Recently released bodycam footage shows that a sheriff’s deputy with the Greenville County, S.C., Sheriff’s Office shot and nearly killed a man who was standing inside his own home with the front door closed. The footage contradicts the initial statements from the sheriff’s office that claimed the man had opened the front door before pointing a gun at the deputy.
Sixty-two-year-old Dick Tench was woken up around midnight on June 14, 2019, by lights outside his home and a ringing doorbell. Tench retrieved his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and made his way to the front door, where he saw a man lurking on his front porch with a flashlight.
What he didn’t know is that just a few minutes prior the sheriff’s office had received a call from a medical alert service indicating that a resident of the home had triggered a silent alarm for help. A deputy responded to the location, who “rang the doorbell, but was unable to make contact with anybody inside,” according to Sheriff’s Office Capt. Tim Brown.
Brown explains that the deputy, who has not yet been identified, left the front porch to begin a perimeter check of the home, but noticed movement from inside and returned to the front door. The deputy noticed that a man inside the home was holding a gun, so he illuminated him with his flashlight. When he did so, Tench “pointed his gun” at the deputy and “in an effort to defend himself against a perceived threat, the deputy fired his issued weapon as he retreated off the porch, and subsequently struck the individual multiple times,” Brown says.
Tench was struck four times, according to Tench’s lawyer and NBC News. Tench had a bullet removed from his aorta and has a bullet that is lodged in his pelvis and will remain there. He was also grazed by bullets in the forearm and back, but has been released from the hospital and is expected to recover.
SEE ALSO: WATCH: Sheriff’s Deputy Shoots Attacker Who Came After Him with a Knife
It’s unclear from the video whether the deputy identified himself before firing his weapon because the audio does not begin until 30 seconds into the segment. It’s also unclear from the video whether Tench actually raises his weapon because the glare on the window from the deputy’s flashlight makes it impossible to see through the window.
What is clear is that Tench had no idea who was ringing his doorbell and walking around his property.
“Who are you?!” Tench screams after being shot.
“The Sherriff’s office!” the officer responds.
“What are you here for?” Tench asks.
“Because we got an alarm call,” the officer says
“Oh, my God, call the cops please,” Tench answers.
“I am the cops,” the deputy responds.
The deputy asks Tench where the gun is, and Tench, who is on his knees, points to a handgun behind him.
“What the f— you doing, man?” Tench asks the deputy, as he bleeds through his shirt, the video shows.
“You pointed a gun at me, man,” the deputy answers.
“You’re in my house … I saw lights, and I heard the doorbell ring, and I got my gun. I’m a concealed-weapons guy. Get the ambulance here, I’m going to die, hurry,” Tench says. “You came to my house at 12 o’clock at night, I’m sleeping. Goddamn, I’ve got to protect my house. Oh my God, get the ambulance right now, I’m going to die. You motherf—–, I can’t believe you do this to me, man!”
“OK, we’re not going to talk about this right now, we’re going to focus on keeping you alive, so take some deep breaths, and you’re going to be OK, alright,” the deputy says as he administers first aid.
SEE ALSO: Concealed Carry Holder Shoots, Kills Suspect Attacking Sheriff’s Deputy
Tench’s attorney, Beattie Ashmore, told NBC News on Tuesday that after the shooting, the sheriff’s office had a press conference and a Facebook post up “for weeks” which said “Dick opened the door and aimed at the deputy.”
The sheriff’s office has since released an apology and retraction of that statement.
“After a full internal investigation, this statement has proven to be inaccurate and we retract that portion of the original statement,” Lt. Jimmy Bolt with the Sheriff’s Office said in a prepared statement. “To be clear, at no time during the internal investigation did the Deputy make such a statement, it was miscommunicated that the door was opened. In the haste of releasing information, we erred and regret any confusion this has caused.”
Tench claims in the video that he doesn’t have any kind of alarm system in his house. Further investigation revealed that the alert was received from a medical assist app from an occupant inside the residence, Brown said. However, “there was no immediate emergency that was needed.”
Tench has not been charged with a crime.
The officer didn’t acknowledge that he was from the sheriffs department before entering the house. And it was dark out so the sheriff should have taken the time to be sure he was known there. The man was shot because of the mistakes made by the deputy
An important takeaway from this is;
1) First seek cover, if none available seek concealment. If you are seen with a brandished gun, no matter were you are, you become the first order of business for law enforcement on the scene
2) From concealment and/or cover, you will be able to communicate safely with the police.
3) Follow police orders from this point on.
4) When ordered, ground your weapon .
5) When ordered, show both hands as you emerge slowly from hiding.
Rehearse this with your family.
Biggest problem is the fools who insist on having those full length windows at the entrance of their homes and walk right in front of it when answering the door. If those windows hadn’t been there this incident wouldn’t have happened. Secondly, the cop should NOT have been walking around the entrance with his flashlight on when there was a front entrance light on; this only puts the homeowner on alert and creates confusion on both parties. Third, the homeowner should have immediately called 911 to report suspicious activity, in which case the dispatcher would have contacted the cop and told them to stand down, and would have notified the homeowner that a cop was there. The 911 operator who talked to the alarm company didn’t ensure what type of alarm was set off; if the alarm company can’t tell you which type of alarm it is then nothing should be done until they do. You don’t send a sheriff deputy to a location with a life alert alarm, you send EMS!
If someone opens your door tries to blind you with a flashlight, points a gun at you then tries to claim to be a cop if you are prepared you should fire immediately. That is not the way a officer is trained. That is how a criminal would do it to get a upper hand over you.
More lying murderous pigs. It is like many of these pigs have mental issues and should have been vetted out. But the people that hire them don’t have the mental capacity to do so.
I was a deputy sheriff for several years before finally walking out due to all of the b.s. and going into the private sercurity sector. I absolutely agree 100% what many of the other commenters are saying. The standards of training today is absolute shit. Very many of the youth going into law enforcement today does not possess the necessary mental abilities for this line of work. They are nervous natured, lack sufficient awareness, common sense, and are self entitled and arrogant to a dangerous level. They will not listen to superiors, follow direct protocols, listen to the advice of veterans of the field, and are insubordnate in every way. Then adding the horrible level of training and ridiculous lack of vetting. Many departments will just about take anyone now. It really strikes me as strange that their was no audio at the initial exchange. There’s no way of telling if the officer properly announced his presence which is standard protocol in many departments or if the homeowner announced his first. It seems to me like there’s very important information that’s being hidden. I honestly believe that the officer wasn’t following standard procedure by announcing his presence and it’s being hidden with the cut audio. It’s getting so bad now that my girlfriend who’s now a 20 year veteran doesn’t even carry her weapon off duty which she’s required to do because out of her own fear of getting shot by one of these jumpy kid cops. And it nearly happen several months ago when a young officer approached her with his weapon drawn just because he saw her open carrying her service weapon. Cops are actually shooting each other now. That just doesn’t seem to make the evening news for some reason.
Need help?
Call a neighbor.
Thank god we have a sheriffs department instead of a police department. Small town and a great department.
Frigging spin doctors, Cops, like doctors bury their mistakes.
35 years ago my alarm in my house went off at 2 am, I chkd the pnl and responded to an intruder in my side door pointing a gun at me with a light in my eyes, I closed my shotgun and was bringing it up when suddenly I heard POLICE, they had opened my side door which triggered the alarm, they were looking for an escaped criminal, I got pissed and went to the station the nest day, the night shift commander, who had opened the door, he blatantly lied and said the door was ajar, I pointed out that the alarm would not have set if that was true, he accused me of not knowing how to set it, that was when I handed his chief my business card, I did alarms for a living, I didn’t fire or both of them would have been dead, I was raised with cops, but just like people they will lie to protect their own ass
Exactly right Thomas. And had you shot the cop you would have been charged with a crime. If you were lucky enough to survive to trial and have me on the jury, you would NOT have been convicted.
From what I’ve seen, it’s a “shit happens” situation.
And so do law suits. If the homeowner had shot the cop would you say “shit happens”?. Works both ways
The next time I want to do a home invasion I’ll be sure to bring my 800 lumen tactical flashlight. No predator thug could be allowed to have one of those– my victim will just know I’m there to protect and serve.
…. and they want guns available only to LEOs and the military as they have “training”. This is a prime example that not all LEOs are adequately trained and it should be up to each citizen to be responsible for his or her protection.
The homeowner here is not entirely blameless in this scenario. He was inside the house and armed. He should have taken adequate cover and asked the “intruder” identify himself.
The deputy was obligated to identify himself first, which he apparently failed to do prior to using deadly force! Otherwise, both the homeowner and deputy would have acknowledged this fact during the initial bit of recorded communication between the deputy and homeowner! The burden of identification falls on the deputy, not the homeowner inside his home! If the homeowner could be criticized for anything, he simply should have kept his firearm out of sight until a clear threat of life was established. What this does prove is that carrying a firearm for protection, be it a trained deputy, a simple homeowner, or a concealed carry situation, the need to establish a clear threat is critical prior to displaying or using deadly force. Neither party did this before displaying and using their firearm. This deputy obviously overreacted.
No Strat57L, the homeowner did exactly right. You see a threat you have your gun ready. You identify your target before you pull the trigger, but have it ready nonetheless. Seconds count.
Mistakes are made on both sides of the argument. The homeowner lived, that is the most important factor in this story. Every law enforcement agency and self defense trainers need to subscribe to websites such as this one to use as training material. Every daily shift briefing room for law enforcement should be briefed on these types of stories. Needs to be mandatory. City Councils and county commissioners need to pass laws requiring this. But, KEEP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF IT. PLEASE. Don’t sit on ypur hands, lobby legislatove bodies to enact legislation to try and curb the errors made on police and legal gun owners. This is one thing that politicians need to support, not defund.
rcorrino I was with you right up to the point where idiocy came out. A homeowner has no expectation to hide in his own home when he is unsure of who is on his porch with super bright light and has NOT identified himself. Statements like that are like saying the driver who was hit and killed by a drunk driver should have pulled over on the side of the road every time he saw approaching headlights…
So many “experts” here posting their opinions about something they know nothing about. Let’s go over the facts that we know so far:
1. There was an alarm, that’s for sure.
2. There was a call for law enforcement to investigate the emergency call generated from one of the occupant’s cell phone.
3. The deputy had every right to be there, in the middle of the night, investigating the emergency call. Deputies cannot always “wait for backup” because of the large areas they are assigned to patrol by themselves and backup is a very long way away.
4. The video doesn’t turn on until something triggers it, and then only records 30 seconds prior to its initiation. So we don’t know what steps were taken by the deputy to identify himself prior to the shooting.
5. The victim was armed, legally armed and had every right to be inside his home armed.
6. The deputy shines his light on the victim and can see the firearm in the victim’s hand, then engages him with his service weapon.
7. It appears the victim did not know it was law enforcement at his door by what he said after the shooting occurred.
8. There is NO requirement for any law enforcement officer to announce himself BEFORE he/she defends themself from harm. There is NO requirement for any law enforcement officer to wait to be fired upon BEFORE he/she defends themself from harm.
9. The deputy did the correct thing once he verified the victim was the homeowner and a mistake was made by rendering aid and trying to keep the victim calm.
Now, with all this said do I believe it was a good shoot? No. Were there circumstances that make this a grey area? Yes. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been called to a residence in the middle of the night for an incomplete 9-1-1 call, announced ourselves very loudly, knocked on the door very loudly, and still didn’t wake up the occupants or they responded still not knowing we were the police.
Did the deputy have other options other than shooting? Yes. But, and this is a HUGE but, we are armchair quarterbacking his decision when we have all the time in the world to watch and analyze the situation and his response. This deputy had a fraction of a second, saw a gun, determined it was a threat, and responded.
