Posted on 07/16/2017 11:33:33 AM PDT by Pontiac
HINGHAM — As police cars rolled into his pristine suburban neighborhood last Saturday night, past the sprawling Colonials and manicured lawns, and as dozens of officers from across the region surrounded his home, Russell Reeves begged them again and again to back off.
In a bedroom upstairs his son Austin, 26, was distraught over a breakup. He had told his family he needed time alone. With him was his dog and his 9 mm handgun. If you pressure him, if he feels cornered, Reeves said he told the police, this will end with Austin killing himself.
snip
“Please,” the frightened father says he asked them, “why can’t you just let him go to sleep?”
snip
Reeling as the sun rose higher in the summer sky, Austin’s parents tried to understand how a simple police check on their son’s well-being had become an all-night siege.
snip
As they reached the corner, Harrison turned to look back at her home. Distant enough now to see the entire scene, she realized for the first time the full scale of what was happening: the street thick with police vehicles, teeming with armed officers in SWAT gear.
snip
“It was totally preventable,” he said, weeping as he stood outside his house looking up at Austin’s window on Tuesday. “He wasn’t a criminal. He didn’t have a hostage. This was a kid distressed about a girlfriend, and they turned it into a life-and-death situation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I think you are correct. And .. that is the usual concern; he person with the gun will shoot one of the officers, a family member, or the person they’re angry with.
It’s a fine line; hardest job in the world.
How many dogs have you shot personally?
It would not surprise me if there were some relevant backstory, perhaps involving drugs or psychological problems. 25-year-old man, living in his parents’ house, doing a little food service for pocket money ... it raises the possibility that he had ... er ... “issues.”
I sympathize with the parents. I have some children that I worry they’ll do something catastrophically foolish, and some of my friends have children who have done it. However, it was within Mr. Reeves’s power to leave his son alone in his room until ... whatever. Instead, he chose to involve the police. Let’s not forget that it’s possible Mr. Reeves saved someone’s life by making the call: his, his wife’s, the ex-girlfriend’s, a total stranger’s ...
Give it up while you are only sounding flaky,not deranged.
You sound like someone with a guilty conscience.
Having lost a son to drugs (at 37), I know how painful those types of decisions really are. Sometimes, you’re dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.
There was no way this was going to end well.
Maybe everything would have been fine if they had left him alone.
I remember when my kids were in high school, there was a couple who broke up and he just left the school and wanted to go for a walk.
All hell broke loose and he was put on a suicide watch and everything.
Fortunately, nothing came of it.
When someone says he will kill himself if he is backed into a corner, maybe the first response shouldn't be to back him into a corner.
100% it’s like they are all afraid something BIG is gonna happen and won’t be able to say “I was there.” later
reminds me of the caveman sticking his spear into the already dead wooly so he could say “me too...”
I’m so sorry about your loss. Sometimes this is a really crummy world.
Yes, it was hard; however, I truly believe I will see him again in Heaven. It’s what helps ease the sting of loss.
ah yes, next years budget is always being worked on
Too often if it is one of your loved ones.
My Jack Russell terrier wants to bite your face off,but I told her don’t go there it looks like someone already did. My soul and conscience are very upbeat. You should feel guilty for being a terribly bizarre cop hater. I hope you never need one. Even a putz like you would get help.
Is that the best you can do, threaten me with your dog?
Actually, I’d categorize myself as more of a “cop distruster” than a “cop hater”, but if you’re representative of cops, you’re not doing the image of the “long blue line” any favors.
My daughter was, as a pedestrian, a victim of hit-and-run by a cop, and the Blue Wall did its job; nothing happened to the driver that hit her. You would heartily approve, I’m sure.
It is a potential crime scene which must be preserved for photographic and other documentation, and the collection of evidence.
Sorry for parents. But what happened, and why, is important for all parties in the interest of justice if negligence or criminal intent is discovered....including mid or malfeasance among officers.
Protects innocents, and is essential for SUCCESSFUL and APPROPRIATE prosecution of criminal conduct.
A dog, loose in a death scene, is simply ridiculous.
I’m sure it was explained with the necessary sensitivity to the grieving.
Modern police dispatch to any location or address provides a history of previous issues at the place. I strongly suspect there was a at least one critical incident at THIS place prior to the issue now discussed. Overtime for ERT guys is not wasted on recreational door-busting.
They didn’t want to bring the dog into the house; they wanted to bring the dog into the van where they were waiting for the SWAT team to do what SWAT teams do.
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