... crap and papers and stuff everywhere and he says he lives in the thing.... mmmmmmmmm okay if you say so...
Sure enough there's a big wooden box in the back and the guy crawls in there and starts to open it up. I'm at the right rear of the truck with the tailgate right next to my legs, my FTO is about 5 feet back and a bit to the left. We've both got our flashlights (keeping gun hand clear of course as always) bearing down on him from different angles... I can see what's going on with the right side of the dood, my FTO can see the left. BUT NEITHER OF US CAN SEE BOTH SIDES...
Since this guy was a bit off of course I had my hand on the butt of my gun but it was still holstered... no big threat here yet but I'm watching this guy like a hawk... I watch him reach his right hand in and pull out some papers and what indeed looked like something that could be a wallet... my FTO couldn't see that...
Just then the guy kinda tucks his right arm in and starts turning around to his left... I glance at my FTO thinking everybody's gonna be all happy soon and my FTO is clearing leather and drawing on the guy... All he saw was the guy tuck his arm in holding SOMETHING and start spinning around.... I could have sworn I saw muzzle flashes and gunfire....
Without even looking yet I draw my gun and start pulling the trigger... this 's gonna be over in about 2 nanoseconds and I want to come out breathing if I can... it just didn't kick in that I knew the guy wasn't pulling a gun on us, just that the reptilian part of my brain was trying to defend itself....
This guy was about 2 pounds of trigger pressure away from being hit by my .357 magnum... my FTO screams at the guy to drop it and show his hands which he did... we get him out, everybody calms down, Ran the guy through dispatch and he wasn't wanted or anything... we were kinda freaked so left and told the guy that if we came back through and saw the truck again we were going to have it towed since technically it was a road hazard... and that was the end of that... no arrests, no tickets, no harm done but that guy was a helluva lot closer to dying than most people ever get... and I'd have done 20 years for manslaughter...
Later I found out that I was soooooo close to discharging my revolver that the cylinder was actually out of battery, meaning that hammer was WAY back.
And that's how easy and quick it is to accidentally shoot someone... things just unfold in such a way, the situation changes oh so quickly, perceptions are wrong... and humans with badges and guns just out trying to do their jobs end up shooting someone for no apparent reason...
Since I'm feeling nostalgic tonight and stumbled across this pic, here's one of the night I took my Dad out on patrol with me....
