Fla. Deputies Shot at Unarmed Man 133 Times

Officer.com ^ | 02/25/2010 | Officer.com

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

ORLANDO, Fla. --

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has wrapped up its investigation into the deadly shooting of an unarmed auto theft suspect last month.

Deputies said Torey Breedlove refused their commands to give up, and rammed their vehicles to escape, so they unleashed a hail of gunfire.

Residents in the Alta Westgate apartments had bullets fly through walls and glass doors, they said this was unnecessary force.

Two sources from within the Sheriff's department told WESH 2 that 133 shots were fired. One deputy alone fired 42 times and reloaded twice.

The incident has caused a call for a change in policy.

The Florida Civil Rights Association is calling on Sheriff Jerry Demings to ban deputies from firing at a moving vehicle if the only deadly force threat is the vehicle itself

Jenicka Dowdie said the lives of innocent residents were put in danger by Orange County deputies who shot and killed auto theft suspect Torey Breedlove.

"Our kids could have gotten killed, Dowdie said.

When the shooting started, resident Lisa Buchhold says she dove for cover and protected her son. Buchhold said the number of shots were excessive, but necessary.

"He kept squealing his tires and kept pushing the cop car backwards. At one point, they asked the guy to get out of the vehicle but the car never stopped," Buchhold said.

One of the deputies involved, Randall Root, has been transferred. Eight others are on administrative leave.

FDLE assistant special agent in charge Danny Banks will not confirm how many, but says the FDLE knows who fired, how many times and where those shots went.

"What we have done is look at each deputy individually, how many rounds were fired, was that deputy justified in every single one of those rounds," Banks said.

Residents like Dowdie said the sheriff's department needs to be able to make arrests like this without what appears to be an excess of force and gunplay that puts innocent people's lives in danger.

"I feel like they do need to change their policy," Dowdie said. "More than one person could have died."

Some sources within the sheriff's office are in favor of disbanding this current group of auto theft and auto trap deputies.

[Vendome]

No joke. .45 ACP 230 grain would finish the job.

[count-your-change]

Makes me think of the old Clint Eastwood movie where the cops shoot a house to pieces.

[Shooter 2.5]

I take it the Orlando Police doesn’t purchase their own ammunition.

[xrmusn]

Police responding to a break in call arrived to find the perp dead at the bottom of the (inside) stairs and a little old lady at the top of the steps with a pistol.
After surmising the situation and calming the lady down, the Sheriff asked why she had shot him 9 times when the guy was obviously incapacitated by the 2nd or 3rd shot.
“Because that is all the bullets I had” she snapped.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I bet those cops were using Homeboy NiteSites!

[count-your-change]

“I told him not to move and he kept moving so I kept shooting. He quit moving, I quit shooting.”

[Does so]

Probably 9MM and bouncing off the hood or even the windshield.

Right you are. Windshields are laminated glass, and able to deflect a dozen "hits" before becoming too weak. Side- and rear- windows are tempered glass, and will shatter with one impact readily. One $200 AK-47 semi-auto clone would have ended this quickly—passing through doors, doorposts and windshield.

This is a forensic firearms examiner's nightmare: trying to match 133 projectiles to the correct fiream—among the many similar weapons used. (Collected fragments will be added and counted as still more projectiles).

Since most were the same caliber and manufacturer, there'll be two weeks of microscope work ahead for some civil servant.

[GenXteacher]

“Probably 9MM and bouncing off the hood or even the windshield.”

Years ago, a lot of cops were armed with a .357 Mag wheelgun. I can’t imagine why.... The 9mm is today’s .38 Smith and Wesson- just enough gun to pass as one.

[NVDave]

This was the cause for the invention of the KTW round, the super-vicious “teflon-coated cop-killer” bullets.

In reality, the reason for the teflon coating was the same as the practice of putting beeswax on the tip of arrows used to penetrate plate armor in the middle ages: It causes the projectile to put more force into a vector normal to the slick surface and increases penetration.

[ApplegateRanch]

"He kept squealing his tires and kept pushing the cop car backwards. At one point, they asked the guy to get out of the vehicle but the car never stopped,"

Would have been less exciting and fun perhaps, but it sounds like they could have walked up to the driver's window, and just emptied one magazine into him.

