OldCurlyWolf wrote:gigag04 wrote:Clean shoot. Hope the officers end up fine.
A friend of mine (my first FTO) had to shoot a suspect about 18 years ago. He ended up on desk duty for over a year before he felt able to hit the street again. It takes a toll, no matter how justified.
I was involved in two different justified shootings as a LEO. I was not the shooter, but one of the officers on the scene both times. Everyone is different and it will affect them differently. Additionally, the circumstances of the shoot will impact how they deal with the aftermath.
In each of these cases, due to the criminal history of suspects, the officers (including me) were able to deal with the fact these men had been killed a lot better than a questionable shooting or an individual that had no priors or just minor violations on their record.
In one shooting, the individual was robbing a convenience store with a shotgun about 2AM. One of the detectives just happened to be going to that store to get some coffee and saw the robbery in progress through the window. His Dad actually owned the small chain of stores, so he had a key to the back door. He radioed for backup and then went in through the back stock room. I arrived on the scene and came around the side of the building just in time to see the robber swing around on the detective with the shotgun. The detective used his shotgun and shot the individual. The robber was pronounced dead at the hospital. This guy had a rap-sheet a mile long, including two previous convictions for armed robbery.
In the other incident, the individual was shooting out of his car with a Ruger Mark II .22 at an officer who was in pursuit. I was with another officer and we intercepted the pursuit. When the guy wrecked his car, we were on two sides of him, and he got out of his car and started running toward a 24 hour Stop and Rob. The first responding officer shot the guy before he could get into the store and potentially take a hostage or hurt someone. I was a split second from initiating the pull on my trigger when the first officer shot and it caused me to pause for some reason. When he shot, the guy fell immediately as the bullet apparently caused a shock to the central nervous system. That guy died on the scene. About 2 hours later we found out after running his ID that he had killed both of his parents with an ax in his home state about 6 hours prior to our encounter, had taken all of their cash and credit cards and was on the run.
In this case in Oklahoma, the officers may have a more difficult time in coming to grips with the incident since the suspect was not actually armed and probably had no previous record. From looking at the dashcam, I would probably have done exactly what they did, and don't think anyone will disagree with their response and actions. However, I would not want to be the one to go through a suicide by cop incident as it will not be as clean cut and dry in coming to terms psychologically for the officers, even if ruled justified.
So, in retrospect, while it is always something that will have an emotional impact on you, the grounds for the shooting can make dealing with it a lot easier.
I'm not in law enforcement, but I have to believe this is a hard thing for any officer to face - whether they pull the trigger or not.