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Shoot to Live
I saw an article today that disturbed me a bit...
Law enforcement fired 110 shots at an armed man who killed one deputy and wounded another. Was the force excessive or justified?
Oct. 14, 2006 - It all began with a simple traffic stop. Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Doug Speirs pulled over Angilo Freeland just before noon on Sept. 28 for speeding along an avenue in Lakeland, Fla. But when Speirs asked for Freeland's driver's license, Freeland, 27, produced a dubious-looking state ID card. Would he have to go to jail for not having a valid license? he asked the deputy, according to authorities. Moments later, Freeland fled into a wooded area beside the road.
Speirs radioed for backup, and soon Deputy Matt Williams arrived with his dog Diogi. The three set off into the woods. Freeland apparently hid behind the exposed roots of a fallen oak, according to dispatch tapes and a law-enforcement account given to The Tampa Tribune. Catching his pursuers by surprise, Freeland shot and killed the police dog, then quickly pumped Williams full of bullets, one of which penetrated his spine. Freeland then shot Williams twice more in the head at point-blank range.
Speirs moved toward the gunfire. "I'm coming to you," he told Williams over the radio, according to the Tampa Tribune report. Then Freeland appeared over a ridge and fired at him. Though Speirs managed to shoot back, he was wounded in the leg during the exchange. "I've been hit, too," he told the dispatcher. Now authorities mounted a massive manhunt, including 500 officers, every available police dog, a SWAT tank and a helicopter. They soon found Williams dead, and his gun and ammunition missing. For the rest of the day and overnight, authorities scoured the woods for Freeland. Not until the next morning did a 10-person SWAT team finally corner him. He was hunkered down under another fallen oak, not far from where he'd killed the deputy. When the cops spotted a gun in Freeland's hand--Williams's .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol--they opened fire on him. And plenty of it: 110 bullets in all, 68 of which hit him.
That barrage has now sparked a controversy over the amount of force used on Freeland. Did law enforcement overreact because one of their own had been slain? Or was the hail of bullets justified? Though the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local state attorney's office are reviewing the incident, Freeland's family members say that's not enough. They argue that the sheriff's office can't credibly scrutinize itself, and they're calling on Gov. Jeb Bush to order an independent investigation. The family is "not defending what [Freeland] did," says Jorge Angulo, one of the attorneys representing the family pro bono. "They are asking why he was shot so many times. Why was he not taken alive?" Bush "will not even consider an independent investigation" until the current inquiries conclude, a spokeswoman responds. A sheriff's spokesman defends how authorities acted, arguing that Freeland "had demonstrated a brutal lack of concern for human life" and that "officers perceived there to be a threat and responded appropriately."
Others have protested law enforcement's handling of the situation as well. The Florida Civil Rights Association has called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to order an independent investigation by the Justice Department. A Justice spokeswoman said the department was waiting for the results of the state probe before deciding whether to conduct their own. Race may have been a factor, the FCRA argues; Freeland was black, while most of the officers were white. "The police tactics and the force used in the manhunt of a black man... is profoundly disturbing and raises questions that are too important to be dismissed," says J. Willie David III, FCRA's president. The group is especially critical of certain comments made by Polk County authorities in the aftermath of Freeland's death. "I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told the Associated Press. The civil rights group cites the case of Amadou Diallo, a black man killed in New York in 1999 in a hail of 41 bullets. That case drew national attention and provoked widespread condemnation of the officers involved. Freeland's story, on the other hand, has remained mostly a local matter and hasn't sparked nearly as much outcry. But of course, Diallo didn't kill one deputy and maim another.
The black community in Polk County has occasionally filed complaints about racial profiling and excessive force in the past. But those incidents were not nearly as extreme, says Don Brown, president of the Lakeland branch of the NAACP, who met with a sheriff's representative after the shooting. "I'm still looking into the case," says Brown. But "on the surface, it doesn't look right... It does look like it was an excessive amount of bullets."
