ConradM
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
- Messages
- 512
Watch the video in this link... You will not be dissapointed.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-a ... 002e0.html
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-a ... 002e0.html
Cop vs Drunk driver shootout.
- Thread starter ConradM
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EricandSuebee
Single-Sixer
Wow cop is lucky he didn't fire the gun right away as he had a chance to duck, anyone count how many shots the cop fired into the back of the truck?
ConradM
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
- Messages
- 512
EricandSuebee":3fnjtse0 said:
15. and if you turn it up you can hear that he did fire but the hammer fell on an empty casing. :shock:
Cop was LUCKY!
gotime
Bearcat
Intense. +1 to officer. Just to get some clarification though, wasn't the immediate danger over since the drunk was already driving away? He basically shot a fleeing suspect in the back. I feel like if that happened here in CA, they'd be asking for the cop's head.
gotime
Bearcat
the guy who got shot, if you've ever been curious what the people in grainy squad car videos look like.
http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/ob ... 03286.html
Details. The first "click" was an empty round and the officer shot 14 times.
http://helenair.com/news/article_2123a6 ... 002e0.html
http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/ob ... 03286.html
Details. The first "click" was an empty round and the officer shot 14 times.
http://helenair.com/news/article_2123a6 ... 002e0.html
ArmedinAZ
Buckeye
Wonder if part of their training is rapid fire while walking forward? I've shot while walking parallel to the target but never walking toward it. He did good getting 6 rounds into the car.
tookalisten
Blackhawk
Wow; makes you realize how quickly things can go bad. God bless all the officers out there on our streets.
A
Anonymous
http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/ar ... 002e0.html
HAMILTON - A coroner's inquest found Tuesday that Hamilton Police Officer Ross Jessop was justified in shooting Raymond Thane Davis to death after the Hamilton man opened fire during a late-night traffic stop in January.
It took a six-woman jury one hour to make its ruling following nearly five hours of testimony, which included a video that showed Davis pointing a pistol inches from Jessop's face and pulling the trigger.
The click of the revolver's hammer hitting a previously fired round was audible in the recording.
Davis fired a second time as the officer fell back and drew his own weapon.
Jessop fired his pistol 14 times into Davis' vehicle as it sped away. One round hit Davis, 36, in the back and he died at the scene.
Davis' .41 caliber revolver was recovered from the floorboard of his vehicle. Its hammer was cocked and ready to fire.
***
Witnesses testified Tuesday that Davis' taste for whiskey and a bad case of jealousy were to blame for the fatal confrontation.
Shannon Diaz, bar manager at Hamilton's Office and Silver Coin Casino, said Davis was acting strange enough on the evening of Jan. 1 that she wouldn't serve alcohol to him.
"He was completely not like himself ... when he starts drinking whiskey, he just completely turns into a different person," Diaz said.
She told him he needed to leave.
Davis returned later and found his girlfriend, Diaz and another man sitting outside. The man - who is African-American - had loaned Davis' girlfriend his coat.
That set off Davis, Diaz said.
He shouted racial epithets and later texted the same to his girlfriend. When he returned to the bar, Diaz had bouncers and her husband put him out.
She said someone later received a text message saying Davis had a gun.
Tracy Womack, owner of the Ponderosa Bar, said Davis was fine when she first saw him around 9 p.m., but she knew he'd been fighting with his girlfriend when he came back later and continued drinking.
When Davis' girlfriend came back to the Ponderosa later, she asked to hide behind the bar.
"She sat on a little stool. ... She didn't want him to see her," Womack said.
He spotted her the second time he came back and started yelling racial epithets at her again. Womack told him to leave.
"I knew I needed to protect her and get him gone," she said.
Davis moved to the Rainbow Bar, where he continued to drink.
The bartender there, Nicholas Renzo, remembered wrapping up Davis' hand, which was bleeding.
"He said he hit a wall or something. ... Anyone who knows him, knows he shouldn't drink whiskey," Renzo testified. "He gets violent."
He later told Renzo later he had a gun.
Just before Davis got ready to leave at about 1:30 a.m., he looked at Renzo and told him "It was nice knowing you. I'm not going to see you for a while."