Now about the misinformation and incorrect statements made by the deputy and his command. Under stress, and especially after a shooting, the human brain remembers things differently than how things actually occurred quite often. This is a psychologically proven occurrence and it’s why we’ll commonly get very different eye witness accounts of the same incident. It is very possible that the deputy remembered the incident slightly different than what occurred and his memory reflected the door open because that’s what he saw AFTER the initial shooting. I’m not saying he didn’t lie, there is no way for me to know that, but I do know this type of thing happens very, very often with critical incidents. Our brains will very often insert something that happened after a traumatic event, or even alter your memory based simply on words spoken immediately after a traumatic event, and it takes a professional psychologist to work through those memories to get to what you actually experienced.
I know this response is not going to change the minds of most of the people responding on this thread because they simply refuse to allow for mistakes to be made by law enforcement. This appears to be a very tragic string of mistakes. Let’s review the mistakes:
1. Why didn’t the home owners simply answer the many calls made by 9-1-1 operators?
2. Why didn’t he take a defensive position in his home and assess what was going on? Anyone who takes even a rudimentary home defense course will learn to do just that…..take a defendable position and look and listen to what is going on before exposing yourself.
3. What intruder walks around the outside of your home with a bright flashlight looking in? I’ll answer that one…NONE DO!
4. Who actually does walk around your home in the middle of the night shining a bright flashlight into your home? Law Enforcement!
So please consider both sides of the situation here. There were mistakes made on both sides, tragic mistakes, and I’m not saying that the deputy didn’t make mistakes himself.
You’re the resident expert here I guess, but you’re also full of shit. Your verbose attempt to defend the indefensible is lame and draws into question your legal, logical and intellectual credibility.
I totally agree with your response to this Moron
I’m glad you make multiple references to “tragic mistakes”. I’m not so glad to hear all the rationalization and obfuscation that would suggest that “tragic mistakes” don’t (and shouldn’t) have tragic consequences. In the end, you sound like a court-appointed defense lawyer. F–k yo’ couch.
At a time when emotions run high, thank you for providing an objective view of what occurred. There’s no way for any of us to know exactly what occurred and to know the thoughts of either individual. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, it’s a tragedy for both men. I don’t think anyone wants to get shot, nor does anyone want to shoot another person. I carry and pray that my firearm is never needed in defense of myself or another. Stay safe and God bless.
I agree that you can be pretty shure that almost nobody wants to get shot. But your fantasy that nobody wants to shoot anybody else is a hole lot of Bull. You obviously don’t pay attention to what is happening in real life. And with your living in your fantasy world I am concerned with your being able to own a gun.
Obviously, you are a cop or a wannabee. Cops are supposed to be trained to handle these situations and are paid for that. Civilians are not trained for that and depend on the cops to use their supposedly good training to keep them safe in these situations. Don’t blame the homeowner for the complete incompetence and obviously overwhelming and uncontrolled fear of the cop. The cop bears 100% of the blame.
you are absolutely right. 100% of the blame rests squarely on the deputy. He either was NOT properly trained as is evidenced by how quickly he fired his weapon when with proper training he could and should have simply stepped to one side or the other out of sight of the homeowner. As a 22 year veteran of Law Enforcement AND Academy instructor whose specialty was fire arms, the instant I saw this video I just smacked my forehead and said to myself, Officer Do-good was waaaay wrong. It wouldn’t do the LEO or the Sheriff’s Dept any good if I were sitting on the jury that should be convened so the homeowner can be appropriately compensated. I am just thankful he was a big guy with a will to live and has survived.
The law enforcement community just created yet another innocent victim that will have a burning hatred in his heart from that day forward. I try to stay entirely objective in these types of incidents as there is always a lot more to the situation than we see when the agency finally gets around to posting their edited version of the events.
What the hell kind of cam doesn’t start recording audio until 30 seconds after the fact.I mean it is already recording video why not audio? By the time it records the act is over. Honestly, it seems like they do that on purpose so they can get out of saying or doing what they shouldn’t. Then it is their word against the other persons. Which is not fair.
I have never heard of a camera that does that. What would be the point, except for officers to have a way out.
In this case, the officer should have rang the door bell more than once and called out Sheriffs office over and over again. He didn’t do that. According to the man, he never even said it was the Sheriffs office when he saw him in the window. The man was doing exactly what anyone would do after hearing a door bell going off that late at night and someone with a flashlight outside the door. There was no need for the flashlight. The house was lit up. You could see the man clearly.
I hope they compensated this man very well and I also hope he dumped that stupid app on his phone. He was probably turning the thing off for the night and accidentally hit the app on the home screen. That is why he said they don’t have an alarm Because they don’t. They have an app. That is different than an alarm. But the police say it isn’t. Yeah, it is.
Sounds like, Steve here may just be an elected official with his B.S. I once worked with a moron like Steve as a L.E.O. I ran like hell to get away from his kind that carryed a gun and badge playing shit house lawyer. The only thing Steve does is cover for his crooked family. I may just know him. He thinks he knows it all with the vagueness of his know it all keyboard. I’ll say, I know for a FACT, officers who couldn’t wait to shoot another human being. To say, having an itchy trigger finger, didn’t fully explain these idiots. There are really great officers out there protecting us. Who know what it is to be a Law Enforcement Officer. Especially, in situations like this. This deputy did NOT identify himself. He’s probably well liked by the administration. So, they are covering for him. I seen it too many times. Eventually, these officers will be CULLED out of the herd. I hope the VICTIM in this case wins a mountain of money from this department’s insurance carrier. Yelling, at the homeowner identifying law enforcement presence would have curtailed this tragic event. I hope the victim fully recovers and the truth to what actually occurred comes out. I wish follow up to these stories would be printed as to the outcome. Even if it’s settled out of Court, would be nice to know.
Steve… In your summation, your rhetorical questions and “facts” on number three and four are both foolish and based on your ridiculous opinion alone. No deputy, trooper, or police officer would simply make such a assumption or attempt to think this is typical or common behavior. In many instances burglars will carry a flash light to illuminate, as opposed to turning on house lights when committing night burglaries. Besides, most burglaries occur during broad daylight in the morning or mid afternoon. Not to mention your first question of why didn’t the homeowner answer his cell phone, did you fail to think his cell phone may have been on vibrate, or simply not louder than the homeowners C-PAP machine which he mentioned. The only other thing that is not made clear is whether dispatch informed the deputy that this was a “panic” alarm from a cell phone. You obviously have limited or no law enforcement background.
I hear ya, but I DO NOT CARE! I have done multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. After reading this, the rules of engagement I lived under overseas were more restrictive than what this LEO is being expected to abide by. This LEO f’d up BIG time. The difference between and him me is, I’d be court martialed. And my HQ wouldn’t have initially lied to cover me. I respect what our local LEOs do for us but, like me, they volunteered for this, and they better well have the temperament. My take away from this: film everything with audio. Save to multiple devices, because people lie, even our law enforcement professionals. Sorry, the flashlight doesn’t shift responsibility to the homeowner. He has EVERY bit as much right to be armed as the officer does. Apparently he had more discretion and restraint than the “professional” LEO did. Thank God this homeowner/citizen’s life wasn’t snuffed out as a result. For the department this LEO represents, this is a teachable moment. If he doesn’t get it, fire him.
I hear ya, but I DO NOT CARE! I have done multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. After reading this, the rules of engagement I lived under overseas were more restrictive than what this LEO is being expected to abide by. This LEO f\’d up BIG time. The difference between and him me is, I\’d be court martialed. And my HQ wouldn\’t have initially lied to cover me. I respect what our local LEOs do for us but, like me, they volunteered for this, and they better well have the temperament. My take away from this: film everything with audio. Save to multiple devices, because people lie, even our law enforcement professionals. Sorry, the flashlight doesn\’t shift responsibility to the homeowner. He has EVERY bit as much right to be armed as the officer does. Apparently he had more discretion and restraint than the \”professional\” LEO did. Thank God this homeowner/citizen\’s life wasn\’t snuffed out as a result. For the department this LEO represents, this is a teachable moment. If he doesn\’t get it, fire him.
Are you seriously trying to defend this act? It was a medical alert not a home break in. He shoots an innocent home owner through a window multiple times and you try and justify this? I can’t count the times my wife and I have herd a noise in the night and I have grabbed my handgun to investigate. Now I have to worry about some trigger happy idiot with a badge shooting me through my window. The amount of excessive use of force incidents in this country is out of control. Time to start holding people accountable, even cops for their actions.
When the pig said he fired as he was retreating from the porch and the victim was shot several times YOU KNEW IT WAS A LIE. Every cop shooting where the officer is in any kind of motion especially when retreating they very seldom land one shot.
addressing just #2 the call for assistance was a MEDICAL alert which the caller relayed to the S.O. Dispatch. Dispatch then sends an Officer instead of the Fire/EMS. The Officer has the ability to switch his body cam on and off at will which is exactly what I think happened here. But, he was there investigating the alarm. IF he perceived a threat why in hell did he ring the doorbell???? He was there because he was basically on a wellness check based on the dispatch info as it was related. IF he suspected evil ongoing there then he was totally STUPID for ringing the doorbell. Since his body cam didn’t activate until 30 seconds later that is a clear indication that he did NOT switch it on until he saw movement or heard movement. Then INSTEAD of engaging the homeowner the instant he saw the weapon in the homeowner’s hand, he should of immediately began announcing himself from the position of cover which he DID NOT do. Also, he should have instructed dispatch to call the residence. It was also very clear, the deputy screwed the pooch from the start by one other indicator, I will leave you to figure that out but it relates to the whole premise to #2
Right Steve, you’re the know it all idiot that takes the side of the cops in every situation. You’re trying to defend the indefensible. Funny how you point out the mistakes made by the homeowner at the end of your post but conveniently leave out the mistakes made by the officer. You have to be held accountable for your mistakes and this officer as well as the department should be. He will be awarded a huge sum of money. Unfortunately it will come from taxpayers. This cop has no business carrying a gun and from my estimation of your post, neither do you.
I don’t know what model of body camera your department uses but the body cam I was issued and the one my girlfriend was just issued by her small town police department records audio as soon as video starts recording. I sounds almost to me that the audio was cut at that moment to prevent the public from knowing the complete story out of fear of potential retaliation. We both live adjacent to South Carolina and have heard numerous horror stories about the level of corruption of the government infrastructure in that state. We officers are human too. But we carry an absolute huge responsibility on our shoulders. So if we screw up, especially on this level, we should own up to that mistake far more than a civilian. We have an example to hold up to. If we can’t hold up to that higher example then how is society as a whole going to hold up? It’s not. Blantily lying and covering up a screw up that causes that level of injury and even a death has to have some accountability. But there’s less and less government officials that wants to be accountable let along regular patrol officers these days. This was the exact reason not only myself but many other officers chose to walk out. We are not going to be a part of a system that behaves more like the wolves that we took an oath to protect the sheep from. It’s an absolute joke to see officers now wearing their service belts without their damn keepers!! And two damn good pieces of advice that this old law dog is going to give you that shows the huge difference in my and likely your generation of law enforcement. If you are absolutely terrified of getting hurt or shot, find another job. Getting hurt and shot at comes with the uniform. Number two, learn how to actally communicate with people. And your generation needs to quit with the damn super solder act. We are not the military.
Had an uncle on my mother s side who owned a four story building in Richmond VA during the 1960’s. His business was on the first floor and the three floors above were three apartments where his family lived.
My Grandmother lived on the top floor. The back had a porch for each floor with stairs that goes from ground to top floor. The back had a common road that serves as a driveway for the garages of all the buildings including my uncle’s. On the top porch one can look down this driveway road to the intersection where it connects a main street. At its junction was a bar that apparently was dealing drugs. The VA state police decided to raid the place one evening. They did not inform the Richmond police nor my uncle when they stationed one trooper as a lookout on the top porch. My grandmother was alarmed when she saw a silhouette of a man’s head against the street light at her window. She could not tell who it was because the window shades were drawn down. She called my uncle who lived on the second floor. He responded by going up to my grandmother’s apartment with gun in hand. He aimed the gun point blank at the silhouette and demanded out loud who was there. The trooper who was in plainclothes flinched and my uncle fired. Lucky for the trooper the bullet hit an iron window grill which decorated many of the old apartment buildings. The bullet bounced off and hit the trooper in the nose. The raid was blown. My uncle was arrested. The state police contend that my uncle fired on a person in a public causeway. The judge dismissed the case. My uncle owned the entire building. His family resides on all three top floors. The porch in the back is treated as a private area except for the ground floor. If my uncle had rented the apartments to tenants, the state has a case against my uncle. Since that is not the case, the lookout technically invaded private property. The state trooper lookout was was on the fourth floor of the private porch. My uncle was released. To add insult to injury, the bar owner sent my uncle a beautiful double barrel shotgun with Italian engraving. In the gift was a note, “Next time use this”. My cousins still have that shotgun today.
