Posted on 12/28/2005 12:16:15 PM PST by radar101
CARLSBAD ---- An officer-involved fatal shooting on southbound Interstate 5 Tuesday caused major traffic delays through the evening rush hour.
A police officer shot a rock-throwing suspect who charged him with a screwdriver on the right shoulder of I-5, authorities said. The man, described as possibly homeless, was shot twice in the upper torso at 1:41 p.m. just south of Carlsbad Village Drive, police Lt. Bill Rowland said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, Rowland said.
Officers initially closed all lanes of traffic, then opened the two faster lanes, California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Kerns said. Traffic was backed up nearly to the county line until 7 p.m., Carlsbad police spokeswoman Lynn Diamond said. Police also closed the southbound onramps to I-5 at Carlsbad Village and Las Flores drives. Westbound Highway 78 was also backed up from Jefferson Street, she said.
Officers initially responded to a postal carrier's report of vandalism at 12:44 p.m. in the 4100 block of Adams Street, Rowland said. The postal worker said a transient, described as a black man about 23 years old, threw something like a rock at his window and shattered it, he said.
Officers started looking for the transient, and about 55 minutes later an officer got information that he was walking north on southbound I-5, Diamond said. The officer started to get out of his patrol car to talk to him and the man advanced on him, Rowland said. At 1:41 p.m. the officer reported the suspect was down and asked for an ambulance to handle gunshot wounds, Diamond said.
"The suspect charged the officer with a screwdriver in his hand. The officer told him several times to stop and retreated to the back of his patrol car," Rowland said. "When he could not retreat any more, he fired two shots striking the suspect. It all happened very quick."
Rowland said the longtime officer did not even have time to call for backup before it happened. The officer pulled up at 1:40 p.m. and a minute later was asking for the ambulance, he said.
The wounded man fell in front of the patrol car. Paramedics were on scene quickly and transported the suspect to a local trauma hospital for treatment, Rowland said. Another officer accompanied him to the hospital, he said.
Police did not release the name of the officer involved in the shooting or the name of the suspect. No one else was harmed.
Officers closed the two slower lanes to document the crime scene until 5:35 p.m., when they opened all the lanes again, but traffic remained slow until 7 p.m. At one point during the investigation, officers briefly closed all four lanes again to take photographs from the center divider, then allowed the two lanes to flow through again, Kerns said. Traffic on Carlsbad Boulevard and Coast Highway in Oceanside were also affected.
Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.
WHen faced with a life or death situation, the best choice is to aim for the bigest target - the torso. And Cops usually don't shoot unless it IS a life or death situation.
Shooting a handgun accurately isn't as easy as shooting a rifle and under stress conditions is even harder. If I were a cop, I'd only shoot if I had to, and then aim for the torso.
Well said. I can't count the number of excessive force suits I've dealt with defending, whether they involved simple injuries or deaths. The more homework done at the scene, the better the agency/municipality is able to defend these incessant civil suits which are inevitably filed.
Make it harder for people to sue and maybe the inconvenience to the general public wouldn't be as great.
I actually mis-spoke (typed). Our officers are taught to shoot until the threat is gone. Preferably that means that the offender stops shooting/moving. If it means emptying the magazine, so be it.
Any freeway in SoCal, any time.
I wonder if it's the same in N. Cal.
Why are the freeway lanes closed at an incident like this?
1. LIABILTY
(Think ATTORNEYS)
He lost his job to an illegal immigrant.
You and John Wayne.
What are you gonna do when the first round misses the shoulder, cuz he's running at you, and you put it through the window of the car behind him, killing the occupant?
Shooting for center of mass has multiple reasons, not just stopping the perp, but making sure your missed rounds don't hit bystnaders.
bystnaders=bystanders
"Time won't affect the evidence."
You're kidding, right?
as in 1 hour vs. 4 hours to survey the scene
what "extra" can be gathered in those extra 3 hours
Unless, everyone's working real slooooooow - to pad OT, socialize & demonstrate da power
Just shrug and tell the guy that blowing a hole in the femoral artery will kill someone just as fast as a torso shot.
A gun is a lethal weapon. If the criminals don't want killed, they shouldn't make people shoot them.
It doesn't address the fact that a leg isn't an especally easy target on an advancing assailant under stress, but they aren't going to get that point anyway. They've learned everything they know about guns from TV.
At the risk of trying to communicate with someone who is predisposed to think law enforcement has nothing better to do than stand around and get paid to do nothing:
In those three extra hours, they can:
collect physical evidence
collect testimonial evidence
identify witnesses
take measurements
take photographs
secure the scene to ensure it is safe for the general public
and those are just for starters.
As a taxpayer, I would think you'd be interested in law enforcement doing all they can to gather information and evidence while the scene is fresh, not to mention ensuring your safety, so that less taxpayer funds are spent on defending a civil suit arising from the incident. Many agencies and muncipalities are insured. Others are self-insured. Regardless, thousands of dollars of YOUR money are spend defending suits brought by incidents just like this.
If you're so outraged at how long you have to wait, it might be worth your energy to find out how much money is spent in your immediate area defending civil suits against law enforcement officers who are simply doing their jobs. Then you'd really be outraged.
I thought this guy was as dumb as a stump and I wasn't going to waste my time trying to educate him. If some jackass is charging me with a screwdriver in his hand the only thing on my mind is going home to my family in an unventilated state if you know what I mean.
"Aim small, miss small"
Aim small, right in the middle of the chest.
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