Renzo said he thought was the alcohol talking.
***
Jessop was raised in Pinesdale. He is a 2001 Corvallis graduate who had been working at the Hamilton Police Department since 2008.
On Jan. 1, he came on shift at 4:45 p.m. and was scheduled to get off work 10 hours later, at 2:45 a.m.
That night, Jessop first saw Davis talking to two Hamilton police officers.
The officers were questioning Davis about battery cables that had been cut on his girlfriend's car. The officers told Jessop that Davis was heavily intoxicated and had been warned not to drive.
Not long afterward, Jessop spotted Davis' Lincoln Navigator driving north of Second Street. He pulled in behind and followed the vehicle as it turned on Adirondack Street. When Davis used a turn lane to drive straight through the next intersection, Jessop turned on his lights.
Davis crossed the railroad tracks on Fairgrounds Road and pulled over on a patch of dirt almost directly across from the fairgrounds entrance.
Jessop activated his spotlight, then saw something he'd never before seen during a traffic stop: Davis reached out and slowly adjusted his mirror so he could see the officer.
"That's very unusual," Jessop testified. "Our spotlights are very bright and they hurt your eyes."
Most people immediately turn their mirrors so the light is reflected away from their face, he said.
"At that point, I was caught off guard," Jessop said. "I approached with a little more caution than I usually do."
***
Jessop could smell the alcohol on Davis as soon as he neared the window. He asked the man how much he'd had to drink that night.
"Plenty," came the reply.
Jessop said the face that stared out the window that night was hard to describe.
"It was argumentative ... very sure of himself, almost cocky."
Jessop asked him what he meant by plenty. A split second later the officer was staring down the barrel of Davis' .41 Magnum Smith & Wesson pistol.
"The end looked bigger than a quarter," Jessop said.
Jessop heard a click.
Davis pulled the trigger and the hammer fell on an empty round.
"My very first thought - after I realized it was a revolver - was I was terrified. Absolutely terrified," Jessop testified. "I recall thinking I wasn't going to see my wife again. I wasn't going to see my mom, my brothers or my sisters, or my co-workers or my dogs. I was terrified."
Jessop moved his face away from the threat as fast as he could.
"I did hear the click," he said. "I remember stopping. I was actually hoping it was just a joke ... I remember thinking why would you do that to an officer."
And then he saw Davis' head readjust.
"I remember thinking the reason he's readjusting his head is he's going to shoot again," Jessop said.
He ran toward the back of Davis' vehicle, while drawing his Glock 22.
He heard a gunshot.
"My next thought was I had to defend myself and eliminate the threat to me," Jessop said. "I don't recall drawing my weapon. I do remember my first shot. I was conscious that I was shooting my gun."
Jessop thought he'd fired seven or eight rounds. It turned out he'd fired 14.
Six bullets hit Davis' vehicle, including the one that drove through the passenger and driver's seats and into Davis' back.
After Davis' vehicle struck a building and came to a stop, Jessop loaded his rifle and got in his car and moved closer.
Ravalli County Attorney George Corn asked him why - after he'd nearly been killed - did he move closer to his assailant.
"My duty as an officer is to make sure the community is safe," Jessop said. "I had no idea if I hit him or not. My thought was to get close enough to keep the area safe and keep myself safe."
Davis was dead when he was pulled from his vehicle by officers not long afterward.
***
John Pohle, the Powell County coroner, presided over Tuesday's inquest.
The investigation of the shooting was completed by the Missoula Police Department, and the investigative team testified Tuesday.
Missoula Police Lt. Steve Brester, who led the investigation, said Jan. 1 wasn't the first time Davis had been on the wrong side of the law.
Davis was a registered violent offender with a criminal history going back 10 years, including a felony conviction for assault on a police officer.
At the end of the hearing, Corn called Brester to the stand one last time.
By now, Jessop was sitting in the front row, flanked by his fellow officers. His wife was sitting a row back and other supporters filled the courtroom.
Corn wanted Brester's professional opinion: Was it necessary for Jessop to shoot Davis?