All I can say is that was a damn shame.
All I can say is: What a fucking idiot! (the pathetic example of what a police officer shoud NEVER be).
I have never seen much difference between cops and criminals.
White deputy….Black home owner! That was all the Deputy wanted to see! Doesn’t say the Deputy said anything before he started shooting!
Black home owner? He looks white to me. Are you trying to stir the race war?
dude I have heard of colorblindness but, you can’t tell the difference between black and white??? IF you are blind then I apologize for my thoughts that you are just trying to stir the race pot. Nothing in the video from the first time the homeowner is spotted through the window through to the end of the deputy’s video which ironically ended or was edited before the EMS arrived, even using the SWAG principle hints at the victim being anything but white…..
The officer lied. No longer may his testimony be used in court as a competent lawyer would bring this incident up as proof he can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
while this is a tough call, perhaps the deputy over reacted and should have rang the bell and wait for a response. I think the deputy was safe from harm but he should have called for backup and or wait till the owner opened the door. Perhaps a siren sound could have made the difference. How do we know when a panic alarm is actually an alert of a problem, well we don’t and the deputy again must wait and watch while backup responds. Should the occupant have a high power rifle then the deputy would have been over powered and the tables would have been turned. My opinion, as a deputy you are not going to save the day by yourself. That and only that is what this deputy did. He should be retrained in this situation,
How do you justify shooting anyone through a door or a window without knowing their identity or intent? If the homeowner shoots & kills a person standing on his porch through the door, don’t you think for a moment the homeowner wouldn’t be charged with at least manslaughter
hells yeah
The asshole cop started shooting through the window when there was really NO threat to him. This is the type of cop that needs to be weeded out of all police departments, an idiot that starts shooting at the slightest thing that moves. Shooting a homeowner in his private home through a window is something that shouldn’t be ignored, cop needs to be fired and thrown in prison for assault with a deadly weapon.
No real threat? What do you consider as a threat? Certainly not a man with a gun inside a home with an alarm going off! You are certainly not a very good judge of what a THREAT is. Wonder how you have survived this long? If I could grant you anything I would give you a little common sense. I pray you never have to truly protect yourself from a perceived threat because by the time you grasp the reality of the circumstances you will be dead. Then someone will, no doubt, comment from behind the safety of their keyboard just how stupid you were for not reacting faster.
Live long and be happy in your bubble, with your keyboard.
Make a video to steer the thoughts. Smooth. As much as I supoort police this is BS. Yellow arrow see a man. With the light in the mans face he can’t see to verify shit.
There was no knock and damn sure no announcement of sheriffs office till after shots fired. The video feed did you more harm than good in this case.
No charges filed, this seems more like someone was red flag calling someone more so than an ap that spontaneously calls in an emergency at 2am while the people were sleeping.
Just like the Houston case whete Swat busted in through a door and shot a retired Navalman his wife and dog and planted evidence. BTW it’s the second case in one year verified plantings in Houston have been caught.
So with this innocent CC holder, who paid his medical? It wasn’t a righteous shoot. The man will spend years and have to sue to get bills paid. Total BS. Support for police is beginning to fall.
Fix this shit
Sheriff deputy shows up on private property because an alarm went off, which this home owner didn’t have, to see if home owner needs help, shoots home owner, now home owner needs emergency help! Welcome to the new America of full blown idiots with a badge because no one with common sense will take the job!
So take the job, you clearly don’t have any.
Wellll, Greenville County, S.C., Sheriff’s Office….now that you’ve achieved “more accurate recall” or we have been exposed to the TRUTH, the murdered man’s family will have words with an array of attorneys. Not partial to contingency attorneys, I hope his loved ones interview several and select the very best.
Making such a stupid mistake is just that; a mistake.
Accepting responsibility for your actions will hurt but lying?
Covering and lying about murdering a citizen is at the least, contemptible.
I have had the Sheriffs knock on my front door late at night on two occasions. Both times it was a very soft knock with no verbal identification. Both times I was armed with a pistol, in a holster on a belt around my waist. Both times I used my peep hole to Identify that it was a Deputy with a marked police cruiser in the street. Both times I removed my pistol from the holster and put it in a drawer before opening the door. Seems one of my neighbors has a silent alarm that goes off occasionally causing them to check around. I have a solid front door so anyone on my front porch cannot see me at all as I approach my front door.
This is a good case study to look at when planning how you respond to strangers at your door late at night. I first off have my gun in a holster on a quick release belt. I can slap it on in seconds or draw if a threat has made it to my bedroom. Second I have a large dog who sleeps in my bedroom, I get plenty of warning of anything that moves on my property at night. Given time to think and react. My approach to the front door or rear sliders can be made 100% without being observed from outside the house. I have cover and concealment allowing me to cover the entrances with my firearm if someone is breaking in. For answering the door, I have a peep hole, if it is covered, I don”t open the door, I call 911 and retreat to cover position. etc.
Officers should be discharged.
People are allowed to carry and point guns in their own homes.
He did not identify himself loudly and properly until after he shot this homeowner- he could have avoided this by ducking for cover and loudly announcing his presence as a LEO-
Error of judgement that could have made him a legit murderer.
If I sat on that jury of a dead homeowner after reviewing the footage. He would be doing life behind bars. Piss poor execution by the LEO- if you’re that afraid of guns in S.C. of all places. You do not need to be an officer. Period.
You are 100% correct. Sorry excuse for a cop. His performance is not defensible.
Police caught lying again. imagine my shock. we had a similar circumstance in South Jersey a few years back where a State Trooper responding to an intruder call but they went again to the the wrong address (no local PD) Trooper shot a man thru his own backdoor while the homeowner held a gun. no identification, standing in the home owners yard. Of course he got no charges & the man unfortunately died. no responsibility accountability for police on private property. At least he did not shoot the mans dog.
Shoot blindly through a closed door?….. if the home owner was a bad guy and had a hostage there, the hostage is dead. Cops are there for the pension after their 20. They are shift workers and do not have the 24/7 job mindset needed for combat. Anyone with combat experince knows what I mean. This part-timer is what the politicians want working for them because to hire real warriors to enforce the law would be too dangerous for the politicians because they break serious laws every day and are the real criminal class in our society. Their own warrior police would arrest THEM because the police would be professional police. Unfortunately, those cops that are the type of warrior needed on the police are weeded out as too dangerous while the real dangerous shift working, 20 year pension, politically correct amatuer, no matter how well meaning he/she is, is the ideally controllable person that government wants as police. This was particularly bad: a man protecting his house, in the dark with a super bright light in his face and being screamed at by an agressive man who, because he was shining the light in the homeowners eyes could not prove he was police, except by his bully screams. The cop was 100% wrong and unprofessional, and knew it as proved by the open door lie in the initial report. He should be charged with felony assault and attempted murder. The homeowner was within his lawfal rights to have his weapon ready to defend his family against the aggressor outside. Saying you are a cop means nothing until you show indentification. Shining a super bright light in someones eyes while trying to gain entry to their property and yelling for them to drop their defenses is assault. I hope everyone learns a lesson from this: when someone approaches your house screaming and shining disorienting lights in your face so you can’t identify them, shoot them first because no mater which it is, either a cop OR a bad guy, they will shoot you and/or your family if you don’t. Like the old saying goes, beter judged by 12 than carried by 6. Where the heck is the NRA, GOA, JPFO, second ammendment sisters, pink pistols and all the other so-called gun rights organizations? Certainly not protecting this civilian. I hope the cop loses his job. He is not suited for the work….just a scared bully. I hope the homeowner and his family get the millions in compensation they deserve, but most of all that they can find a peaceful closure to this episode, where they were illegally assaulted by the the government that takes their taxes and puports to protect them. We should all realize that this could have been any one of us who is man or woman enough to put ourselve out front to protect our family from the evil that exists with impunity in our society….on both sides of the law.
Police departments need to change their rules of engagement.
Hell, I recall many times when I was active duty military ROE was you may only fire if fired upon, in other words you can return fire but not initiate the fight.
The presence of a gun is not always a threat to the officer. I know these guys want to go home at the end of their shift unharmed so being the second guy to shoot is putting them at risk but that is the profession they chose and that’s the risk that goes with that choice.
If someone is shooting at an officer or civilians then you engage, if no shots have been fired yet then there is still an opportunity to get the situation under control.
Jim, on the surface your insight may sound valid. However, if the police wait until they are shot at, then they may die or others may die while they wait for someone to shoot at them. Think about the Columbine massacre. No one was shooting at the police and they waited before entering the school and engaging the shooter. This allowed the shooters to kill more students and faculty. The standard operating procedure now is for them to engage an active shooter immediately and stop them (which generally means shooting them). Remember, the body armor the police wear is soft armor and not effective against any rifle, except a 22lr perhaps.
In terms of the risk of the profession, their job is to enforce the law. This does not mean that they are supposed to die for the job. Is there an inherent risk with that particular job? Yes, but it still does not mean they need to sacrifice their lives for the job. For example, driving you car on the highways has an inherent risk. Tens of thousands more people die from motor vehicle crashes than from firearms. That does not mean that you should risk your life to give someone else the benefit of the doubt that they are driving correctly or in control of their vehicle. You do what you need to do to keep yourself safe.
As for your military rules of engagement, I suspect that you would be completely justified to shoot someone who was pointing an AK47 or RPG at you; even though they had not pulled the trigger yet. In summary, you don’t have to wait to be shot before shooting to defend yourself. This is true for police, soldiers and civilians.
He was a legit gun and homeowner and the cop was an undertrained wannabee hero….until a situation arose where he had to use his brain an courage, if he had any, and it seems he didn’t. Just another big-mouthed bully.
Bingo.
I’ve been saying for years that our troops operate under more strict ROEs than do the police who patrol out neighborhoods. That, coupled with the mistaken teaching that a cop’s primary job is to complete his shift safely, is a recipe for disaster. When you consider that today’s cops are far more able to survive a gunfight (because of modern body armor, modern medical techniques to treat trauma, and on-call assistance) and yet use more aggressive techniques, many inappropriate for the tactical situations in which they are operating (e.g., excessive use of SWAT and unnecessary use of no-knock warrant service) it’s damn outrageous.
Police training should be inculcating the officer with an understanding that his primary job is to protect the lives and safety of the citizens in the communities they serve, and that sometimes that means putting their own safety in the back seat. We pay them to protect us, not to occasionally shoot one of us by accident. If that approach makes policing too dangerous, then turn in your badge, there are people who are willing to do the job under such conditions. They’re called “heroes,” even though they don’t know they are until the SHTF.
The officer in this situation was too stupid to realize that he posed an apparent threat to the home owner. Instead of shooting, his response should have been to douse his light, remove himself from the home owner’s potential line of fire, and to seek cover from which he could have identified himself. There’s more than one solution to having a gun pointed at you, and this officer was apparently taught only one of them.
Well said!
Based on the body-cam video, the deputy never identified himself before firing. When the home owner first recognized an armed man outside with a flashlight, perhaps he should have fired first, and until the threat was neutralized. Apologize and explain later, like the the department does.
The last sentence really bothers me — “Tench has not been charged with a crime.” With what crime could he possibly be charged? Even without being a concealed carry permit holder, there is no law I am aware of that prevents any citizen who is legally allowed to own a weapon (i.e., not a felon or one adjudged mentally incompetent) from openly carrying one around in their own home, or on their own property outside the home.
