Posted on 02/14/2013 12:04:47 PM PST by rarestia
Two off-duty law enforcement officers involved in a deadly shooting in Hernando County have been honored by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
In October, Tampa police officer William Mechler and Hernando sheriff's deputy Rocky Howard were off-duty when they shot and killed a naked 42-year-old woman. The officers said Inga Marie Swanson was threatening a group of people.
On Wednesday, both men received the Medal of Valor, which is the highest honor given by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
Two months after the shooting, the State Attorney's Office cleared the two men of wrongdoing in the shooting.
Sheriff Al Nienhuis said the officers earned the honor by being willing to put their lives on the line, according to Bay News 9's partner paper, the Tampa Bay Times.
By the way the headline is written, I hate to see the outcome at a nudist beach or the Playboy Mansion.
“Look out! She’s got bazookas!”
Threatening with what???
I guess you could be naked and still be holding a weapon... but the article didn't say.
Fail for the reporter, I'd say.
I’m having a hard time figuring out how two trained male police officers couldn’t think of any other way to handle the problem. We used to teach any number of takedown methods using night sticks, PR24 batons, and even CS spray, and that was before anybody carried tasers. How on earth could this have been justified, let alone awarded a Medal?
Simpson said deputies had him identify Swanson's body and the antique gun on Sunday.
Deputies have not confirmed that Swanson was holding the antique gun at the time of the shooting."
She coulda been brandishing a pair of .38's.
Everybody gets a medal today. Even more as a union member.
Hmmm... “Quick, put a gun in her hand!”
Dogs, newspaper delivery women, and disoriented Christians beware.
I guess she could have had a concealed assault rifle somewhere
The popos coulda asked her if she was game.
She was well armed. ;)
Inga Swanson, 42, is said to have approached the off-duty officers acting strangely before returning a short while later 'armed, naked and irrational'
Her boyfriend said gun she was carrying was antique that doesn't fire
Two men report talking to naked Swanson 15 minutes before she was killed
The movie title,Naked Gun,” comes to mind. Were the cops screaming,” Look out Joe she has a naked gun shoot her!”? Sounds really weird.
Comment reminds me of about 15 years ago when my son got a baseball trophy for his team being in 8th place in an 8 team league. Kind of our problem in society today.... No proper feedback for poor or mediocre performance.
Hey, they were OFF-DUTY, it had been a slow and unexciting week, what would you do except shoot a naked woman?
Hey, they were OFF-DUTY, it had been a slow and unexciting week, what would you do except shoot a naked woman?
If you don’t want a crazy person to be put down like a rabid dog, don’t call the police. Seriously, if you don’t want the crazy person causing a problem killed, don’t call the police, because that is their standard response.
Have a grandfather that just lost the ball? Deal with it yourself, because when the police arrive they are going to shoot him for failing to follow instructions. And they police always shoot to kill. Granted they are awful shots, but their intent is to kill.
The cops-shoot-naked-person-dead seems to be a recurring story line . . . I seem to recall some college kid from Georgia? Alabama? getting gunned down recently when I think cops said he lunged at them or something. I think when cops see someone naked they — presumably correctly — are worried that the danger threat is escalated because the person is crazy, on drugs, out-of-control, etc., and in such situations some of these folks can have superhuman strength and can be quite dangerous.
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