"My opinion is that Mr. Davis purposely put his .41 Magnum into the face of Officer Jessop with the intention of killing him," Brester replied. "Officer Jessop had no choice but to respond with lethal force."
The jury agreed unanimously.
HAMILTON - A coroner's inquest found Tuesday that Hamilton Police Officer Ross Jessop was justified in shooting Raymond Thane Davis to death after the Hamilton man opened fire during a late-night traffic stop in January.
It took a six-woman jury one hour to make its ruling following nearly five hours of testimony, which included a video that showed Davis pointing a pistol inches from Jessop's face and pulling the trigger.
The click of the revolver's hammer hitting a previously fired round was audible in the recording.
Davis fired a second time as the officer fell back and drew his own weapon.
Jessop fired his pistol 14 times into Davis' vehicle as it sped away. One round hit Davis, 36, in the back and he died at the scene.
Davis' .41 caliber revolver was recovered from the floorboard of his vehicle. Its hammer was cocked and ready to fire.
***
Witnesses testified Tuesday that Davis' taste for whiskey and a bad case of jealousy were to blame for the fatal confrontation.
Shannon Diaz, bar manager at Hamilton's Office and Silver Coin Casino, said Davis was acting strange enough on the evening of Jan. 1 that she wouldn't serve alcohol to him.
"He was completely not like himself ... when he starts drinking whiskey, he just completely turns into a different person," Diaz said.
She told him he needed to leave.
Davis returned later and found his girlfriend, Diaz and another man sitting outside. The man - who is African-American - had loaned Davis' girlfriend his coat.
That set off Davis, Diaz said.
He shouted racial epithets and later texted the same to his girlfriend. When he returned to the bar, Diaz had bouncers and her husband put him out.
She said someone later received a text message saying Davis had a gun.
Tracy Womack, owner of the Ponderosa Bar, said Davis was fine when she first saw him around 9 p.m., but she knew he'd been fighting with his girlfriend when he came back later and continued drinking.
When Davis' girlfriend came back to the Ponderosa later, she asked to hide behind the bar.
"She sat on a little stool. ... She didn't want him to see her," Womack said.
He spotted her the second time he came back and started yelling racial epithets at her again. Womack told him to leave.
"I knew I needed to protect her and get him gone," she said.
Davis moved to the Rainbow Bar, where he continued to drink.
The bartender there, Nicholas Renzo, remembered wrapping up Davis' hand, which was bleeding.
"He said he hit a wall or something. ... Anyone who knows him, knows he shouldn't drink whiskey," Renzo testified. "He gets violent."
He later told Renzo later he had a gun.
Just before Davis got ready to leave at about 1:30 a.m., he looked at Renzo and told him "It was nice knowing you. I'm not going to see you for a while."
Renzo said he thought was the alcohol talking.
***
Jessop was raised in Pinesdale. He is a 2001 Corvallis graduate who had been working at the Hamilton Police Department since 2008.
On Jan. 1, he came on shift at 4:45 p.m. and was scheduled to get off work 10 hours later, at 2:45 a.m.
That night, Jessop first saw Davis talking to two Hamilton police officers.
The officers were questioning Davis about battery cables that had been cut on his girlfriend's car. The officers told Jessop that Davis was heavily intoxicated and had been warned not to drive.
Not long afterward, Jessop spotted Davis' Lincoln Navigator driving north of Second Street. He pulled in behind and followed the vehicle as it turned on Adirondack Street. When Davis used a turn lane to drive straight through the next intersection, Jessop turned on his lights.
Davis crossed the railroad tracks on Fairgrounds Road and pulled over on a patch of dirt almost directly across from the fairgrounds entrance.
Jessop activated his spotlight, then saw something he'd never before seen during a traffic stop: Davis reached out and slowly adjusted his mirror so he could see the officer.
"That's very unusual," Jessop testified. "Our spotlights are very bright and they hurt your eyes."
Most people immediately turn their mirrors so the light is reflected away from their face, he said.
"At that point, I was caught off guard," Jessop said. "I approached with a little more caution than I usually do."