If charges of any kind are to be filed, they should clearly be against this overeager, inadequately trained, improperly dispatched officer. Period. And whether or not any charges are filed, civil remedy should be sought, just as in the case of OJ Simpson after the legal system bungled his trial for premeditated first degree murder.
Lots to learn here, for public servants especially but also for us law abiding citizens as well. If you are concerned enough to answer your door carrying your weapon, first douse the interior lights and turn on the outside ones, do NOT make yourself visible, make sure you can hear as well as possible, and ask loudly and clearly who is there and what the &%^$# they want. A little common sense on both sides might have prevented this travesty, but then Aristotle long ago called it “Uncommon common sense”!
BTW — in the middle of the night, I ALWAYS answer the door carrying a weapon; better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Your comments on lessons for both police and civilians about how to make contact at a private home at night are sound advice. However, pointing a firearm at someone can be illegal, even if you are on your own property. For example, someone can not stand in their yard, or be inside their house, and point a loaded firearm at people driving by or walking by without reason. This could bring charges of Menacing or Reckless Endangering. Obviously, Tench had good reason though.
There is definitely improper responses by the Deputy here and there should be some disciplinary action taken here. However, based on what was known by the Deputy, that an alarm for ‘help’ was issued, the Deputy may have thought that there was a burglary in progress. Although the primary purpose of this alarm is for medical assistance, it can also be used as a panic alarm for police help. I suspect this is why police were dispatched initially and not medical personnel from the fire department. With that in mind, the deputy may have also been thinking that this could have been a home invasion and when he saw an armed man, and he quickly (too quickly) thought that an armed intruder was in the house. I could not see whether the firearm was pointed at the Deputy from the video, but the pistol was obviously seen by the Deputy, causing the reflex action of firing at an armed person.
In any case, I am glad to see the home owner survived and I hope that there will be substantial compensation ($$) for Tench.
Communication is paramount and you can not train “common sense” into Sheriff’s or Police. In Philadelphia you would get a call for “check the well being” and only twice did I have to use force to enter a property. One time a mentally ill family member was actively choking another member and another time I could see a person lying unresponsive on the floor.
ALL radio calls can be summoned up to this: go to a location and see what is going on.
Remember Ruby Ridge? The US Marshalls who did NOT identify themselves.
The officer was in the wrong. He did not properly identify himself. He was not fired upon, and could have safely withdrawn to a safe position to better assess the situation while calling for backup. The police department has made false statements (lied) saying that the owner opened the door and pointed a gun at the officer. The officer’s chest camera video clearly shows otherwise. This quick draw officer is a potential future liability to the department and should be released. The injured homeowner should rightly recover damages from both this officer and from the police department. I hope he has a great attorney. The settlement amount should be sufficient to send a clear message to every police department in the country that quick drawing on a law abiding person in his home, is not acceptable police behavior, and will be punished to the full extent of the law.
it easy to say that now im sure the officer thought nobody would think he wasn’t a cop walking around in full uniform and if the dude wasn’t blinded by a flashlight he probably would have recognized him as one it all unfolded in seconds and really no gross negligence took place on either side sometimes shit just happens this really is just one of those freak accidents. yes if the officer had yelled police please come to the door everything could have gone very differently the same could be said about if the home owner had yelled who the fucks out there
Hey Zack, how stupid are you really? The cop here was wrong! At my house, he would’ve been dead wrong, since I live in the country and anybody walking around like this cop gets shot. Officer should’ve parked his car out front with his red and blue lights flashing.
Clearly racial
Lol yea really. Surprised a liberal didn’t already bring that up.
Unfortunately, the cops will be cleared of any wrongdoing. Better Police training will be called for and the victim should seek better than the average legal council.
Why the Officer did not have the vehicle’s spotlight or spotlights illuminating the front of the residence since this was a “friendly call” and the light-bar operating since this was not a silent call like a robbery or burglary call will have to be disputed.
Too many police remove themselves from being a Citizen who is an Officer who also lives in the community and is sworn to protect and to serve. There are Peace Officers and there are Police; their training, their judgment, and their attitude while on duty define their effectiveness within the community.
Any situation can ultimately turn out any number of different ways and it is extremely unfortunate this situation turned out as it did.
If the homeowner would have known the Police were outside the result would likely have been different.
When it comes to Police training both the Officers and the Community get exactly what is paid for.
Turning on the vehicle lights would backlight the officer and place him at a tactical disadvantage, which would not be smart.
The alarm company seems to have identified the call as a call for “help” not a medical assist. Otherwise fire should have been dispatched before L.E.
You are absolutely correct this is a training FAILURE, one which should be placed on the Sheriff who sets the policy and the Board of Supervisors who fail to fund sufficient training.
Also, why only ONE deputy. Ever seen ONE fireman sent to a call?
what about castle law
castle law only aplies if the man had know reason to be there you cant shoot the mail man and you cant shoot an oficer responding to a medical alert
I hope he sues the crap out of them. This cop was so wrong. He does not appear to have identified himself and instead of retreating to the side and finding cover he decides to shoot multiple times. Put me on the jury. He’ll never be able to retire and the Greenville PD would have to pay out a huge chunk of money.
Idiot. This was a Deputy Sheriff from the Greenville COUNTY Sheriff’s Office and NOT the Greenville PD. Additionally we don’t know for sure that the Deputy did not ID himself as no audio was recorded at that time. The Deputy says he did and this is SOP at that Department so I believe him. The Homeowner acted properly and the Deputy acted professionally and proper. It was a tragic mistake and very fortunate the man lived. The Deputy remained professional throughout the incident and rendered First Aid while remaining calm and in charge.
Jim, the true idiot is YOU. This cop should be dead, he didn’t follow procedure at all, something you know nothing about.
I think we all need to take a breath. We do not know all of the facts and quite honestly the only ones that do are Trench and the deputy. I am certainly not condoning the deputy, but I do know that police officers and deputies put their lives on the line every single time they make a call. I do not believe that I would be standing where I could be seen inside my house if I suspected someone was outside trying to get in. I agree that Mr. Trench probably has a civil case that should be decided by the courts.
I do know that no police officer , sheriff’s deputy goes to a scene hoping to get the opportunity to shoot someone.
As a concealed carrier, I am always careful to protect myself from accidentally being shot by officers by making them aware that I am carrying while keeping my hands where they can be seen. I know this is a different situation, and I’m not sure what could have been done to avoid this but as you all say, it is fortunate that the victim did not die.
It is a lesson for the rest of us.
“The Deputy remained professional throughout the incident” ……. until he lied about the homeowner opening the front door and pointing the gun at him!
And then… the Deputy ….shot first! At least 4 times!
And then the Deputy’s Boss Lied about the door opening …lie….
…..up until I would bet that a JUDGE Forced the Sheriffs department to produce the body cam footage
that proved the Deputy and his boss were liers!
Idiot. This was a Deputy Sheriff from the Greenville COUNTY Sheriff\’s Office and NOT the Greenville PD. Additionally we don\’t know for sure that the Deputy did not ID himself as no audio was recorded at that time. The Deputy says he did and this is SOP at that Department so I believe him. The Homeowner acted properly and the Deputy acted professionally and proper. It was a tragic mistake and very fortunate the man lived. The Deputy remained professional throughout the incident and rendered First Aid while remaining calm and in charge.
I for one hope the cop loses everything he owns. What a Chicken $Hit PO Crap and coward.
Shooting through a window at an unknown target with the intent to kill.
F*ck him!
Only another Dumbass would think this is justified.
That cop and any other cop that signed off on that report should be fired and held in jail without bond until they are found guilty and placed in prison so they are no longer a threat to society.
All these worthless a-holes getting away with murder because “I was afraid” need to be accountable for every bullet just the way a regular person would be.
Cops are not above the law and it needs to stop.
“In charge”? In charge of what Jim? Shooting a man in his own home based on erroneous information? Wold you say this if the home owner fired first because the the released body-cam video does not show the deputy identifying himself.
I agree he did not identify himself.
Name calling= the sign you e already lost the argument
The deputy DID NOT act appropriately. When he shone his light in the window he should have realized that would look like a threat to someone inside the home. The homeowner, who had every right to be armed and to protect himself, did threaten the officer, but only because the officer’s actions appeared to pose a threat to him (the homeowner). The office fired at someone who was ACTING WITHIN HIS RIGHTS (you said yourself “the homeowner acted properly”). The officer didn’t act inappropriately (not sure if all his actions were “correct” because there’s a question about whether he ID’d himself or not) until he fired at someone who had a right to defend himself against the apparent threat that the officer presented (and should have understood how his actions would appear to someone INSIDE the house). At the point the officer should have retreated to safety and started from scratch, identifying himself loudly.
What I just witnessed in the video provided, was multiple errors by an alarm agency, a 911 dispatcher, a deputy and the homeowner. They ALL made errors. In other words, this was a major cluster-****. One half reported call from the alarm company, where it wasn’t stated as a medical emergency application, which would probably have sent the EMS or an ambulance to the residence, rather than law enforcement expecting a possible burglary, triggering a sleeping resident to stumble around half asleep in the dark with a gun in his hand. The recording hints at a cover-up by the police/sheriffs dept, by not providing the sound/and initial contact, saying instead that it wasn’t recorded until he had already rang the door bell and stepped off the porch. The so called “medical assistance” that the deputy is reported to have given him was
done at the lightning speed of a turtle. It’s amazing the homeowner didn’t bleed to death. Advice: If you are woken from a sound sleep, don’t grab a gun and go searching. If there is a threat, wait for the trouble to come to YOU, until you are awake enough to be rational and stable.
No way, Budd. The homeowner isn’t at fault here in any way. It didn’t appear that he was stumbling around in the dark. In fact, the lights were on. He was carrying a gun inside his own home, and for that he was shot. YOU go ahead and wait passively for trouble to come to you. I’ll take tactical advantage of the environment I am familiar with for concealment and cover fire. If someone knocks on my door at midnight – aggressively and multiple times, and starts looking in my windows with a light, I guarantee you I will consider that “trouble” and will be prepared to defend my life, family, and property. In this situation, the homeowner was possibly going to get his phone to call for help, and for that he was shot by an excitable, trigger-happy LEO with poor, split-second decision skills.
I agree
The unsettling nature of this all too common event places “we the people” In an unfortunate position. Being equally at risk of assault by both sides of the Law, we are forced to field threats from police and criminals alike. Dash cam on my vehicle, video recording at my home…may be the only saving grace to counter lies from thugs of any ilk. While I may dislike the implication of such modalities and in theory rail against needing them, it “is what it is”. I know good police. They are out there. But do not for a single minute believe that they are other than sovereign citizens, they are above the law. Ask any police officer when the last time they ticketed or arrested one of their own for an infraction, and their sovereignty is clearly obvious.
Do not shoot unless it is a last resort, and if you shoot, try to capture it on security footage. Criminal and Cop alike will spin a tale that perhaps only video may prove otherwise.
Good point
I didn’t hear or see any indication that this officer identified himself…PRIOR to opening fire, that’s crucial. The man, in his own home…saw only being flashed with a light from outside and not knowing what threat he faced had a gun in his hand without firing it, I did not see him pointing it, however, that’s neither here nor there…for the cop to just fire into the home, without knowing the target for sure…was wrong. Anarchists are going to have a field day with this, because they want a civil war and are on a crusade to get us to hate our cops. However, “we got an alarm” is NOT grounds to open fire from the outside in, in fact, we pay them to take the kind of risk needed to properly ascertain a threat. The cop should have identified, hastily retreated, called for back-up…NOT just shoot. This was not good for anyone…pray for that officer and the homeowner.
I do not understand why “that officer” would need any prayers? He already has shoot first and identify himself later on his side. Also do not understand why he was put before the victim to receive prayers?
I cant [pray for the Deputy in this case….. but I do pray for his wife/kids……
Unfortunately anyone can shine a light into a window (which will conceal their ID from anyone inside) and identify themselves as “police.” The officer put himself into a position in which he made an apparent threat against the homeowner (i.e., the officer did something that the homeowner perceived as a threat) and then shot the homeowner for reacting not only appropriately, but in a manner that the officer should have been able to predict. The homeowner was shot for reacting to the officer’s mistake.
