I returned home from a very moving Good Friday service,
organized my music for Easter, and turned in for the night.
Somewhere around two o’clock in the morning, I was awakened
by the sound of yelling from the park kitty-corner from our corner house.
“Dang rowdy teens,” I thought, actually smiling to myself,
and ventured to the window to take a peek out.
A glare of headlights was coming up my street, and there
were police calling orders to a man who was standing in the shadow of an oak
tree beloved by every kid in the neighborhood. The man seemed to be trying to
melt into the bark of the tree and become invisible.
This was not a dream, folks; this was an unexpected drama. No more smile for me.
Officers called out to the man. “We’re police. We’re here to
help. If you can hear us, please answer or put your hands up.”
The man did not respond, for whatever reason. I could not
actually see him, as he was behind the tree, and there was an SUV partially
blocking my view.
Suddenly, the words of the Taizé chant, which I had been singing
only hours before, played through my mind:
Stay
with me; remain here with me. Watch and pray. Watch and pray.
So, that’s what I did.
***
This is the kind of scene we have all too frequently read
about in the news paper or in electronic media – mainly because the results
have been horrific. True confession: I am a contract transcriptionist for a major
police department in the area, but not for the town in which I live. Because I
have transcribed descriptions of scenes just like this many, many times, I
thought I would take you, the reader, through this experience with me…
Because, what happened in my real life witnessing, and often
what happens in those IAD (Internal Affairs Department) cases that are OIS
cases (Officer Involved Shootings), is really textbook, although the outcomes
vary. The scenarios are taught in police academies throughout the nation, and
are handled in a fairly standard way. These scenarios are drilled endlessly
during police academy. And I do not know if this is standard to every police
department, but the department for which I transcribe interviews has mandatory extra,
bi-annual training in such things as Use of Force, Tactical Training, Robbery
Apprehension, Crisis Intervention (for substance abuse, domestic violence, gang
violence, etc.) shooting range recertification every six months, and I could go
on. I can honestly say that officers are rigorously trained and the training is
ongoing throughout the career.
So, in these early morning hours, I was seeing unfold, in
three-dimensional reality, the kind of story I’ve been transcribing for years.
And, at this time, I felt the need to Watch and Pray, to hold space for the best possible outcome.
***
It all begins with a call for service. In this case, someone called 911 and reported seeing a man with a gun near the park. I don't know who that person was, but I heard this fact from one of the officers on scene, the one who was trying to get the suspect to comply with verbal commands.
[Note: Verbal commands are the second level of the commonly understood Use of Force Hierarchy. The first level is Officer Demeanor (open stance, ready stance, defensive stance, calmness, agitation, etc.). The third level is Physical Control (escort holds, pain/pressure compliance, passive counter measures, active counter measures, etc.). The fourth level, Serious Physical Control, is mostly not allowed in our local jurisdictions (such as carotid control holds). The fifth level of control is use of Impact and Less Lethal Weapons (such as pepper spray, baton or even taser). The sixth level of control is, of course, Deadly Force.]
***
“We’re police and we’re here to help. Someone called us and
said there was a man with a gun. Please let us know you can hear and
understand; put your hands up.”
Still, the man did not answer. Thinking that he might
actually have a hearing problem, the officer hit the switch on the patrol car
P.A. and repeated the command a second time, followed by a third time.
Then, I heard a male officer yell frantically, “Don’t put your hands to
your waistband!!! We need to see your hands!!!! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!!” I
could not see what the officers were seeing, but that seemed to me like an
escalation, rather than a de-escalation. Observation 1: I know men
who are constantly adjusting their trousers, whether or not they are wearing a
belt; this is a habitual and self-conscious action. Observation 2: An officer yelling such a
statement might raise the adrenaline level not just of the subject, but of
everyone in the area, and possibly falsely cue other officers who have
drawn weapons to shoot.
Next, a patrol car silently rolled up on the cross street,
and an officer, holding a revolver at low ready (this is with the muzzle
pointed downward toward the ground), exited and was soon crawling through my
neighbor’s bushes to see if he could get a bead on the subject. Two other officers with long rifles also came into view.
I still heard no word from the suspect, who seemed to be
trying to melt into the bark of the oak tree he stood beside.
Eventually, officers from the direction the commands came from deployed riot
shields and advanced toward the suspect. Words were exchanged at closer range, and finally, the man who did not appear
to move with an aggressive demeanor [in IAD interviews, the subject/suspect’s demeanor is discussed, as well as that of the officers’] was either physically detained or complied
with commands and seated himself at the curb. (This seated position is often referred to as a subject detention.) I
did not see whether the subject was handcuffed or not, at that time.
Next, one officer peeled off from the pack. That officer
took the role of Primary Officer, conducted an investigation by asking questions of the detainee, such
as name, date of birth, address, etc. Other officers advanced into the fenced
park and, shining their flashlights all around, did a sweep of the entire area,
to make sure there were no other subjects hiding in the park. They might also
have made a cursory examination of the garbage cans and public restrooms. This
is all standard procedure.
After an all clear is given on an area that has been sweeped
in this manner, the officers come move back and form a tighter perimeter around
the subject, while the subject is being questioned. The partner of the primary officer
usually runs information about the subject through dispatch to see if there are
any wants or warrants for the individual. If there are, that is the “Go
Directly To Jail” card. The detainee is then cuffed and formally taken into
custody, is now under arrest, and is taken to the nearest police station for
formal booking. It will fall to the primary officer on scene to write an
incident report, and the subject may be transported to a temporary holding cell
or directly to county jail.
