Split Second
By Michael Nevin (07/30/03)
You are a police officer on “routine” patrol.
Scenario #1. Officers respond to a call of a large man, mid 30’s, running around in the middle of the street. He’s naked, yelling obscenities, and holding a large butcher knife. They receive several 9-1-1 calls as people are in fear for their safety, although no one is injured or has been attacked. As officers arrive in a marked police car, in full uniform, the man starts to approach the police car. What do you do?
Scenario #2. Officers respond to a call to check on the well being of a woman, late 20’s, who may be suicidal. The 9-1-1 caller tells the police dispatch that her friend “has been talking crazy” on the phone and the caller wants the police to check on the woman and her husband. The caller states her friend is depressed after learning her husband may be leaving her. The caller suggests that her friend may “just need someone to talk to.” Officers arrive at the subject’s apartment, hear yelling coming from inside, and see an open door. They see a woman holding a knife with a man sitting on a couch- speechless and shaking. The woman fails to drop the knife after being ordered numerous times to do so by the officers. The officers, fearing for the safety of the man, remain in the doorway of the apartment. The woman yells incoherently at the officers while advancing toward them with the knife held up in a threatening manner—the distance closes even as the officers create more distance by backing away several feet—12 feet, 10 feet, 8 feet… What do you do?
Scenario #1 concludes as the man yells, “I’m just trying to get these bugs off me. Can you help me?” He drops the knife immediately and is detained by officers, medically assessed by paramedics, and transported to the psychiatric emergency room for a 72- hour mental health evaluation.
Scenario #2 concludes when officers shoot the woman after all verbal attempts fail to convince her to drop the knife, and she poses an immediate danger to them, moving to within a few feet of the officers.
Incidents similar to scenario #1 are much more common but find less interest outside police locker rooms. Officers use the minimal but necessary amount of force required to control a given situation. Sometimes these events turn deadly when the officer acts to save their own life, the life of another, or to prevent the escape and affect the arrest of a violent, felonious individual after all other reasonable means have been exhausted. Each scenario specifically excluded the race of each subject because it shouldn’t matter. Race is only helpful to law enforcement officers who must rely on accurate descriptions when responding to calls for service or searching for suspects. Both scenarios have a common denominator: the subjects in each incident created the situation while the officers reacted to the different decisions made by each person.
Police officers undergo training involving the use of force throughout their careers. Rookies are tested and evaluated throughout the academy and in the Field Training Program. Veteran officers continually receive advanced training in the classroom, the gymnasium, and with high-tech, “shoot/don’t shoot” simulators.
While investigations are welcome and demanded by the public, we should reserve judgment on an officer’s actions until all the facts have been established. Unfortunately, news stories like to lead ad nauseam with headlines such as this one in the San Francisco Chronicle: “San Jose cop kills woman in front of her kids.” San Jose Mercury News columnist, Scott Herhold, wrote an article titled, “Fatal shooting by cop: Did it have to happen?” Herhold opined: “Though police were faced with an angry, 4-foot-11, 90-pound woman holding what looked like a cleaver at a distance of six or seven feet, that didn’t ordain or command a fatal shot.” Was Scott Herhold a fly on the wall and privy to specific details of the incident not made public? How many hours of police training involving the use of force has Herhold logged? How many feet would it take for the situation to actually become dangerous in Herhold’s eyes? Does a person’s size make them any less of a threat when they are armed with a deadly weapon? Those officers in San Jose deserve a fair and impartial investigation despite the quick verdict reached in certain media circles.
I’ve seen what an officer-involved shooting does to good cops. I’ve seen big men shed tears, and I’ve felt sorrow for friends who endure criticism and humiliation in the media. What seems to be lost in the mainstream media is that cops are still the good guys. Everyday, you try to get through your shift-- leaving with all the body parts you came with. Why have we allowed our society to diminish to the point where cops are guilty until proven innocent?
Unfortunately, some of my close friends have been in officer-involved shootings. I asked Officer Ian Furminger for his thoughts: “Within a millisecond of firing my weapon at a subject who had already ran me over with his vehicle once and was attempting to do it a second time, I knew that my life would never be the same again. This was not because of the actions I took in order to save my own life, but because how the incident would be interpreted by the press in a society so ready to crucify the police for resorting to deadly force. After three years of intense investigation, including one done by the state Department of Justice, we were cleared. However, we still faced a six million dollar civil lawsuit with my partner and me sitting at the defense table. The U.S. District Court judge read the hour-long verdict as I felt my life was hanging in the balance: ‘It is said that Officers Furminger and Sawyer acted appropriately in their actions to save themselves from eminent danger, therefore the ruling in this case is for the defendants.’ I planted my face in my hands and received a hug from my attorney, Cheryl Adams. I hugged my partner and walked out of the courtroom knowing that I would have fired that same shot given the same scenario. As the old saying goes, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. For the rest of my life I will never forget those painful years standing up against media frenzy and told not to talk when there was so much I had to say.”
We’re listening Ian.
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