It’s funny that police have a conniption when they see a citizen with a gun, but they all have guns and expect citizens to be OK with that. They don’t seem to understand that just because they have the authority to carry firearms that does not prevent people from perceiving their actions (at times) as unlawful threats, against which they (the citizens) have a right to defend themselves. You do not have to die just because an unlawful threat (or the perception of one) came from an officer. They shoot citizens all the time based on their perception of lethal threats against their lives. They don’t tolerate it, and neither should citizens. How about they stop going ape shit every time they see a gun?
Bad policy + nervous cop = Terrible outcome.
Scenario: Someone comes to your door in the wee hours, rings the bell, shines a blinding light in your eyes. What do you think? A nice visitor?
Outcome: Whatever the sheriff’s dept. rules, the man was justified in suspecting foul play. Just bc someone yells that he’s an officer doesn’t mean he’s one. That’s a trick some thugs have used to commit their crimes. Instead of calmly showing a badge & uniform, the deputy shines a blazing light in the owner’s face & yells something the owner can’t hear.
That looks like a very nice home in a nice neighborhood. What in the world was that deputy thinking? If he received a signal for medical help, he should have been more thoughtful of his presentation in order to gain the trust of the owner. The light in the face was thoroughly unnecessary. The owner clearly showed himself. The deputy was asking for trouble.
Whatever the court decided, the owner was w/i his rights to protect his home. If he were a threat to the deputy, he’d have opened fire before the deputy did. Honestly, I see this as an attack on constitutional rights & a poor attempt at a cover up on the part of the deputy. For whatever it’s worth, that deputy should face civil suit, lose his job, & not be allowed to carry a firearm for at least a decade. Further, all cops should be trained under fire w/ gel bullets, as well as regularly entering a boxing ring to lose their fear of being hit. I don’t wish any cop evil; he has a violent role in an edgy society. Tossing lead isn’t going to allay anyone’s fears.
Yep,. Nervous in the service.
My FD responded to a fire alarm once….a FIRE alarm. The home belonged to a doctor and was still under construction. The city Marshal came along as well
Once we established there was no fire we were discussing the possible cause for the false.
There were two apparatus on the street, our chief’s car in the driveway and the Marshal’s car behind. All with the Christmas lights going and about ten uniformed firefighters in the living room
Suddenly the door burst open and a young man in civilian dress was yelling for us to identify ourselves. He was holding a Beretta 9 and covered everyone in the room.
Turns out the owner was allowing this newly minted deputy to live in the guest cottage in exchange for watching over the place.
He was off the rails. The other firefighters didn’t think much of it but myself(been a cop) and the marshal both went just about apoplectic.
We both called the Sheriff and that boy was fired
Sometimes a bad apple gets through the hiring process.
In the interest of full disclosure: I am an attorney (though not in South Carolina, and I don’t practice criminal law), my brother was a police officer his whole career, and my father was a judge — trial and appellate benches.
Maybe it’s just me, but I see all kinds of problems here.
1) If this was a medical emergency call, why was a deputy sheriff dispatched? He’s not a doctor; he’s not a paramedic; he’s not an EMT. He should never have been placed in that situation to begin with. He’s not competent to deal with the problem that’s been called for; he should have been left to do his job while competent medical personnel were dispatched to respond to the (apparently erroneous) call for medical help. He had no real business being there in the first place.
2) This point has been made before, but it’s accurate — if someone was in medical distress, isn’t it logical that they might not be able to answer a doorbell?
3) Isn’t it understandable that someone, awakened from a sound sleep in the middle of the night to some unidentified person prowling their property might see a need to protect himself — which even the Supreme Court says we have a universal right to do inside our own homes.
4) The video shows a light on inside the house — this is before the deputy “illuminates” the homeowner with his flashlight. Did you ever try to see outside, at night, through a glass window with the light on in the house? It’s total blackness; you can’t see diddly. The deputy says that the homeowner pointed his gun at him, but of course you can’t see that due to the reflection of the flashlight on the window glass. The chronology here is important. The guy inside is checking the house to find out what’s going on; he’s been awakened at night. In fact, the video says the guy had turned away from the door and was going the other way. Suddenly, the deputy “illuminates” the homeowner — what would you do? He’s looking around the house; there’s some level of tension and stress, and suddenly you’re in a pool of light from someone outside. Wouldn’t you turn that way too? Meantime the deputy already has his gun out.
5) Where’s the identification at this point? No sound on the video — I think that’s significant. If the deputy yells “Sheriff’s office, drop the gun” it’s one thing. Maybe not the best, since I’m in my own house, but OK overall probably. Instead, the video is silent and we get “Gunshots” captioned. Several. The homeowner apparently never fired his gun.
6) With the homeowner turning away, where is the overt threat to the officer? Why is his gun out now? This guy is inside his own house; he has a right to have a gun in his house and to carry it around if he wants to. There is no way this deputy should have had his gun out at this point. He had all sorts of alternatives; retreat and call for backup, identify himself, either from where he was or elsewhere — step up on the porch and ring the doorbell (standing to the side of course) and call out identification. Instead, he calls attention to himself with this bright light and then shoots the guy (through the glass window) when he turns to look at the officer.
7) How could the sheriff’s office put out the statement that the door was opened and the gun pointed? Now they say: the deputy never said that. OK, but your initial investigation clearly showed that the officer’s rounds passed through the window, right? If the door was opened and the homeowner was in the door pointing his gun at the officer, the rounds would not have encountered the window between the muzzle and the homeowner/target. This is terrible public relations. I’ll give the Sheriff’s Office the benefit of the doubt; they weren’t lying deliberately. But there’s an easy solution to this problem: Don’t say anything until you know what you know. When you do, tell the truth, whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent for your officer and department. If you only know a little; then only say a little. NEVER post something or make a formal statement without thinking it all the way through and verifying the accuracy of what you say.
How are people to trust if they can’t depend on the truth, and if their “public servants” act like this guy did?
Mark,
In the interest of full disclosure, you sir, are a jack-wagon. Your police officer brother should flat out bitch slap you for aggravated ignorance and then try to educate you on the points in which you are flat out wrong, and make you understand the safety issues he goes through that may keep you from having to bury him.
Prayers to the family who lost their loved one and to the officer and his family that have to deal with the aftermath as well.
Speaking of Jack-Wagons….Dipshit, did you even read the article or just come running to one of your Bothers in Blue defense?
NO_ONE DIED!
What an Idiot, and Yes, the Cop should be in jail as we speak guilty of Attempted Murder and Negligent Discharge.
I for one hope he bankrupts that podunk police department and they fire every officer that signed off on that report.
” I’ll give the Sheriff’s Office the benefit of the doubt; they weren’t lying deliberately”.
Why and absolutely lying is lying. They made a statement based on information they received from the shooter or from the investigation. I love the part about them saying they are taking back the part that is a lie. Police, Sheriff, Politicians constantly lie intentionally and blatantly.
Agreed. Bad shoot.
I’ve carried guns for a living for 42 years. Part as a cop and part govt contractor.
But to answer your question about why the LE response to a medical alarm….I have been a volunteer firefighter/ medic in my rural community for a couple of decades. When we respond to a medic alert the SO automatically sends a deputy with us.
Reasons? We may have to force entry in which case we want an objective witness.
The situation found often doesn’t match the information transmitted.
I’ve gone to what I thought were no big deal medical calls and walked into some pretty hairy scenes. Nice to have a wingman to cover you.
Sometimes a person calls for medical help but neglects to mention the cause. You just never know until you are in it.
I don’t really like the Monday morning quarterback thing but placed in this same position my first reaction would be to dive out of the doorway area (fatal funnel) , grab some cover and challenge.
The question is how he articulated his reason for acting. As you know it isn’t”Was he justified” but rather, “Did he reasonably feel he was justified?”
As an example remember the Vegas chase where the officer was doing mag dumps through his windshield while driving at speed through densely populated residential and business areas. Based on glass testing done by my employer I’d lay money he didn’t get one hit. Most rounds were probably deflected high to God knows where.
But the bad guys were ultimately caught and no one got hurt so they made a hero out of the guy.
Personally I would’ve removed him from the street. But they had some fancy articulation working. Can’t have the dept looking bad.
Why does everyone repeat the guy was in his own home? Really no kidding? Your told that right up front. It’s a mute point. He absolutely had the right to be where he was and to protect himself and family.
You have never searched for burglars or anyone meaning to do harm that is clear from your statements concerning the officers gun being drawn. So if the officer was shot by the homeowner that would have been what, part of the job, oops my bad? Do the job for a while then see if your perspectives may change. But wait your not going to do that are you?
About the officer identifying himself, you say he didn’t or want to say see they are covering it up. Why instead don’t you find out the brand of recorder the department issues and you will have a eureka moment. The Body Worn Camera backs up 30-45 seconds prior to when activated thus no audio.
The officer was sent on an alarm call to a private residence. He is looking for threats as he searches the home for a point of forced entry etc. He sees a man inside the home with a gun. He illuminates the man who turns with a gun in his hand. I hope you never have to make a spit second decision under those circumstances.
This was tragic absolutely tragic event. What would you have done differently, stay in your car, wait behind your car while people your sworn to protect are hurt. No wait another officer did just that and now he is arrested for doing nothing. (He was a coward in my book as well.) This officer did his job didn’t sherk responsibility. He shot a man pointing a gun at him on an alarm call. Hope the homeowner makes a full recovery, I’m certain he will make a lot of money off of the injuries and he should get something. He had no intent to do harm either.
I would ask you to do a ride along sometime and get a brief glimpse of police work. Not base your opinion on your brother’s chosen profession. I bet he was proud to read your words doubting/condemning the actions of a real brother in arms.
I rode with him quite often, in both urban and suburban situations; high crime and low crime areas. I stand by my comments, with which you obviously don’t agree — and that’s fine. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. And as to reading my comments; I’m sure he’s aware of them; but not be reading. He’s been dead 20 years.
The cop should be fired an thrown in jail. the guy WILL win his lawsuit
I am not a cop but watching that video I think there is some things he could have done differently.
But it all ways easier to judge after-the-fact sitting in your computer chair!
It was an unfortunate situation There was a few things you can learn though
One you should never have clear glass on both sides of your door at least have curtains over it.
Gives you an advantage if someone is at your door that you don’t want to be there or if you need to identify somebody.
The cope could have moved for cover but he made a impressive shot.
I don’t fault the officer As much as I fault training and Society Copes are damned if they do and damned if you don’t!
The comments so far just show that!
This officer could be a rockstar officer help in the community saving cats from trees what ever he May not need to be fired But more training. I don’t know because I don’t know his background or the extenuating circumstances of his career and neither do you.
We is concealed carry holders and as protectors need to work with cops.
And yes cops need to work with us to!
We should all and ultimately have the same goal to make a better society better place for kids to live and safer.
The more you all push us versus them mentality everybody will lose.
The more you scream fire them and always fine unjustly blame and pointed at them the more of a divide that will be.
I’m not saying there’s not bad apples just as I’m not saying there are some concealed carry holders that are bad apples we need to work together to identify and move them on before a situation happens.
Mentality has changed in this country it used to be your kids we got in trouble at school then they got home and got in trouble at home .
Now your kids get in trouble at school and you go Yellit the teacher because your kids and Angel And could never do a thing wrong it’s not their fault.
I feel sorry for the homeowner having to go through that.
As I recognize the car goes to work and have to deal with jerks Pond scum And The lowest of the low They never know where troubles gonna come from or what is gonna look like if they’re going to have to be a savior or fight for their lives we asked them to do this job to protect the innocent amongst us and we pay them the least of anybody.
And when they make a poor judgment call in the heat of the moment we’ll burn them at the stake and people try to ruin their lives.
It’s not fair and it’s not right.