***
In the case I was witnessing live, the perimeter around this
one man, who the beam of a street light revealed to be a man of color, was
quite large, owing to the large number of officers (I counted nine, but there
must have been more. One of my neighbors, who lives with a more direct line of
sight on the area in question, counted eight patrol cars), and I was struck
suddenly by the fact that all of these officers were white. It took this
incident to make me aware that, although I live in a place that is highly diverse,
where over twenty languages are represented in our public schools, our police
department does not represent that diversity beyond the inclusion of a small percentage of women.
So, here is this non-white male subject, surrounded by a sea
of white, armed to the teeth law enforcement personnel. I can only imagine the
reason why he did not move or speak during the early part of this episode is
because he thought his life might be over in the next few minutes, so why
bother protesting or speaking or moving or not moving or, really, doing anything at all?
***
Now that there was a “secured perimeter” all officers
present at the scene who were not the primary officers were just standing
around. Their vehicles were all idling, sending up noxious fumes.
I had the sense that this was a weird sort of law
enforcement version of “piling on.” I mean, how many police officers does it
take to subdue and take into custody one unarmed man? The neighbor I contacted
conveyed to me an opinion that surely all officers on the duty roster for this night must
have rolled to this scene. Why were so many officers there?
Were they there to police one another? Or were they there to “get a piece of the action”?
The primary officer continued to interview the subject. From
where I was, I could not hear much. I think I heard the man say he had a knife
among his belongings. I can not be sure of anything else I heard.
***
Finally, the interviewing of the subject was over. The
police were probably unaware that there were at least a few witnesses
monitoring this situation.
The conclusion arrived in the form of two fire trucks, both
superfluous (one appeared to be a gigantic tractor-drawn arial ladder truck –
why? What purpose would that serve in this situation?) and the last vehicle to
appear on scene was a paramedic unit.
Evidently, the subject was considered a candidate for
medical and or psychiatric observation and/or treatment. The subject was, therefore, released from
police custody into the care of the paramedic unit. A paramedic in a white
shirt looked, to me, embarrassed to be parting this sea of police presence with
his colleagues.
In the jurisdiction for which I do transcription, when a subject is released from police custody, no incident report is made. Why is that? Because no arrest was made. I do not know if that procedure is the same in this jurisdiction where I live. There will be a record of the call for service, and that information is often made public in the local newspaper or on-line. This is done both in the name of transparency, but also as a public relations measure; “we’re working hard for you so you'll fund us.”
The subject was given a cursory evaluation by the paramedics, on scene, then
strapped to a gurney. The gurney was loaded into the unit, which was the first
vehicle to depart the scene.
Eventually, all the loud, noxious vehicles and their
operators went away.
I returned to bed, physically and emotionally drained by
this strange event.
***
I can appreciate that an abundance of caution and care was
being taken, but I wonder at what I consider to be an over-abundance, and how
easily abundance of caution could
have become (and I hesitate to use the word, but it is so apt) overkill.
This experience was, to me, a macabre spectacle, bordering on theater of the absurd.
I am extremely grateful that the subject was driven away,
alive, to receive, I hope, a new lease on life, rather than to a morgue. I pray
that this person will receive the care and real help that can make the
difference and light a path of future
for this individual.
Questions I would ask of my local police chief and mayor:
·
Why were so many officers deployed to this
scene?
·
Why were so many fire vehicles deployed to this
non-fire, non-emergency?
·
What would the tipping point have been to change
this possible felony stop from an organized, by the book procedure, into a
chaotic shoot-out? There were too many law enforcement personnel present. When
one officer screamed, “Don’t put go for your waistband,” that could have well
have cued a hail of bullets.
·
What is the point of deploying two fire trucks and a paramedic unit when the later is
all that was necessary? This is a waste
of resources and personnel that probably should have been patrolling elsewhere.
Surely, there can be better dispatch and scene coordination.
Perhaps more questions will occur to me later.
On December 1, 2017, officers of the San Francisco Police
Department were dispatched in pursuit of a carjacking suspect, allegedly
driving a stolen California State Lottery van in the Bayview District. The
suspect drove into dead end, exited the vehicle and appear to rush at the
stopping primary pursuit vehicle. One of the officers in that car fired a
single shot with his service revolver. The suspect was killed instantly.
I relate this story, which I remember reading about in the newspaper and is a matter of public record, because it is the story of a single
officer firing a single bullet at a single suspect. Point number 1: It only
takes one bullet to kill someone. Point number 2: It took a great deal of self-control on the
part of the officer to fire only a single shot; the trigger on the typical SIG
Sauer service revolver is a DAK (double action) trigger system, based on weight
of the pull on the trigger.
When police deploy their weapons in deadly force, they are
trained to aim and shoot at only one location, the rectangle that represents your central body mass. If they shoot,
it will not be at your foot, your leg, your arm or your shoulder. It will be at
your body mass.
***
This thing happened in my neighborhood. This thing could happen in your
neighborhood.
If it does, what will you do?
I hope you will Watch
and Pray for the best possible outcome.
I also hope you will question anything
that looks wrong, and report anything that seems really out of whack to an appropriate agency, perhaps your local District Attorney’s office.
