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07-27-05, 03:53 PM
Size, Strength, Skill (etal) makes no difference? Think again.
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Received in an email at work. Apologies if it's a repost!
http://www.*********.com/writers/co...rticles/116525/
(over at O.com, they censor PoliceOne dunno why)
For the full series of articles, check out the web site. This story in particular shows how important tactics and training can be.
"THE MUSCLE PEELED AWAY FROM THE BONE LIKE A WELL-COOKED SPARE RIB"
I was working patrol in a high crime area when a call came in about a man screaming outside his home. Responding officers (including a DT instructor) confronted a nude man in front of the house, punching out porch windows. He was drenched in blood from cutting his arms and hands but kept up his tirade. Another DT instructor and I were called for backup.
When we arrived the subject was at a standoff with the officers, holding a hooked piece of glass in his right hand and threatening to stab any officer who came close. We Maced him with no effect. He just laughed as he cut his left forearm down to the bone in a circle all the way around his arm, nearly amputating it. Bleeding profusely, he then ran into his house and slammed the door.
In my mind that was fine. If he was by himself we could have waited for him to bleed out. But one of the gung ho officers followed him through the door. In a split second, I could see the subject swing his arm with the glass from behind the door. The officer triangulated out to a corner and drew his gun, but he was blinded by blood that covered his face. I didn't know if he'd been slashed or if it was blood from the subject.
I pushed the door hard and pinned the subject behind it. I had my gun in my right hand and my flashlight in my left. As a last ditch effort before shooting through the door I swung my flashlight and luckily connected with the top of the subject's forehead. He dropped the glass.
The four of us (mind you, 3 DT instructors)used every technique we could think of...baton strikes all over his body, joint manipulations, knee strikes to the face, head and body - all with no effect. The subject was like a superhuman Gumby.
At one point we got one handcuff around the arm that was cut all around and when an officer pulled the cuff behind the subject's back the muscle peeled away from the bone like a well-cooked spare rib. That had no effect on the subject, but the officer let go and started to puke.
Finally I got a lateral vascular neck restraint on the subject and rendered him unconscious. We were exhausted and breathing as hard as if we'd just run a marathon. I told the other officers, "If this guy gets back up, shoot him."
To our disbelief the subject came to and stood up with all of us hanging on. Mind you, most of us were in the 5 ft. 10 in. to 6 ft., 200 lb. range, while the subject was about 5 ft. 7 in. and 140 lbs. None of us could believe it! I knew if this guy got away from us someone was going to die.
Once again a plethora of impact techniques the like of which usually results in death were being delivered. In the melee we inadvertently moved back onto shattered glass and the subject was frantically trying to reach a piece.
Somehow I was able to apply a reverse lateral vascular restraint as we were both facedown on the glass and again rendered him unconscious. Three of us were then able to handcuff both arms as the other officer continued puking in the doorway.
To get the subject away from all of the glass we dragged him outside and threw him into a snow bank. When our boss arrived there was so much blood at the scene and on us that he called in an officer-involved shooting, assuming that the person lying in the red snow bank was dead.
To my amazement the subject survived. He was high on angel dust at the time.
A year later I saw a one-armed man riding a bike in my sector. He flagged me down. When I went over to him, I recognized that it was the guy who'd brought me the worst brawl of my life. He thanked me and apologized.
He had been in rehab for the year and said he didn't remember the incident, but his neighbor told him the police had shown ultimate restraint that day. The neighbor said if he'd been the police he would have shot him. We saved that man's life in more ways than one that day.
I shook his hand and drove away. I never thought I would condone the shooting of an unarmed man, but that incident changed my mind for sure. Ten years later, now retired from the force, I still occasionally have nightmares about it.
We were fortunate we were able to control the subject eventually. From that point forward anytime we had to deal with someone threatening nude in public we developed a game plan before we even stepped foot on the playing field.