This is the kind of stuff we need to stop. Police are not God like they tried to act like. We only have one Lord in that is Jesus Christ. Therefore the cops should face the same penalizacion as a normal citizen should. It’s about time we as Citizens stand up for our rights and fight against these dirty cops that think they can do whatever they want and get away with murder. It happens way too much. African Americans have already started standing up to them and look how much they are accomplishing. Now if we all join forces together as one and stood up against these crooked cops we could put an end to this. It is sad to say that unfortunately cops have done worse things and a heck of a lot worse crimes then a lot of people that are in prison right now. The facts of the matter is about 98% of the police force is crooked and corrupt. I used to be a state cop myself and it is no joke they teach you to lie. They teach you to lie to victims they teach you to lie in court and they constantly lie to protect each other because they know if they didn’t they would be in jail themselves for what they do. I guarantee if for some miracle we could all join together as one and fight against these crooked cops this kind of stuff wouldn’t happen anymore. Everybody forgets one main fact the police work for you if you work and pay taxes you are the one paying their paycheck so technically we are their boss. They are supposed to protect us not hurt and murder us. An just fyi I quit the force because I cannot handle the way we were trained an ordered to treat people. It’s actually really pathetic and I guarantee anybody that could see what goes on inside their local law enforcement it would make you sick to your stomach and I guarantee they’re probably be one of the biggest riots America has ever seen. I am a white middle-aged male and in my lifetime I have seen enough that if the public really knew what happened we would probably get rid of the whole police force and come up with something else to protect us that is loyal, law-abiding, and actually care for the public instead of getting their jollies off harassing and murdering the public.
SIR, YOURE A LIAR. At no time are state police or any law ENFORCEMENT officer trained to lie……………..
Sir, you are delusional. The public isn’t stupid. The “Blue Wall” didn’t get that name because you are all exemplary, outstanding fellas…
and you sir, are delusional. I don’t think the infamous ‘BLUE WALL OF SILENCE” got it’s name because you fellas are so upstanding and honest.
No sir- he’s telling the absolute truth. Va state police here-
You write the report the way it should be written- that’s what you’re trained to do. Truth or lie. We don’t do anything wrong. Ever.
We cover ourselves no matter what. Sorry to disappoint you.
Facts don’t care about your feelings.
Part of their IDF-training. Open fire, regardless, claim “I feared for my life”….. and walk away. All you need to look at is Palestinians, and guess what? YOU’RE NEXT.
That’s a line that’s been played up by the media ho’s for awhile now. Truth is, all good PDs search for advances in procedures & technologies all over the world. Why re-invent the wheel? The problem comes when overlaying the environments & cultures involved.
When I was coming up in the 50s, most cops had just come back from a vicious war in Asia & Europe, & for some lucky souls, Korea as well. They didn’t have to be taught toughness. In fact, the only time most would draw a piece would be to pistol whip the offender, not take him out– the cops had nothing to prove. They were sick of senseless killing. And they weren’t wearing body armor either. They just had a natural “feel” for the occasion. Today, it’s a different set of rules. Everyone is on edge. Even combat vets are different. They’re in high alert all the time. Where did that sense of “feel” go? is my question.
It was a medical emergency – should the cops car be right outside the front door with all lights fully lit?
As society continues its increased demonization of police, this type of incident is only going to happen more and more. As the talent pool declines due to the best potential cops tracking a different career and less qualified individuals fill the void.
I was a cop, sergeant and lieutenant for 26 years and then served as a town attorney for a while, trying to get a young police chief to train his officers that citizens here in the South still had a right to carry guns to defend themselves.
When I went through the Academy in 1979, our senior instructor told us, “You city and county officers are peace officers not law enforcement officers. Federal Agents and State Troopers are law enforcement officers. They are looking for someone violating a rule so they can arrest the violator. You have to live and work among those you police. Your job is to keep the peace, not fill up the jails.” He chuckled and then said, “Now there will be days you will have to fill up the jail to keep the peace. Just don’t start out the shift looking for somebody to arrest.” The “Law Enforcement Officer” title has been hung around the necks of peace officers by the FBI National Academy which trains “up and coming” police supervisors and administrators. It has helped create the “it’s us against them” mentality among city and county peace officers. Arrogant young officers and the press’ presentation of the adversarial relationship with the law-abiding public has made this mindset worse.
Thank God the man didn’t die. But get ready for many more shootings by police as they are sent to private homes by judges to take guns from people under “Red Flag” laws. Many targeted individuals don’t know the cops are coming and have committed no crime to deserve being disarmed. Brace yourselves.
I used to not want to believe there were bad cops. But when my son was tased in my front yard while he was being held by his uncle and an officer, a deputy Marshal, supposably handcuffing him. A number of witnesses said my son was complying with the officer’s orders. My son was on meth, and every deputy there knew that, and the officer handcuffing him told an officer standing nearby to tase him. Whatever happened to “do not taste” when officers know someone is on meth? 20 minutes later my son was dead while he was saying loudly I cannot breathe. He was ignored as officers nearby were conversing with each other and ignoring him handcuffed and ankle bracelet on lying face down on the side of the road. I know my son was wrong for doing drugs, but when it is a known fact in Georgia to not taste if someone is on meth, why was he tased? The printed report from the sheriff’s office was totally different from several witnesses that were on the scene. We expected that, but even the 911 call and the officers communications with each other on the radio were redacted to the point you cannot understand what really happened. I will live that our ordeal is like so many others, but I truly wish that there was someone who could investigate into so many of these needless actions by all of our police and sheriff’s offices. Even our court systems are corrupt in so many of our cities and states. They seem to all stick together and makeup their own stories to protect themselves and each other. Not all of them are bad, but as the old saying goes, it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel.
Good advice! Thanks.
This police officer should not be one. You simple don’t do what he did. Hell, if a Navy Seal shot a civilian through a window, behind a closed door, in Afghanistan these days, they would be drummed out.
Even if the officer identified himself, which it looks like he did not, he couldn’t expect the person behind a closed door to hear him, or believe him.
Finally, shining the light through the window was stupid. It alarmed the homeowner, it prevented the homeowner from seeing his uniform, it reflected back into his own eyes causing night blindness, and showed off his own position.
I don’t mind second guessing this, i was an MP for 9 years, this officer did everything wrong. Hate to see this, all cops suffer when this happens.
The homeowner will be quite well off for the rest of his life.
Its not the cops job to be a Hollywood super agent or to be some kind of cowboy, they take that job knowing the risks that come with it and they need to be severely limited in when they can use deadly force. If they do use it negligently like the pig in this video did, they should face the same charges that a civilian would. No LEO or any government worker, no matter what branch they are part of, deserves any special rights or treatment above the average citizen. In fact in this case, the citizen would have been justified in shooting back at this pig and killing him after he shot him, this pig deserves to be in prison or on death row, not wearing a badge and gun! Wake up people, you are being conditioned to be weak, authority dependent slaves!
Why wasn’t a light on on the pole car ? This may have helped the homeowner to identify who was outside.
Tench’s attorney, Beattie Ashmore, told NBC News on Tuesday that after the shooting, the sheriff’s office had a press conference and a Facebook post up “for weeks” which said “Dick opened the door and aimed at the deputy.”
‘The sheriff’s office has since released an apology and retraction of that statement.
“After a full internal investigation, this statement has proven to be inaccurate and we retract that portion of the original statement,” Lt. Jimmy Bolt with the Sheriff’s Office said in a prepared statement. “To be clear, at no time during the internal investigation did the Deputy make such a statement, it was miscommunicated that the door was opened. In the haste of releasing information, we erred and regret any confusion this has caused.”
TRANSLATION: Ok, let’s hope they don’t look at the body camera, and let’s makes something up that put the blame on the home owner, kinda of like we do on a fairly regular basis……….OH FUCK, THEY GOT THE BODY CAMERA VIDEO! Ok, retract the statement! RETRACT and claim something to the affect of ” We forgot to check the camera footage and wrote something in error! Yeah that should do the trick…..OK, the public should buy that bullshit…besides, what else can they do?
Suggestion by John Q Public: LET’S INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATION AND THE INVESTIGATORS! LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATING LAW ENFORCEMENT IS LIKE CATHOLIC CHURCH INVESTIGATING PEDOPHILE PRIESTS!
A lot of the above comments prove people commenting did not listen or read the article. It was not a medical alarm, it was a panic alarm. Alarm company called the CELL PHONE connected to the alarm as did the sheriff’s office. No answer. Cop statement given at press release about the door being open could be easily mixed up in processing what happened. “shooting through door” was actually the side light of door. The police admitted this mistake. On the homeowner side, he was wearing a C PAP machine so didn’t hear everything going on but did hear the doorbell. Homeowner said they had no alarm. Police say the cell phone app is connected to this address. Thing is home owner hears doorbell, noises and has a flashlight beam placed on him through the doors sidelight, he points his gun. The cop get a call that a panic alarm as been received from an address, he arrives with no response to doorbell or knock. Starts to survey the situation when he sees movement, when he illuminates the movement he sees a gun pointing toward him. Boom. When cop saw movement he should have yelled police. The “alarm” call needs to be investigated. Statements from the cop doing the shooting should never be used until fully investigated. As a combat vet I have heard different statement from men after a firefight who just witnessed the same thing. Let the investigation happen, get what really happened if possible and make a decision. Not good for anyone involved.
Didn’t say he was wearing the CPAP to the door, he said he needed it after being shot. Why no audio for the first 30 seconds? A feature? Why no video of him ringing the doorbell and identifying himself? Another feature?
I am a bit confused by this whole thing, since the bodycam was essentially useless during the most important part of this encounter.
The article states twice that it was a medical alarm.
Nor does the article explain who/what triggered the medical app for help. Apps are notorious for sending messages or calling numbers because of spurious bumps.
The police officer had no reason to have his weapon in his hand or to shoot a resident through a window. Or did he expect a panicked desperately ill person who signalled for medical assistance to assault him?
Instead the officer should be concerned that the person who signalled for help was incapacitated and be seeking entrance to the home, not shooting residents.
In the end; the medical assistance app is at fault for notifying police instead of an ambulance service; and for failing to require a verification before notifying anybody.
Four times? Miscommunicated? Training? That guy is a motherfucker!
What is with the police, they are supposed to serve and protect, not shoot first and ask questions later. I hope the cop gets fired and charged with attempted manslaughter and the victim gets $$millions$$. If a cop is scared when he sees a gun, he should not be a cop, PERIOD.
TO ALL CONCERNED: THE COURTS HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT LEOs ARE NOT THERE TO SERVE OR PROTECT THE AVERAGE CITIZEN, PERIOD.
Welkom to the new Police State. It was all set and waiting, like the 1200-page ‘Patriot’ Act, for their 9/11 False Flag.
You are correct! Bush sold us down the river with the signing of the “Patriot act”.
Calling police to any situation should be a last resort. I’m not saying they are bad, but upon their arrival they may not correctly interpret the situation. While the situation is clear to you, it is usually not clear to them and tragic ‘accidents’ like this can happen.
Of course, on the other hand, the cop should NEVER fire through a window into a house when he is unsure of who is inside or whether their is any criminal activity. The deputy was sent out on a medical alert call so there was no reason for him to believe he was in any danger.
Your use of the word accident, even in ‘quotes’ is deceiving, it should just say INCIDENT! This is not an accident, even by the most vivid stretch of the imagination. What should be investigated first is exactly what proof there is that an emergency alert was received by anyone; the sheriff’s office lied about the homeowner opening the door, so it’s likely they also lied about the alert.
I agree, this is an untrained cop. not ready for a stressful situation and this was not a stressful , but medical situation. Fire him and those who tried to cover this up.
There are too many incidents of Police, who have been caught lying and even planting evidence. I have seen Zero punishment for those actions. They should finally be held accountable.
I love these body cams, finally there is some form of deterrent to the wild west bull crap some of these new generation cops seem to think they can get away with, medical alert alarm, wow, there should not even be a gun pulled by the police at this point, more like an ambulance making lots of noise outside is what I think should have gone down. I have always disputed why cops are needed when rescue gets sent out, and here is your answer, its to make sure rescue doesnt waste their time. WOW. Paramedics should make the call if cops are needed, or if the ordeal surrounds gunfire or stabbing incidents, but a medical alert, really?
