March 2024. Blues Vol 40 No. 3

GUEST COMENTARY police

GUEST COMENTARY police law news Daniel Carr This Week in Policing: Acorns Away & The Realm of Reasonable. ACORNS AWAY I do not feel bad making a joke about this. Especially because no one was injured. A deputy in Okaloosa County, FL was walking back to his patrol car. He mistook an acorn falling on his vehicle for a gunshot. He shot at his own patrol car - emptying an entire magazine. A man under arrest, was handcuffed in the backseat. And thankfully, somehow, survived. Now, let’s dig a little deeper. The deputy was a rookie and had previously attended West Point and served two tours in Afghanistan. The call that he was on - was a stolen vehicle incident where the offender was in custody in his patrol car. Deputies had evidence that the offender had posted a picture of him holding a gun in the car - just prior to arrest. At this point the gun had not been located. Even though the offender had been searched the deputy was concerned that the gun was still possibly concealed by the offender, and he was walking back to the patrol car to conduct a more thorough search. It was at this point that acorns began falling from the tree above - hitting him and his patrol car. The deputy believed that CLICK TO TAP TO WATCH he was being shot at by the suspect in the backseat of the police car. The deputy returned fire - emptying an entire magazine and rolling around on the ground yelling, “I’m hit!” - like Kramer by the “second spitter.” The deputy resigned during the internal investigation and will not be prosecuted. • More concerning is that there was a Sergeant on scene who also began to fire her weapon at the patrol vehicle - because she saw the deputy shooting. THE REALM OF REASONABLE Two deputies in Harris County, Texas opened fire on a woman who was walking towards the door armed with a gun. Here’s the question… Was it reasonable for the officers to believe that the woman approaching the door with a gun - was an armed burglar? If so. How long should police wait to fire their weapons? At 0200 hrs on February 3, 2023, Harris County, TX deputies were dispatched to a call at an apartment complex. Deputies finished up the initial call and they were contacted by a resident who reported a residential burglary in a second-floor apartment. Deputies made their way to the apartment and observed broken glass on the ground and that a window screen had been removed. This evidence would lead a reasonable police officer to believe that a burglary may have taken place at the apartment. The deputies then knocked on the door and announced their presence. 14 The Blues - March ‘24 The Blues - March ‘24 15