Cop in my small town killed a guy...

[rapidfire187]

www.13wmaz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=79090&catid=7

For those that don't want to click the link.

An East Dublin man was fatally shot Friday morning during a fight with a police officer, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The victim, 33-year-old Melvin Williams, was pulled over by police around 9 a.m.

According to GBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Harvey, Williams got into a fight with the officer who stopped him, Jeffrey Deal, and tried to grab his weapon. Williams was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at Fairview Hospital in Dublin.

"Reportedly there was a physical confrontation between the officer and Mr. Williams and in that confrontation the officer drew his weapon and fired one shot," said Harvey.



He says a camera inside the police vehicle was rolling during the incident and the GBI is reviewing the tape. Police are also questioning witnesses.

Williams' mother Lena Pearl Williams says there should have been another way to control the situation.

"You don't take a life that you can't give back! It ain't right!" she said. "Shoot him in the legs or something to warn him try and stop him!"
Williams' body is being sent to the GBI crime lab for an autopsy.

Jeffrey Deal, 25, has been an East Dublin police officer for three years

I went to school with the cop that killed that guy. This morning, I drove by 7 different cop cars that were hauling ass towards East Dublin (where I live) and was wondering what was going on. It was around 9 am and the article says that it occurred around 9 am. I guess I just missed it.

I'm kind of torn on my opinion here. First, I'm thinking that cops are only supposed to use deadly force as a last resort. The man trying to take his weapon might be a just reason for deadly force, but I'm not sure why he couldn't have shot the guy in the leg or something. However, if that's what the police are trained to do in that situation, then Jeff is in the clear.

But still...something feels wrong about it. Jeff Deal is only 25 years old, and I went to school with him. In school he was known as a prick (seriously, this one guy in my class never spoke a word out loud for the entire semester except for "f*** Jeff Deal"). He was also overtly racist (as was a good majority of the popular kids). He's also gotten a reputation of throwing his weight around in his 3 years as a East Dublin police officer.

I feel like even if the shooting wasn't justified, he'll still only get a slap on the wrist. His dad is a well known business-man here in town, and it wouldn't be hard for the police to say that the act was justified.

[sunwukong]

When my brother was going through police academy, they told him that someone going for his weapon constituted intent to harm with deadly force, and that in that kind of situation you had to do what you had to do.

Re: shoulder and leg shots and the like, they advise against it for a lot of reasons. That sort of thing is mostly a product of movies and TV.

[twiggy101]

The police never shoot at the arms and legs because they are harder to hit and the person is unlikely to drop right away so if an officer's life is at stake then he better shoot at the big wide open target which is the chest and the person drops easier.

[Red Impact]

Shooting someone in the leg isn't really any safer than shooting someone in the chest, in terms of keeping someone alive. Not only is it harder to hit, which could mean you don't stop someone from grabbing your gun at close range, you can still hit the femoral artery and the person will die if they don't get care immediately. The movies make gunshots look a lot less serious than they are, they matter just about anywhere you're hit, unless you're grazed.

If the guy was reaching for the gun, then this course of action was justified.

[Mayonnaise]

The first thing you are taught in weapons class is if you are using your firearm, you need to kill the person. There is no other reason to pull the trigger other than killing someone. Someone going for my gun would be shot and killed as that would be a clear sign they wanted me dead.


Also, as bad as it sounds, good on the cop for using only one shot. Most would probably empty half a clip into the person just to be safe.

[NerdyGerdy]

Just what is someone supposed to think when a guy goes for your weapon?
"He's going to take it and shoot me." is the right answer.

[LONG ISLAND's OWN vinnypic]

Good shoot, clean shoot.

You reach for an officers gun, you better have made your peace with the lord.

That 'shoot 'em in the leg' crap is just that, crap.

You're not taught to do that for a reason. This isn't Magnum PI and that dude is trying to hurt/kill you.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Well, at least he had reason for doing it. I thought this was going to be a more serious version of a local incident around here where a cop pistol whipped a guy over a card game. While in uniform.

[Mr. Emoticon Man, TF Fan]

Yeah... go for a cop's weapon, and you're pretty much asking for it.

[Hypnotix]

Two people would tell me the same thing if I asked their opinion. My dad is a Vietnam Vet. And I remember one day, after getting jumped, I told him if that sons of a bitches who jumped me came up to my house, I'd shoot them with my dad's 22. He said, "Son, if you talk about shooting a man, you better shoot to kill, because if you don't, they'll come back and do it to you." My second voice of opinion would be my friend, Rick who just graduated police academy. And he flat out told me, "We're trained to shoot in the chest. Because its the biggest area to target, and if a police officer needs to use deadly force, they need to ensure that the suspect is stopped at all costs."

Case in point. This guy went for the cop's weapon to use it against him. You think that guy would've shot the cop in the leg? Not a chance. More like the face. And the cop took him down with one pop. That to me says that the cop did what he had to do to stop the suspect. He didn't unload five bullets into the guy, just one. And it was the suspect's fault that he died. Period.

[Kris Kobain]

The deceased put himself in that spot.
He fought the cop. He went for the cop's gun.
That being said; if it was my relative or friend I'd react the same way as this guy's mother did.

Something the TS brought up.
Cops that were pricks in high school.
I'm seeing more and more of this. These people don't ever seem to change and they throw their weight around once they get in power just as ts mentioned. Tehy give the good cops a bad name. I see it here at work all the time. Cops come in and are total professionals with the people we call them on and people are just terrible towards them. Even at my drunkest and most violent if the cops treated me with repsect I did the same to them. However I had a bad opinion of the cops where I live when I was a teenager. There was one that hassled a friend and I all the time. It made me feel like all cops were like that.

[rapidfire187]

Yea, I don't have any problem with cops in general, and honestly this one has been pretty cool to me personally I've just heard horror stories from other people including his own mother-in-law (like anyone's mother-in-law likes them amiright?!).

After thinking about it more, I suppose it was the suspects fault. If I had heard it on the news I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

[Mozenrath]

The cop is 100% justified, it's just a situation that I wish happened less in general. I doubt the cop is feeling fantastic about what happened, either, but you don't get a second chance often in these situations. What would the mother be saying to the cop's family if her son had taken the gun and killed him? She is entitled to be upset, certainly, but I just wish stuff like that didn't happen like it does in the first place.