Another opinion of many, but while a big supporter of the police, this is much more if not totally on the officer. If he was there for a medical-alert alarm he should have reasonably expected that someone may not have been able to respond to the front doorbell, and he should have verbally IDd himself early on and more than once. I can better understand the resident not wanting to verbally make contact from inside…not knowing who was outside, etc. Plus, in the time it took for the officer to get off several rounds…understand just seconds…but with not having a clear view/knowledge of his target and circumstances, the officer could have just as easily/quickly ducked into a defensive cover position without firing. If an officer is face to face with a clear view of a known bad guy…or anyone, really…pointing a gun at them, understand firing now and asking questions later…but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Bad decision by the cop…is paid/trained to know when/where to fire/not fire, and to keep his cool doing so in order to prevent such an incident. I also know it’s not always that easy, but in this case it seems he was the one responsible.
and what do you think would have been the outcome if the officer had missed and the resident had fired back and killed him
JUSTIFIABLE homicide. If your home is not free from “outlaw behavior”…yeah, outlaw behavior is when you sneak around, unannounced, uninvited on someone’s private property, shooting at anything you decide “might” be harmful to your precious ego.
You didn’t even understand the way that renny was asking the question. He was asking as though it being a statement that this homeowner, protecting his property, would have been charged with armed assault on an “officer of the law” and possible murder (if he had shot the deputy and killed him). If the sheriff’s dept. would lie about the door being opened they would surely lie to retaliate against this gun owner.
The militarization of the police continues.
Many police undergo training based on a military mindset. They are trained to protect and serve themselves and their brotherhood, not the public. Their master is the State, not the people. Their mindset is to return to the barracks after their shift is over, no matter what that goal takes.
It is no surprise that State’s protected class of law enforcers oftentimes shoot first and ask questions later. Their exalted status of being protected from answering for their wrongs IS the problem.
The exalted status must end. This deputy should be tried for his crimes of abuse of office, negligence, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted homicide.
Prosecutions of police for crimes and personal liability are the only ways to end this insanity.
The article and video have nothing to do with race but you like so many want to bring up race. Maybe just maybe if people mostly of color would stop committing crimes and that includes the illegal people that are coming here police and people would look at things different. The media and Democrats want to bring up race on everything, it is an over used word in 2019. I work with blacks, Mexicans and whites and have no racial tension at work. It doesnt mean that any of us dont have any racial feeling or would rather hang out with our own race but we keep our own opinions to our selfs and get along just find. We all have jobs and families and work that is the common thing we have.
Most people committing violent crimes in America are white followed closely by black people. People of color has nothing to with it, there is a plenty of trash around America to deal with besides the illegal immigrants but don’t let your facts get in the way of your delusional viewpoints. Probably trailer trash yourself and a boot licker supporting murderous pigs, your kind is not welcome in the 2A community!
Neither is an idiot like you who falsely states statistics. It is NOT about there being MORE white criminals, it is about the percentage based on percentage of race in the population. Whites comprise approx. 70% of the population, yet commit less than 40% of the crimes, whereas negros are only around 20% of the population but commit more than 50% of the crimes. Of white the population, only 20% are bad; but of the black population 80% are bad – prisons prove that. This is why they are profiled by law enforcement, stereotyped by society, and feared/disliked by a large segment of the white population (and even some of their own kind); and that fear/dislike is justified by FACTS! Anywhere you go that is predominantly black, is NOT considered a safe area!
Not sure where you got your info. Stats are easy to look up.
1. It’s an uncomfortable truth but blacks commit crimes at nearly three times the rate that whites do.
2. Blacks commit 36% of the violent crime in the US even though they are only 13% of the population.
After retiring with 30 years on the job could write for hours on all that went wrong on this call. It should be obvious that I’m pro police but a bad shoot is a bad shoot.
Mistakes get made but just own them. This slick snowflake age video is sad.
Yes they needed to explain what happened. Let’s make it short one of our deputies made a series of bad judgments that almost cost an innocent man inside his own home his life.
There are missing parts of tape sure no evil coverup involved but the second a tape has the appearance of being edited people start to think coverup.
This really isnt that hard to evaluate. The officer was either undertrained or violated standing SOP
Give the deputy credit for staying calm and trying to give medical assistance. At this point have to question his level of gun shot treatment in particular. Did he have current SABA training along with basic EMT training that was current?
Let’s start with the department they are running for cover training requirements and records will be combed through and there will be short falls. No department ever receives the funding to keep all officers up to date on all the numerous certifications require. It cost money to pay an officer during training, usually overtime. Best equipment is turned down all the time, again money we dont have it in the budget. Most departments are way under proper staffing for many reasons but number on again it’s under pay for job. So have older officers retiring before being thrown under the bus and most agencies will in a heart beat to avoid civil unrest or here we go again save money
That being said with the stress level I saw, and grabtvit we only got small part of it, this deputy needs his law enforcement certification removed and never reinstated, not everyone can be a ER doctor, Paramedic or piece office where split second decisions need to be made. There are no do over in many professions.
Dont know the deputy may be a nice guy and family man. Hate to see anyone loose their source of income.
First off hope the Sheriff is a stand up man and do the right thing.
His deputy made a major mistake still needs to be treated with respect but hope they have a system in place to help not only the deputy but family as well if he has one to help the deputy through long nights of self evaluation and blame and watched even if fired for next couple of years closely as we have to many officers eat their guns over a bad shoot like this, the good thing the gentleman wasnt killed.
Next dime needs to be done for the gentleman shot in his own house
Finish all the investigations, file any criminal charges against the deputy if warranted then have the county lawyer at proper time sit down do what is fair and give due compensation to the gentleman and his family for this life changing event
It’s called life, people make bad decisions shit happens. Just do what is fair to all involved and yes is going to cost the Co7bty a lot of money. Dont drag it out do what is right, see if changes can be made to help avoid another incident like this from happening. Being honest, up front and being open with the public will go a long way in getting community respect and trust back
The officer should be fired and charged.
This deputy was very short on proper training. A good lawyer is needed for Trench. There needs to be a large compensation penalty for the sheriff’s department. Maybe then they will train their people better. I know at least on sheriff dept. that provides almost no training. All that is required is a no felony record and a clean driver’s licence.
WOW Looks like they are back pedaling as fast as they can.
Three spokesmen to tell the tale and assure us that this is just a normal routine.
Ya know shooting at a unknown when you’re not sure of your target.
Cop probably hunts the same way out in the woods too.
Love how the body cam doesn’t record until it’s convenient for the police.
Homeowner handled it better then most would.
oops
Notice the audio was edited out. I want to know if he even commanded him to drop the weapon before he started shooting or did he just ambush him?
The video presented here wasn’t all that clear, and in MY judgement, I think the reflection @5:31 would prevent the officer from making a proper assessment.
Of course, if the red and blue lights were flashing outside, that would have been a clear signal to the homeowner to at least expect law enforcement at the door.
Can’t see any blue lights at all in the vid., no reason to believe the home owner could see them either.
You actually think that the officer arrived with lights flashing? This was a response to a “medical alarm”, not to criminal activity. These cops like to show up “unannounced” so they have the element of surprise. Why would the homeowner ask who it is if there were flashing lights outside, that OBVIOUSLY, would be easily seen from inside his house? Use some common sense!
America’s LEA’s has become a huge joke, Americans wake up, the ones who are feeling safe now will not be safe either, this country is nosediving into hell obsessed with greed and power, I am a proud American an immigrant, but I feel helpless and rejected, racism is still so prevalent in this year of 2019, hope you all wake and we become one against all this tyranny
God this county and it’s people need blessings so badly !
I’m a white guy so that automatically makes me guilty, but the only experiences I’ve ever had with racism is the reverse kind. You know, the kind that everyone claims doesn’t (and can’t) exist. Although there are still real cases of racism, interjecting the race card has become a blanket response to every issue that people can’t win with legitimate discussion. Usually it’s sole purpose is to silence opposition.
I don’t know where you emmigrated from but if you feel helpless and rejected and are still unwilling to return to your country of origin then I can only assume conditions were even worse there.
You are 100% correct stating this country and people need God’s blessing. However, there are numerous examples in the Bible of God not helping those who reject Him so why should he?
You feel helpless and rejected?? How do you think many white men feel considering that many automatically assume that because we are white, we are racist, and unable to comprehend how someone of ‘color’ can feel?
How’s that for rejection?
As for racism, despite what certain idiots and bozos have told you, racism has NO race, ALL people’s can be and many ARE racist.
And please, learn what “tyranny” means, no one here is under a tyrannical Govt.
If what you say were true, the time for revolution is upon us.
Are you really ready to rise up and revolt? Against whom particularly?
Question is.. did the Deputy identify himself ‘clearly’? Why did the Deputy not ask questions first before shooting? Did this homeowner really have his gun raised? I can understand how this happened. I would have went to the door with my gun and flashlight to investigate who was at my house. I am grateful this man survived and I hope an apology was made, and the Deputy learned from the incident. Always identify yourself multiple times and try to identify the situation before acting if at all possible…
We don’t know, notice they edited out the audio till just after the shots.
I worked a a telephone repairman for years. I have had alarm companies create trouble countless times because the technicians do not know what they are doing. I would not have them install an alarm in my house. ADT is the worse.
I’m not in law enforcement but have has some training in firearms and the first thing they teach is to find cover. Sounds like this officer never tried to find cover before firing blindly into the house. I say blindly because if the video shows a glare on the window that makes it impossible to see the homeowner’s gun then how could the officer?
Police do not need to respond to medical emergencies, with a few exceptions, overdose, suicide. Which did not apply in this situation.
These shoot first and ask questions after the shooting stops scenarios on the LEO’s side are showing people you can’t trust them anymore. Do your on LEO work and call them after the shooting stops!
Good advice!
they had no alarm this imbecile cop thought it was okay to shoot a home owner!
this could of been my father,uncle,Brother or nephew WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY WHEN YOU DEFEND YOUR HOME AND THESE IMBECILES KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE!
i’m so sick of this….
Put a badge on Pierre and show the world how it should be done.
Ah, the classic duo fallacy of strawman and red herring. Probably even more fallacies but you’re not worth the time.
What really surprises me is that they didn’t go in and shoot the dog too.
You have the right to a medical emergency. If you do not have one, one will be created for you.
You have the right to refuse medical treatment. If you do , you will be shot again.
If you understand your rights, you will be pepper sprayed…
Funny, but true. lol.
This is a clear and related example of why “no knock” raids are just wrong. Millions of Americans, including myself, keep a gun on the stand next to their beds to counter aggressive intruders. In the dark of night, SWAT officers are no different in appearance than murderous home invaders!
Cops are allowed to lie! So says SCOTUS. Why else is their divorce rate so high?
Sound like Barney should go back to keeping that bullet in his shirt pocket.
Right!
I support LEOs. But like medical doctors, they quite often bury their mistakes.
I like the last part of the article…” Tench was not charged with a crime”. WTF!!!
Unfortunately, I’ll bet Deputy Quick Draw will not be charged either. Oh well, sounds like a fat payday for some personal injury lawyer.
Very sad we Americans can’t or won’t get togeather and put an end to this out of control government.
I agree the man should sue and that cop should be fired and prohibited from owning a firearm period.
Wish i could get my story out. I was almost killed by a swat team and i’m disabled. This happened in FortSmith AR at Midtown apartments and i need a dam good Attorney. I have cancer as well & had strokes. Can anyone help me?
My God, man. I believe the ambulance chasers would be pounding down your door to get in on this one. If you haven’t been contacted yet, send a plea in to the editors of this blog. I bet they could give the advice you seek.