***
Jessop could smell the alcohol on Davis as soon as he neared the window. He asked the man how much he'd had to drink that night.
"Plenty," came the reply.
Jessop said the face that stared out the window that night was hard to describe.
"It was argumentative ... very sure of himself, almost cocky."
Jessop asked him what he meant by plenty. A split second later the officer was staring down the barrel of Davis' .41 Magnum Smith & Wesson pistol.
"The end looked bigger than a quarter," Jessop said.
Jessop heard a click.
Davis pulled the trigger and the hammer fell on an empty round.
"My very first thought - after I realized it was a revolver - was I was terrified. Absolutely terrified," Jessop testified. "I recall thinking I wasn't going to see my wife again. I wasn't going to see my mom, my brothers or my sisters, or my co-workers or my dogs. I was terrified."
Jessop moved his face away from the threat as fast as he could.
"I did hear the click," he said. "I remember stopping. I was actually hoping it was just a joke ... I remember thinking why would you do that to an officer."
And then he saw Davis' head readjust.
"I remember thinking the reason he's readjusting his head is he's going to shoot again," Jessop said.
He ran toward the back of Davis' vehicle, while drawing his Glock 22.
He heard a gunshot.
"My next thought was I had to defend myself and eliminate the threat to me," Jessop said. "I don't recall drawing my weapon. I do remember my first shot. I was conscious that I was shooting my gun."
Jessop thought he'd fired seven or eight rounds. It turned out he'd fired 14.
Six bullets hit Davis' vehicle, including the one that drove through the passenger and driver's seats and into Davis' back.
After Davis' vehicle struck a building and came to a stop, Jessop loaded his rifle and got in his car and moved closer.
Ravalli County Attorney George Corn asked him why - after he'd nearly been killed - did he move closer to his assailant.
"My duty as an officer is to make sure the community is safe," Jessop said. "I had no idea if I hit him or not. My thought was to get close enough to keep the area safe and keep myself safe."
Davis was dead when he was pulled from his vehicle by officers not long afterward.
***
John Pohle, the Powell County coroner, presided over Tuesday's inquest.
The investigation of the shooting was completed by the Missoula Police Department, and the investigative team testified Tuesday.
Missoula Police Lt. Steve Brester, who led the investigation, said Jan. 1 wasn't the first time Davis had been on the wrong side of the law.
Davis was a registered violent offender with a criminal history going back 10 years, including a felony conviction for assault on a police officer.
At the end of the hearing, Corn called Brester to the stand one last time.
By now, Jessop was sitting in the front row, flanked by his fellow officers. His wife was sitting a row back and other supporters filled the courtroom.
Corn wanted Brester's professional opinion: Was it necessary for Jessop to shoot Davis?
"My opinion is that Mr. Davis purposely put his .41 Magnum into the face of Officer Jessop with the intention of killing him," Brester replied. "Officer Jessop had no choice but to respond with lethal force."
The jury agreed unanimously.
gotime":rcixatvg said:
Adios drunk "good guy"! You should never point a gun at something you are not willing to destroy. In this case another humans face. I think he deserved it and if I were in the officers shoes I would have emptied my gun also. He may have been fleeing and got shot in the back but he could have killed someone with either his SUV or his trusty 5/6 shooter. Im tired of criminals having more rights than the police. As prison populations soar and respect for the rule of law disappears I feel we need to take a long look at how we deal with these types of people. Used to be we hung horse theives immediatly and now you have to sit on death row for 20 years if you killed 20 people and put them in your freezer for later comsumption. The private prison industry is quite profitable though so there may be more to this story than whats right and wrong. The root of all evil. I know this is a hot topic and I'm sorry if this is offensive to some including the family of this guy who dry fired his pistol in this officers face. But the fact is the US is in a tough economic situation and with 2,304,115 people incarcerated in 2008 at a average cost to taxpayers of $30,000 per prisoner per year. That means we spend approx 70 billion a year on caring for our prison population many of which IMO dont deserve another breath on this planet for the crimes they commited. Granted many of these people dont deserve death and in that case put them to work. With a crumbling infrastructure it doesnt make sense to provide 3 squares and a cot to these people without something in return. Sorry to go on a rant but I'm sick of it. :x
gotime
Bearcat
^ Agreed. It really doesn't make any sense. We really should be getting something out of them. It's like 'Oh great this guy robbed me at gun point, now I'm gonna pay for his food and shelter'... :shock: I'm all for scientific research. Imagine how much faster medical research (to save lives) would progress with scientists having access to human subjects.
