Friday, July 09, 2010

Police Vid

This comes from the Billings Gazette, where Hamilton Montana officer Ross Jessop stopped a driver for running through a stop sign. This incident Routine nighttime DUI stop in Montana turns ugly. Listen for the first “click” as the suspect fires his 41 magnum revolver about two inches from the officer’s nose. The “click” is the hammer dropping on an expended round in the cylinder. The second round was live, but Officer Jessop had since recovered and made a strategic move to the rear of the vehicle, buying more time and a much more advantageous position for a firefight.

Jessup returned fire, striking Davis as he drove off. Watch Jessop call in the incident, casually picking up his flashlight.

A grand jury has ruled that Jessup was justified in shooting Davis.

I tried embedding the video, but Blogger didn't want to embed it. You can watch it here.

Jessup can ride with me anytime he wants to.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

WOW- That was some interesting video. Don't think too much scares that old boy... I'd be he's seen some combat at some point or the other.

Rivrdog said...

The "old boy" made a couple of strategic errors. First error was to ignore the fact that the suspect's car was still in "drive". You NEVER ignore that, ALWAYS order the suspect to put it in park and shut off the engine.

Second, I can't quite believe that the drunk suspect got the drop on the officer that easily. Why was the officer not watching his hands?
You ALWAYS watch the hands, and if you can't see them, you order the suspect to keep his hands on the top of the wheel.

Yep, the officer was cool under fire, and shot well, but there is a strong likelihood he could have made that arrest without the suspect getting the drop on him if he'd been more careful.

I played that game for 25 years, and I'm here to tell you that the way you survive a career of patrol work is by treating every traffic stop, family beef, field interrogation, etc, as the one in which someone is going to try to kill you. Lots of cops can't stand what that mindset does to them over the long haul, and they suppress the risk in their minds. Those cops are funerals waiting to happen. It's only chance if they make it to the ends of their careers.