Its not the cops job to be a Hollywood super agent or to be some kind of cowboy, they take that job knowing the risks that come with it and they need to be severely limited in when they can use deadly force. If they do use it negligently like the pig in this video did, they should face the same charges that a civilian would. No LEO or any government worker, no matter what branch they are part of, deserves any special rights or treatment above the average citizen. In fact in this case, the citizen would have been justified in shooting back at this pig and killing him after he shot him, this pig deserves to be in prison or on death row, not wearing a badge and gun!
When an incident involving a panic alarm call occurs, an officer should make every attampt to reach the home owner personally, by way of calling the residence or, specifically, the number were the panic alarm originated. This is where the on scene officers investigation must start.
If unable to reach the resident that set off the alarm, the officer should had two things going on in his head: 1) is this a legitimate emergency or is it a false alarm error and how can I determine if it’s a real threat condition. 2) Is the resident incapacitated and under some kind of physical duress that is keeping them from answering the phone; possibly being imminently being harmed by an intruder or having a life threatening emergency.
These two thing work against other; the one, tells the officer to be slow and methodical, while the other is telling him/her, they need to work as quickly as possible to draw the attention of any invader away from the residents and onto the responding officer(s). Because every second waited, could mean the life of or aggravation of injury to an innocent by a intruder or a serious medical condition.
This is sad and sometimes there is no easy answers. Events can unfold rapidly and leave an officer looking very bad, no matter what course of action that decide to take.
The genesis of the call to emergency (911) by the alarm company, might be a key area of negligence or electronic error, that set this all into motion; alarm companies and the people they employ, are not full-proof and neither are police officers.
Start the investigations at the call…
You fail to address a pesky little item subsequent to the incident…..the Sheriff’s Department lied about the facts until they were caught by the video evidence….sickening bastards
My first of many questions was: why didn\’t someone just call the cell phone number to see if the medical alert was real? I\’ve accidentally tripped alarms and the monitoring company calls to verify my identity. Once, they notified me that the sheriff was already on his way, so I opened my door and calmly waited for him to arrive, producing picture id, and the incident ended peacefully.
The call is crucial. The cop was put into a bad sitch. Homeowner was stung by someone’s cell. Hate neighbor standing outside his house making the call, just to get the SOB gun totten right winger in trouble? You are right, the cell call is the key to this case.
I want to know what the story was with the “app” that triggered the call. Also, from listening to the 911 call, the dispatcher should have told the 911 dispatcher that the call was a medical alert app. The Dispatcher specifically asked her for details and she missed that critical opportunity to state that the “panic” call was not a call at all but a notification from a medical app. I think this missing information would have completely changed the police officer’s approach in response because his dispatcher would have given him a different code to investigate. He was set up to fail. Also, I am a CC license holder and if someone rang my door bell at midnight, I would have my pistol but I would not have it where the person outside the home could see it because if I’m going to give that person the benefit of the doubt. One other thing, after watching a video of a homeowner carrying an activated flashlight in his own house at night instead of turning on all of the lights in his house when the doorbell rang FROM THE COP’S PERSPECTIVE made me think twice about how to approach this situation. The lack of audio during the first 30 seconds of this encounter was so critical to really understanding the escalation and without it, it is just accusations and video footage.
I have in my experience found that Sheriff’s deputies are the worse of the lot when it comes to shit happening. They don’t pay well, so you get what you pay for. Most are under trained and quite a lot of them let that badge go to their head. In this case he should have identified himself. If it was a medical emergency device call going off, he should have been ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door instead of sneaking around outside. He is very lucky he wasn’t shot for trespassing as the home owner not knowing he was a Leo had all the right to. This is just pure stupidity on this deputies part and I can see a very large law suit or settlement coming to Mr Trench. And shit like this seems to happen in Greenville, SC a lot. And if it was a medical device going off, why wasn’t there an EMT called to the scene along with the deputy. He sure as shit wouldn’t know what to do if it was a medical emergency. Might be a little more to this story then is being stated.
Listen to the alarm person. She gives info that the call comes from a cell phone and that this usually represents a medical emergency? Something like that, but the cop goes in thinking there is a robbery in progress? Or, something like that. Stupid, but would I act different with the info given me? Adrenaline is crazy, especially in the dark.
Tragedy that could have been worse. Officer in P&S mode midnight lethal mix. Homeowner could not see uniform. Officer saw gun. No preengagement audio. Retracted initial claim homeowner opened the door example of what gives good law enforcement a less than deserving reputation. What would you do on either side of the door?
“Retracted initial claim homeowner opened the door example of what gives good law enforcement a less than deserving reputation.”
Unfortunately, law enforcement officers can lie with impunity in any investigation or encounter with civilians. This is settled case law as seen in the reporting of Meuller’s scumbags attempting to set “perjury traps” for Trump and other potential victims in the recent Trump-Russia Collusion Witch Hunt.
Hell, it’s even demonstrated with pride in numerous TV shows, even news stories, in which witnesses are played against each by lying investigators, to elicit confessions. It’s so pervasive that many innocent people have pled guilty to avoid serious jail time or even the death penalty but later been exonerated after serving decades behind bars, after the real perpetrator(s) have been found.
Lying is not a clever investigative technique, its just lying and should be punished as the perjury it is. Law enforcement officers and agencies must be held to a higher standard, at least equal to civilian standards, and accountable for their actions, in criminal not just civil court. Until that happens, these travesties of justice will continue.
Thank God for body cam video. Without it, the true victim of this crime would now be behind bars, after being shot for simply defending his home, due to police malfeasance.
If there’s ever a situation where you feel compelled to investigate a “bump in the night”, as many citizens must do thousands of times each night, do not expose yourself to intruders, in any way. To find out later they were simply misfeasant cops will not make you or your survivors feel better if you’re buried six feet under ground for checking your dog’s or a mouse’s nocturnal roamings!
In this case find the phone. Or is that only done on TV and in movies?
There are countries that have outlawed lying as a way to get info. They should do that here.
The officer needs a new line of work. if not charged and jailed. Lying telling you he new he was wrong. ESPECIALLY AT THE END WHERE THEY SAY Trent has not been charged yet. What are they going to charge him with having, having been tried to be murdered?
“Daddy who’s at the door” “Don’t worry baby, to back to bed. I’ll protect you… …oh wait I can’t because you’ve been shot in the head already by a cowardly moron firing blindly with no thought to collateral damage.”
When are they going to start screening these pussies out and start hiring MEN who are willing to accept the possibility of injury or death in order to ensure they don’t murder innocent people.
… and WOMEN.
Yeah… …them too. Sorry, I meant REAL men as opposed to these frightened Little boys. It is about your bravery, respect for the citizenry, and the sacrifices you’re willing to make and not gender.
Perfect example of a cop bringing his lack of proper training and fears from being harmed in a very dangerous and under appreciated job and environment into the wrong place, wrong time situation. No doubt, this will be spun as the homeowners fault when clearly it is not. Lack of communication as to the exact situation seems to have played a part also, coupled with the officer’s lack of proper threat assessment training.
Fired his weapon without establishing who and what was actually happening on private property. Cop shot first and didn’t ask, period. He should have egressed the area and tried to establish contact with the person he observed, shooting just by seeing a gun shows a total lack of training on when he should have fired. Officers often receive tens and hundreds of hours of training and / or even simulation training but often this training is all about getting the first shot off and not trained on proper threat assessment before firing a weapon. The last place any homeowner expects to be shot at is through his own front door.
BAM! “Stop. Or I’ll shoot!”
The video shows this deputy was in no immediate danger at any time. This was not a good shoot. For the department to issue a statement stating the homeowner.opened his door and pointed the gun was beyond stupid and harmful to the homeowner. A serious lack of training exists for this officer. I am sure a civil suit will follow as it should.
This police department will be paying millions of dollars to this man. He already has a nice house but wait until a 1st year lawyer gets this case. Home owner will be multi millionaire! Cop was so in the wrong on so many fronts that his immediate termination is warranted.
I would have been saying same thing… WTF is wrong with you!!!!
Friggin gun happy cop when he saw the gun he should have moved sideways away out of his site and line of fire if had been going too. And then hollering before shooting and wait for answer and backup. Sue them and the alarm people who caused it.
The fucking cop should be executed. Every cop that does this should get executed. No blue line for this asshole. Don’t try to tell this guy to calm down you fucking worthless shithead. IF cops faced execution for bad shoots then they wouldn’t instantly do it. Hell cops shouldn’t have guns.
Execution might be a bit harsh. But cowardly men Like him don’t have the temperament to be police.. ….maybe people-greeters at Walmart?
LEO are in my family and I still dont trust them. A cops life is not superior to mine, yet the law permits such superiority. A man has every right to be armed on his property and in his home. Cops clearly lack training and discipline when they murder homeowners in their homes. Never let a cop into your home. Never answer their questions without your lawyer present. Never be a!one with a cop in the room. Cops are trained to lie. If they need a collar they will get one, innocent or guilty. Im white and a retiree with a clean record. My statements are based on lessons learned, personal experience. I supported the police my first 50 years until I needed them. Then I learned how they operate. A CCW carrier has a greater chance of getting shot by a crazed cop than a robber.
So true not only are they poorly trained they lack the IQ needed. They are there to do one thing find someone and charge them with a crime. We have a crime problem and a cop problem in this country. If the cop knows you are carry you are in danger period. He knows he has a weapon that he can claim was a danger to him or others. It makes it allot easier to get away with murder. There have been 5 attempts to break into my home and the cops can do nothing. I don’t shower now unless I have a gun with me. Keep all your blinds closed. They may have x-ray vision but its harder to prove. Deputies are also very susceptible to pays offs and Micro-Soft 13 owns more cops in this country that you can imagine. You would be shocked if you knew the number. In some cases they own Mayor on down to the low deputies. PA’s lawyers counsel men. I know I live in a corrupt town. I walk around my home armed because a cow head with flesh on my front lawn was a message. The last visit they almost made it in. Lucky for me when they lifted the sliding door it jammed tight as a drum. they could not lift both ends of the door even to un jam it. the knew if they busted the plate glass I would have had time to arm myself. They were to big to slide in the 4 to 5″ opening. I know this I do not report the attempts anymore.
Sounds Like you need to move Will.
Yep and sell it to a Mex family as they are the only ones who would be safe. My son goes to college in 3 years and this 4 bedroom new block home will sell easily. A foreclosure that was stripped I rehabbed. Another 10k and its done. Then I am out of here. I have taken allot of steps to make sure the house is not easy to get into. If someone gets in they are determined combatant and will be treated as such. Is the 6th attempt the lucky number. Keep your eye open I may be in the news before escaping.
You are absolutly right, people who may side with the cops have never been mistreated by the police. Never had a firearm drawn on you by police. Society / Current laws makes law inforcement lives more important than civlians. When in reality the oposite needs to be true, or at least equal. And cops need to be held accountable, and thats why we see riots in the streets after cops murdering civilans. (Here is a scenario, a police k9 unit dog is atacking you or a loved one maybe even a child, for no apparent reason, killing that dog would be equal to killing a human cop. That dogs life is not more important than my childs life.) Cops will lie and lie for each other, to save their own asses. It will happen again and again. And will back each other up on scene and say………good shoot, that was a good shoot. I am more afraid of police coming to my house 1000 times more that if some low life breaking in my house. Thats fucking backwards.
Your absolutely correct. I know after serving 24 fucking years especially when the chief of police lied and fired me for telling the truth. But retiring with my integrity and conscience intact. The fbi arresting him finally. But so many of his friends lying about bad shoots and beating people with handcuffed. But we won’t talk about a community just west of st louis city on i-44
This looks like a great (tragic) example of two people, each knowing half of what was going on, each doing what they thought was the right thing and something horrible resulting. It’s a good reminder to always be careful because you can’t unfire a bullet.
I mean, that, and it sounds like this cop is horrible at his job and should go deliver pizzas instead. Not only did he shoot a homeowner in his home, but then he turned around and lied about how it happened. Cops without integrity are little better than gang members in your community.
Actually the owner did the right thing, the cop didn’t. He should have identified himself and knocked on the door as this was supposed to be a medical device going off, not a drug bust. He was very lucky not to be shot for trespassing.