The sheriff of a South Carolina county is defending the deputy who shot at a man five times after authorities say the man pointed a pistol at the law enforcement officer. No one was injured.Is it just me, or does anyone else see a problem when a L.E.O. shoots at someone who is pointing a gun at him ... and misses?
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner tells The Island Packet the initial investigation shows the deputy did nothing wrong during the shooting early Saturday at the Vista View Apartments in Bluffton.Well ... the deputy missed his target. Considering that he was engaging in return fire directed at someone who was shooting at him, there are people who would consider "failure to successfully elimate an active threat" to be the "wrong" response.
( So much for the "The Only Ones Qualified" argument. )
Tanner says the deputy was not put on leave and remains active.That doesn't speak well for a Department which apparently considers "the deputy who can't shoot straight" to be a valuable member of the department. The article does not suggest that the deputy was required to receive remedial training in firearms accuracy.
A news release says the unnamed deputy investigated when he saw two men sitting in a vehicle in a parking lot. The release says one man fled, and the deputy chased him and found the man lying on the ground, pointing his pistol. The 18-year-old faces several charges, including fleeing to evade arrest.Assuming that "... (t)he 18-year-old ... " refers to the felon who was arrested for 'pointing his pistol' (presumably at the officer), it seems reasonable that "fleeing to evade arrest" would be the least of the charges; how about "attempted murder of a police officer"?
The duty of a sworn police officer is to uphold the law and go home to his family at the end of his shift. The Liberal Media may applaud the officer for his humanity in sparing the felon the violent end which he had earned, but the officer failed in his duty; anyone who points a gun at a police officer will shoot a police officer; if not this one, then the next.
And to shoot at a man with a gun five times, and to miss, is to allow that felon to learn to be more heartless the next time he has an officer in his sights.
Who says no one was injured by an officer who failed in his duty?
Ask the next cop who meets that felon over a gunsite.
2 comments:
How can you possibly verbally attack the officer with no more information than was presented in this article? What distance was the threat at? How many other possible threats were in the area? What was the lighting like? Were there any barriers between the officer and threat? Were there people in the background the officer had to take into consideration. If the bad guy was on the ground that would make him a harder target to hit than if he were standing facing the officer unless the officer was directly over him.
People jumping to conclusions without finding out the facts is a big reason why America is in the shape we are in today. Should he get more training, yes, almost all officers in America could use more training, but the financial and time constraints on most agencies don't allow that. I will give the officer the benefit of the doubt until the facts prove otherwise. Either way I will commend him for putting himself in harm's way to protect his community, not attack him from a place of safety behind my computer keyboard.
I have no problem with "verbally (attacking) an officer" who has proven that he lacks the skills and the judgement to perform the duties of his office. I don't care about the environmental circumstances ... if the officer fired his service weapon it must be because he determined it NECESSARY to HIT his target.
If he didn't hit his target ... he had endangered the community by possibly allowing a 'stray' round to hit who-knew-what-or-who. And "if there were people in the background" it becomes absolutely imperative that he hit his target rather than hit the innocents in the background.
I'm not a LEO, but I've shot at people who were shooting at me. And yes, I've not hit my target with every shot. But then, I'm not a Law Enforcement Professional ... I was a soldier, and a reluctant one at that.
I've competed in IPSC pistol matches for 30 years and I know many LEOs who compete against me, and kicked my rear when the scores are tallied. They SHOULD be better shots than I am; these local municipal police and deputies practice on my home range, and when I follow them on the shooting bay (outdoor range) I see empty 1,000 round ammunition boxes left scattered about. Not criticizing their housekeeping; complimenting their departments for providing the ammunition and paying the officers to practice their shooting skills.
Professionals must be held to a higher standard than we amateurs.
That's not always the case; some LEOs are unable (due to lack of experience and/or training) to maintain their sight-picture and sight-alignment when engaging a human target. Dave Grossman has much to say about that.
I'm mindful of a local (Oregon) news report from several years ago where two Portland, Oregon, city policemen braced a drunk who was sleeping in a downtown commercial doorway at 3am. When they kicked him awake, he made a move which they interpreted as a "threatening gesture", so they both drew and emptied their 9mm Glock 17s at him from a distance of eight (8) feet.
They missed him with every shot. Thirty Four rounds fired at 8 feet distance at a person who was physically unable to dodge due to being in a drunken stupor.
I don't call that good shooting; I don't call that good training. I call that Panic. And amateurish.
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Your comment suggests that you are a member of the LEO "community".
I suggest that if your department Sworn Officers could shoot no more accurately than that example, they would better protect their community by patrolling their beat unarmed. Better not to shoot at all, than to shoot and miss ... with possible fatal consequences to the undefended public.
I "DARE SAY!" anything which reveals and reviles gross incompetence.
And while I hide behind my computer keyboard, I'm not out throwing wild shots on city streets.
"A Policeman's Lot Is Not A Happy One"
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