Guy Rossi
Program Coordinator/Curriculum Developer
Rochester (NY) Public Safety Training Facility
http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/ForceScience/articles/116525/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received in an email at work. Apologies if it's a repost!
http://www.*********.com/writers/co...rticles/116525/
(over at O.com, they censor PoliceOne dunno why)
For the full series of articles, check out the web site. This story in particular shows how important tactics and training can be.
"THE MUSCLE PEELED AWAY FROM THE BONE LIKE A WELL-COOKED SPARE RIB"
I was working patrol in a high crime area when a call came in about a man screaming outside his home. Responding officers (including a DT instructor) confronted a nude man in front of the house, punching out porch windows. He was drenched in blood from cutting his arms and hands but kept up his tirade. Another DT instructor and I were called for backup.
When we arrived the subject was at a standoff with the officers, holding a hooked piece of glass in his right hand and threatening to stab any officer who came close. We Maced him with no effect. He just laughed as he cut his left forearm down to the bone in a circle all the way around his arm, nearly amputating it. Bleeding profusely, he then ran into his house and slammed the door.
In my mind that was fine. If he was by himself we could have waited for him to bleed out. But one of the gung ho officers followed him through the door. In a split second, I could see the subject swing his arm with the glass from behind the door. The officer triangulated out to a corner and drew his gun, but he was blinded by blood that covered his face. I didn't know if he'd been slashed or if it was blood from the subject.
I pushed the door hard and pinned the subject behind it. I had my gun in my right hand and my flashlight in my left. As a last ditch effort before shooting through the door I swung my flashlight and luckily connected with the top of the subject's forehead. He dropped the glass.
The four of us (mind you, 3 DT instructors)used every technique we could think of...baton strikes all over his body, joint manipulations, knee strikes to the face, head and body - all with no effect. The subject was like a superhuman Gumby.
At one point we got one handcuff around the arm that was cut all around and when an officer pulled the cuff behind the subject's back the muscle peeled away from the bone like a well-cooked spare rib. That had no effect on the subject, but the officer let go and started to puke.
Finally I got a lateral vascular neck restraint on the subject and rendered him unconscious. We were exhausted and breathing as hard as if we'd just run a marathon. I told the other officers, "If this guy gets back up, shoot him."
To our disbelief the subject came to and stood up with all of us hanging on. Mind you, most of us were in the 5 ft. 10 in. to 6 ft., 200 lb. range, while the subject was about 5 ft. 7 in. and 140 lbs. None of us could believe it! I knew if this guy got away from us someone was going to die.
Once again a plethora of impact techniques the like of which usually results in death were being delivered. In the melee we inadvertently moved back onto shattered glass and the subject was frantically trying to reach a piece.
Somehow I was able to apply a reverse lateral vascular restraint as we were both facedown on the glass and again rendered him unconscious. Three of us were then able to handcuff both arms as the other officer continued puking in the doorway.
To get the subject away from all of the glass we dragged him outside and threw him into a snow bank. When our boss arrived there was so much blood at the scene and on us that he called in an officer-involved shooting, assuming that the person lying in the red snow bank was dead.
To my amazement the subject survived. He was high on angel dust at the time.
A year later I saw a one-armed man riding a bike in my sector. He flagged me down. When I went over to him, I recognized that it was the guy who'd brought me the worst brawl of my life. He thanked me and apologized.
He had been in rehab for the year and said he didn't remember the incident, but his neighbor told him the police had shown ultimate restraint that day. The neighbor said if he'd been the police he would have shot him. We saved that man's life in more ways than one that day.
I shook his hand and drove away. I never thought I would condone the shooting of an unarmed man, but that incident changed my mind for sure. Ten years later, now retired from the force, I still occasionally have nightmares about it.
We were fortunate we were able to control the subject eventually. From that point forward anytime we had to deal with someone threatening nude in public we developed a game plan before we even stepped foot on the playing field.
Guy Rossi
Program Coordinator/Curriculum Developer
Rochester (NY) Public Safety Training Facility
http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/ForceScience/articles/116525/