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So the article ends and reading it I grew very upset. I was going to post my own reply but I found an even better one written by a priest, though i'm not sure of what denomination it's insignificant. So here it is:
They shoot to live
By Father David Epps
A few weeks ago, a rookie police officer from a North Atlanta suburb faced the horror dreaded by all cops and their families. The suspect, a 20 year-old
alleged deserter from the Army, fired his weapon point blank into the chest of the 28 year-old patrol officer. The stricken officer, protected from the
potentially fatal round by his bullet-resistant vest, fell to the ground and, although suffering injury from the tremendous impact of the bullet, returned fire,
along with another officer. In a few violent seconds, it was over. The fugitive from the Army will not have to be concerned about serving out his enlistment. He died at the scene. Once and awhile, someone will ask, "Do the police shoot to kill?" The simple answer to that question is, "No." But, on the other hand, the
answer is not so simple. The average citizen cannot possibly imagine how suddenly a routine traffic stop, warrant service, or interview can turn sour. In the movies, the bad guys can be seen planning and calculating their next move and, when the action starts, the cops dive for cover, call back-up, and a
gun battle ensues for the next fifteen minutes. The cops and the bad guys chase each other through the streets of the city, firing scores of rounds, and,
amazingly, even exchanging taunts.
In real life, such a scene almost never happens--for in real life, the violence explodes without warning, lasts an average of 3.5 seconds, with five rounds
being exchanged from a distance of three to seven feet. Think about that...one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three...and then it's over. Someone is dead or screaming in agony. If the suspect is down, the officer, with shaking hands, will cuff him and call for an ambulance. If the suspect is bleeding
profusely, the officer will try to administer first aid and save the life of the man who just tried to kill him. Officers have even been known to pray at
such moments, pleading with God to spare the assailant's life. If, on the other hand, the officer is on the ground, more likely than not, the suspect
will walk over to him, point his still smoking pistol at the officer's head, and pull the trigger. He will then steal the officer's own weapon and flee into the
night. An hour or two later, the chief and the chaplain will pay a dreadful visit to the officer's spouse and children.
There is no time to talk the suspect down, no time to "shoot the weapon out of the bad guy's hand," no opportunity to carefully aim from cover and
concealment and fire to wound. Officers are trained to aim for "center mass" of the suspect's body and continue to fire until the threat is ended. "That cop
fired nine bullets!" a civilian might protest. "He shot too many times! He was out to kill that guy!" You weren't there. You have no idea. It wasn't your
life on the line. You just don't have a clue. If an officer is inclined to make a mistake, he or she is much more likely to hesitate to shoot for that all-important split-second than they are to fire prematurely. Most officers have strong moral codes, have an aversion to killing, became cops to help people, and have been well-schooled in how likely cops are to be sued. This hesitation may well result in
the officer's death. Criminals who would fire on a police officer have no such moral restraints. They do not hesitate.
Police officers and deputies are not trained to shoot to kill. They are trained to "shoot to live." They are not, regardless of how much anti-law enforcement types might whine, trying to take a suspect's life. They are simply trying, desperately, in a few terror-filled seconds, to somehow survive the
encounter and go home to spouse and family at the end of the shift. They are "shooting to live."
If they do shoot a suspect, and the criminal dies, cops are more likely than not to have severe depression, to experience sleepless nights, endure post traumatic stress, and be overwhelmed with guilt. He or she will be more at risk than other officers to experience a divorce, become an alcoholic, and take their own life. He will have had 3.5 seconds to "shoot to live" while the press, the public, and the courts will have years and decades to second-guess the officer and wonder why he didn't "shoot the gun out of the bad guy's hand."
I have two sons who are on the streets as police officers. Tonight, they will pull over a car on some dark roadside or will investigate an alarm call. If the moment ever comes, which I pray it does not, I pray that they will respond to their training. I pray that they will not hesitate, no, not for one second. Then, if their life hangs in the balance, I pray that, in that 3.5 seconds of heart-stopping, throat-chocking horror, they will "shoot to live."
I pray their aim will be true. I pray they will come home to their families safe and uninjured. And, then, the next night, and the next, they will face it all over again night after night, year after year. They, and tens of thousands of men and women like them, are cops. It's what they do.
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