Word Warriors Public Speaking Club

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ever been in an officer involved shooting?

I was speaking to another fellow investigator the other day and the subject came up of action as a police officer and Officer Involved Shootings. I had mentioned that I was in an officer involved shooting back in September 2005 and it had been filmed by the local news. I was told that it even made CNN and is used now for Suicide By Cop training in various departments and academies.

Below is the link:

Palm Springs Psycho Palm Springs Psycho Standoff

Now that you have seen the video, I am sure that you have many questions and I will do the best to answer them for you:

1. Did the guy have a gun? I don't know, I believed that he did and that he was going to use it. My partner said that he saw the gun but I don't remember seeing it. I do remember hearing a pop and air that went by the left side of my head. Based on what I felt and heard along with my partner's observation, I believe that he did have a gun.

2. Did the guy die? No, they induced a coma and removed all eight 45 caliber bullets (probably mine) from his body. He is now spending 6 years in prison for his crimes (a light sentence if you ask me).

3. Was the guy on drugs? He had a large amount of Methamphetamine in his blood when they drew it at the hospital so, I would say that as a Drug Abuse Recognition expert based on my training and experience, he was most likely under the influence at the time of the incident.

4. Did they find the gun? No, they did not find the gun. His claim in an interview after the incident was that at 4am that morning, he drove by a place where they were pouring cement for the foundation of a new building and he threw his .38 caliber revolver in the cement. A search of the area revealed that it wasn't possible for that to happen but since there was no weapon, they didn't charge him with assault on myself, just threats. So, I guess if you ever want to shoot at a cop, make sure that you dump the gun when you are out of range of observation and you will only be charged with threats.

5. Was this incident traumatic and how did I feel? All I could think about was, "How dare he shoot at me, an officer of the law, what is wrong with him?" I then thought about how I was going to explain this to my wife who was afraid already of something happening to me while working as a police officer. All I could think about throughout the week was the incident and was there anything that I would have done differently.

6. Would I have done anything differently? It was my first day off of field training and I thought I had prepared for the worst through all my Marine Infantry training, Marine Military Police training, Marine Special Reaction Team training and my Police Academy training but I was wrong. This incident is why to this day, I never turn down an opportunity to attend training. I believe that it was my Marine and Police training that saved my life.

7. How were you psychologically after the incident? I was "okay, fine" as Dr. Larry Blum, author of "Force under Pressure: How cops live and why they die" and "Stoning the Keepers at the gates" would put it. I had mentally prepared myself for this incident starting back in 2001 when I attended the 8th Annual Covert Ops Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada where Larry Blum taught a class on officer involved shootings and the psychological mindset of those that go through an OIS. I have many thanks to give to Dr. Larry Blum because I believe that if it weren't for him then I might be an emotional wreck today. I would like to end this post with a statement that Dr. Larry Blum signed my copy of "Force Under Pressure" with and that is:

"BE VICTORIOUS!" ~ Dr. Larry Blum

STAY SAFE OUT THERE EVERYONE AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU ATTEND THE UNITED ASSOCIATION OF RECOVERY AGENTS (UARA 2008), IT WILL BE THE SEMINAR TO ATTEND IN JULY FOR ADVANCED FUGITIVE RECOVERY TRAINING! AND FOR $150 ADMISSION, YOU WON'T FIND IT CHEAPER ANYWHERE ELSE!
Plus, I will be teaching self defense, arrest methods, baton, building entries and developing informants. There will also be a class on Skip tracing and much more!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"threw his .380 caliber revolver"

Never heard of one of these. Glad to see your alright. Eight 45's he and lives to tell a story. Had to have hurt like hell.