Dispatchers had told Kidder the suspect may threaten suicide by cop and that he could have a gun under his seat, but Kidder relied on his own split-second observations to know what to do.
“So he’s got his arms at his side while he’s running at me and that’s the first thing I noticed,” Kidder said as he watched the video. “He put his hand in his pocket there, so my eyes are watching that hand right now and nothing else.”
Knowing backup was coming, Kidder back-pedaled while the suspect continued to insist Kidder shoot him.
“I was trying to open a dialogue with him. ‘I don’t want to shoot you, get on the ground,’ but he wasn’t having it. He kept repeating, ‘Shoot me.’ At one point, he said ‘Shoot me or I’ll shoot you,’” Kidder said.
Then, the suspect charged at Kidder again. Kidder tripped and fell backwards.
“He got towards my face right as I lost balance,” Kidder said. “I’m thinking, at this point, that if he goes into attack me, that I’ll have to use deadly force to defend myself.”
Just in time, backup arrived, and the suspect surrendered.
If he did not see a weapon and did not shoot, then the officer showed good judgment.
The only issue I have with what I saw in the video was that I thought he should have lowered his pistol when the other officer made contact with the suspect to handcuff him. Pointing his pistol toward the other officer with the adrenaline dump he was experiencing could have made the situation worse.
Was the officer justified in using lethal force against the suspect, given the fact that the officer knew the man was a murder suspect, and the perp kept aggressively advancing despite the officers commands to stop, all while placing his right hand in the pocket? Would a reasonable person have feared that the perp was about to inflict serious bodily harm?
Nope. However, my opinion is not based only on the decision not to shoot. His lack of command presence that resulted in him fleeing cover while back peddling to the point of falling backwards is what gives me the most heartburn. He needed to commit to a course of action to subdue the suspect as soon as he decided to leave cover under the faith that the suspect was unarmed. Running backwards in front of a suspected violent felon until back-up arrives is not reasonable.
Why he didn’t drop the guy with a taser is beyond me. This “backpedal and beg” posture will now be held up as what should be the standard response when faced with what very well could be an armed, violent criminal.
That officer might want to look into another line of work. I think anyone advancing in the face of a firearm definitely means to do harm to you. Whether hands in their pockets potentially with a weapon or open hands up, they cannot be allowed to reach you and your weapon. As for using a taser, I think the hand in the pocket throws that option out the window.
Again, I would agree. What some might what some might call restraint, I think is more likely uncontrolled hesitation. You have to make a decison, like it or not running backwards isn’t a good decison. Likely as not had that guy had a knife and the will to use it, the minute he hesitated and later tripped it very well could have been Bad Guys 1-Cops-0
You are oversimplifying the Dinkheller incident. Deputy Dinkheller knew for about 35 seconds that Brannan had a weapon, he is telling him to ‘put the weapon down’ almost until the first shot is fired. Deputy Dinkeller had struck Brannan with a baton and failed to follow-up and complete the arrest, instead letting him retreat back to his (Brannan’s) truck. Deputy Dinkheller also fired the first shot of the melee, but unfortunately, it and all the other rounds he fired, save almost the last one, missed.
A lot of issues in the Dinkheller incident, unlike Dinkheller, this Officer can learn from his mistakes.
Personally, I’d like to know the force-on-force/reality-based training histories of officers like Dinkheller who get themselves in situations like this.
I quit judging Men by the awards they recieved (not earned) when I saw our cry baby Lt, who left his Platoon while under fire get a damned Bronze Star.
I think the asshole thing might be a little overblown, but I wouldn’t want him watching my back with multiple bad guys surrounding us.
Not sure if it’s the case today, but about ten years ago, local LE weren’t required to carry tasers. They could if they wanted (and did the requisite training), but weren’t required to do so. OC/pepper spray was a different story.
Never mind the fact that the knowledge of how to defeat a taser is becoming increasingly widespread.
ETA: My MMQB asshole comment is that he should have punched the guy in the face with a weapon-mounted light on his pistol.