BY FWright
1/4/11
Neighbors of the man shot last night on Hagstrom Ct. last night are questioning the manner in which responding officers handled the difficult situation. The wife or domestic partner of the man shot reportedly called the police because her husband was disturbed and behaving erratically.
As people were outside in the street, police vehicles entered the court at a high rate of speed, with one neighbor upset that his child was uncomfortably close to being hit by one of the cars. One police vehicle was travelling at such a high rate of speed that it overshot the house by eight houses after turning the corner before coming to a stop.
One eyewitness to the events said that after the police arrived, they heard them shouting for the individual to come out of the house. After the door opened, the officers observed that the individual was holding a knife, and ordered him to "Drop the knife" five times.
At this time, the individual, who was said to be despondent and under the influence of inhalants, began moving toward the officers, at which time six shots were fired, with three hitting the individual.At that point, the wife who had called ran out of the house screaming "Why did I call the police", and the couple's young daughter (around 10 years of age), ran to a neighbor's house shouting "They shot him, they shot him".
When asked if it was her teen-aged brother, who has had contact with the law and has been on probation in the past (it was not stated if he is currently on probation), she cried out that "No, they shot my Dad". One of the neighbors heard a member of law enforcement later say that "He committed suicide by cop".
Neighbors who witnessed the shooting and its aftermath are understandably upset and emotional about the shooting. While the house had been known by neighbors for police and probation officers stopping by to make contact and to do thorough probation-related searches of the house because of the man's teenaged step-son's contact with the law (the details of which are not known to the neighbors), the man who was shot maintained fairly civil relations with his neighbors, and though the regular police presence was not appreciated by those in the neighborhood, neighbors were not aware of the step-father of the teenager (and father of the little girl), having been involved with the law.
The general consensus among the neighbors who witnessed the shooting and its aftermath seems to be that between the initial contact with the man who was shot and the moment of the shooting, there was sufficient time to set up around the house and try tasing or other means of incapacitating the individual before outright shooting him.
When one of the officers was asked by one of the neighbors why they didn't try tasing him or using mace or capsicum spray before shooting the man, the officer responded " because tasing doesn't always work".
Another issue raised by the neighbors was that the ambulance had to park a distance from the scene, leading to the the paramedics having to to roll the stretcher from the ambulance to the scene, load the resident who was shot onto the stretcher, and then roll him back to the ambulance, rather than pulling right up to the scene, loading the individual onto the stretcher, and driving directly from the scene.
The concern is that the time it took to roll the stretcher to and from the scene could be crucial in whether or not the individual survives the shooting or not.The neighbors are now expressing not just shock at the shooting itself, but anger and fear at the immediacy of the shooting rather than attempting to subdue their neighbor with less-than-lethal means before shooting to kill.
Could officers have positioned themselves so as to permit the use of the taser or other means and then shoot him if those methods didn't incapacitate him so that the officers could safely secure him?Another issue raised by the neighbors was the youth of the officers present. Is this a factor to be considered when dealing with lethal situations?
The impression in the neighborhood is that most of these officers were very young, and that possibly this was a factor in what is being viewed by many in the neighborhood as having jumped the gun in shooting him rather than opting for a non-lethal or less-lethal approach.
The question is, when faced with someone who is obviously disturbed and/or under the influence, what can be done to reduce the number of fatalities do to officer-involved shootings? This was a man of the home, a family man, and although the family had issues (how many of our families don't?), people in that small slice of Modesto are seeing themselves in him, and asking themselves at what point are they now able to call the police in the belief that the police will not only protect and serve those who have not committed crimes, but also, when necessary, protect and serve those in the community who need to be protected from themselves without paying the ultimate price?