OR how about organ harvesting. Say some guy got behind the wheel drunk and took out a minivan full of kids... I'd say his organs get put on the list whether he's alive or not. By paying taxes you see returns (supposedly) in paved roads, skilled government leadership, police protection, etc, etc.. it's about time we saw a return on what's being put into the prisons.
OR how about organ harvesting. Say some guy got behind the wheel drunk and took out a minivan full of kids... I'd say his organs get put on the list whether he's alive or not. By paying taxes you see returns (supposedly) in paved roads, skilled government leadership, police protection, etc, etc.. it's about time we saw a return on what's being put into the prisons.
waterwolf
Bearcat
Thanks ConradM for posting that. Unreal.
Was the officer justified by shooting him in the back? Absoulutely. In Michigan, if you consider a person a threat to others, or a rape is in progress, you are justified, the "gray area" of the law.
If a guy with a .41 magnum, shooting point blank at an officer, is not considered a threat to others, justification needs to be re-defined. Neutralize the threat to others. Done, with a little lucky shooting. He should have stood his ground at the end and taken aimed shots, not running backwards.
But, I have never been shot at, so who am I to judge.
Obviously, this video will be circulated among the boys in how not to conduct a "routine" stop.
Was the officer justified by shooting him in the back? Absoulutely. In Michigan, if you consider a person a threat to others, or a rape is in progress, you are justified, the "gray area" of the law.
If a guy with a .41 magnum, shooting point blank at an officer, is not considered a threat to others, justification needs to be re-defined. Neutralize the threat to others. Done, with a little lucky shooting. He should have stood his ground at the end and taken aimed shots, not running backwards.
But, I have never been shot at, so who am I to judge.
Obviously, this video will be circulated among the boys in how not to conduct a "routine" stop.
welder
Buckeye
Kudos for the officer. He did the world a great service and most likely saved someone's life.
GhosT
Blackhawk
What WELDER said......
PLUS ONE!
PLUS ONE!
Vecco
Single-Sixer
waterwolf":avmx98q2 said:
For anyone who thinks that he should NOT have shot him in the back, what do you think was going to happen down the road with an armed drunk who just tried to kill a cop? I don't know but I would not want my family or friends around any of it.
Vecco":1g2pq4nb said:
The officer would be judged under the circumstances involving an ongoing deadly threat, which differs from the 'fleeing felon' ruling in Garner. The driver had demonstrated his intent by shooting at the officer. A reasonable officer would presume that an encounter at a later time with LE, or anyone for that matter, could lead to the illegal use of deadly force again. This legally justifies the use of deadly force by the officer as the miscreant fled.
For a definitive look at the use of deadly force by LE, look to "In Defense of Self and Others" by John Hall and Urey Patrick. Both were instructors at the FBI academy and the book is understandable and comprehensive
I, as a private citizen, would not be justified in shooting at a retreating aggressor. LEO have that option with the justification of protecting the public from a fleeing, dangerous suspect. That sort of aggressive behaviour is just an ivitation to get terminated.
gotime":3965td10 said:
Are you serious?
OK, so what you are saying is that attempted murder is no longer a problem once you start running away? He should have just let him go? "OK boys, pack it up, hes running away, no danger here..." :roll:
Get real, the cop was 100% justified. This is why we have so many criminals on the street, we go WAY too easy on them.
A
Anonymous
It doesn't matter where he gets shot, once he fires on an officer, as long as he's dead or subdued. What do you guys think he would have done down the road at the next group of cops? "Made a pretty bun cake for the rest of the officers or bystanders?" I am not one to EVER cut an officer slack for loosing their professionalism in uniform but in this case the officer was 100% justified, as the jury felt as well.
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