AlaskaAl
05-23-2008, 08:58 PM
* FIRST - I wasn't there, so I'm NOT second guessing or laying blame to anyone, only expressing a concern.
I felt a little ill while reading an article on this site earlier this morning. The article was about a Houston, TX police officer who died in 2006 after being shot four times by an apprehended suubject who pulled a firearm (9mm) from his waistband while in the backseat of the officers' patrol car.
I was sad to hear of this event, but even more sad and disheartened to hear of the lawsuit threatened by the officers' widow (also a HPD officer) to force HPD to have 2-officer cars; citing her husband would not have died if another officer was in the car.
Who REALLY believes this besides her? The HPD union supports the lawsuit but I believe they're just backing up the idea of 2-officer cars and AMEN for that. I love having somebody else in there, too.
No. If two officers were in the car and the events went down as they did, maybe TWO officers would have died. The report says the gun was in the subjects waistband. This says to me that the search was rushed, the officer didn't get 'personal' in it, or maybe is was not done at all. How many of us have seen the CA Shefiff video of the man who had shot at officers, got caught ("without the gun"), detained, transported, booked, placed in the interview room by a detective, and within minutes blew a tunnel through his head with a semi-auto he pulled from behind the zipper of his jeans? Remember the detective's comments: "...nobody shook him." Ya think?
I've ****ed off a few coworkers by doing "secondary" searches. They call it "secondary"; our agency requires we search everybody when we get them. I've found two knives and miscellaneous drugs on my searches.
My heart truly goes out to the Johnson family, Mrs. Johnson, Officer Johnson's five children, his mother, other family, his HPD family and friends for his loss. I only ask that we respect his memory and think of our own memory, family, and LE family, and make sure we do our job - EVERY TIME - and, as the lawsuit suggests, we work to improve our own safety by means of more personnel, better equipment, and better support... from ALL sides.
Stay safe out there.
I felt a little ill while reading an article on this site earlier this morning. The article was about a Houston, TX police officer who died in 2006 after being shot four times by an apprehended suubject who pulled a firearm (9mm) from his waistband while in the backseat of the officers' patrol car.
I was sad to hear of this event, but even more sad and disheartened to hear of the lawsuit threatened by the officers' widow (also a HPD officer) to force HPD to have 2-officer cars; citing her husband would not have died if another officer was in the car.
Who REALLY believes this besides her? The HPD union supports the lawsuit but I believe they're just backing up the idea of 2-officer cars and AMEN for that. I love having somebody else in there, too.
No. If two officers were in the car and the events went down as they did, maybe TWO officers would have died. The report says the gun was in the subjects waistband. This says to me that the search was rushed, the officer didn't get 'personal' in it, or maybe is was not done at all. How many of us have seen the CA Shefiff video of the man who had shot at officers, got caught ("without the gun"), detained, transported, booked, placed in the interview room by a detective, and within minutes blew a tunnel through his head with a semi-auto he pulled from behind the zipper of his jeans? Remember the detective's comments: "...nobody shook him." Ya think?
I've ****ed off a few coworkers by doing "secondary" searches. They call it "secondary"; our agency requires we search everybody when we get them. I've found two knives and miscellaneous drugs on my searches.
My heart truly goes out to the Johnson family, Mrs. Johnson, Officer Johnson's five children, his mother, other family, his HPD family and friends for his loss. I only ask that we respect his memory and think of our own memory, family, and LE family, and make sure we do our job - EVERY TIME - and, as the lawsuit suggests, we work to improve our own safety by means of more personnel, better equipment, and better support... from ALL sides.
Stay safe out there.