[Inappropriate Laughter]

Horribly written story--after checking other news reports I have no problem with this killing; the 27 year old Mr. Torey Breedlove (Breed-love, a father of four!) was a career criminal who was apparently using his SUV to bash his way out of a trap the deputies had made with their own vehicles, its not clear that the deputies were in their vehicles or not. From an earlier story:

Demings said he stood by his deputies in their choice to use deadly force, because Breedlove had a long rap sheet, and deputies said they had reason to believe he was armed and dangerous.

This was a residential neighborhood (no doubt not a very good one) and the neighbors were understandably upset about the danger they were placed in --perhaps after a few dozen rounds the deputies should have figured out that Breedlove wasn't shooting back, or at least have found their mark. I think that these deputies do need some sort of procedural training, and definitely need to be spending a lot more time at the range. And perhaps they do need to be limited in the circumstances that they can shoot.

The fambly was upset also:

While accepting that this shooting was justified, I am concerned about a couple of comments here, and and many at the Officer.com site, arguing that the fact the criminal was in a 3000 pound vehicle means that he was "armed," and thus it was OK to shoot him. This logic means that when any of us are driving vehicles, we are "armed" and if police decide, for good or bad reasons, that they feel threatened, then they have license to shoot us.

[MHGinTN]

To the ‘fambly’: yes, when you threaten cops you are an open season target, so try your best to be nice don’tchaknow. And you might lobby the local city to get more practice for their officers ... they took a lot of shots when only one or two would have done the trick.

[MHGinTN]

BTW, the deceased perp was not ‘unarmed’. SUVs kill, haven’t these people heard?

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

This logic means that when any of us are driving vehicles, we are "armed" and if police decide, for good or bad reasons, that they feel threatened, then they have license to shoot us.

Yep, thats exactly where we have been heading for several years now. Cops have been using deadly force in instances where people have been accused of nothing more than misdemeanors crimes and in alot of cases traffic violations, yet they kill and claim self defense for the sole reason the person was "armed" with a vehicle...

Officers high five each other after a successful hunt, Chief and Sheriffs go to absurd lengths to defend their "warriors". Prosecutors sell the "story" tot he courts. Judges, Juries and the Media buy into them hook line and sinker.

Cops are using greater levels of force upon us for lesser and lesser offenses and slowly the public is growing numb to the idea.

Before long any resistance, verbal, passive or aggressive physical will be met with full blown deadly force. Because, well you might have, at one time in your life thought about being armed. And that fact coupled with your blatantly lawless actions and abusive disrespect for the law and the authority figure demanding you submit and comply gave rise for the officer to fear for his/her life. Therefore the only alternative was for them to shoot you.

[MplsSteve]

Your post (54) is one of the more spot-on posts I’ve read.

The police are growing more and more reckless in their use of force. They always justify too under the realm of the victim was “armed” or was a “threat”.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that as these incidents increase in number, everyone will be in danger - even all of us law-abiding respectable middle class white people.

[Does so]

"...This was the cause for the invention of the KTW round, the super-vicious “teflon-coated cop-killer” bullets..."

The KTW round had a reputation for its ability to penetrate soft body armor. Hollowpoints don't help with windshield-penetrations.

A French manufacturer came up with two types of bullet nose to penetrate body armor: One came to a sharp point—the other had a peculiar bulb at the top of a narrow spire. They're just collector's items today.

Caliber 40S&W generally has great penetration capability—regardless of nose design. It will penetrate six feet of water and put a dent in a steel plate. There may be a rifle bullet that can do that, but of hundreds fired, I never encountered one.

[Frohickey]

Cars are dangerous weapons... a 4000 pound car going 15 MPH has more energy than a 45ACP round.

[investigateworld]

“teflon-coated cop-killer” bullets. In reality, the reason for the teflon coating was the same as the practice of putting beeswax on the tip of arrows used to penetrate plate armor in the middle ages: It causes the projectile to put more force into a vector normal

Johnny Carson voice: I did not know that.

Thanks

[ClearCase_guy]

When Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed, I believe 130 shots were fired. I also believe 50 of the bullets found their mark.

[Joe 6-pack]

"With a name like “Breedlove” I’d put the over/unders on the number of illegitimate kids and baby mommas he left behind at 7 and 5 respectively."

With a name like Breedlove, it was probably only a matter of time before he got pulled over for speeding...

Craig Breedlove