Another Case of 'Contagious Fire'(shooting in Compton)

L A TIMES ^ | May 12, 2005 | Richard Winton and Tonya Alanez

[Ramonan]

The Compton shooting in which deputies unloaded 120 rounds in a residential neighborhood is one of five incidents of "contagious fire."

The phenomenon has become a concern."Just because one person fires, that doesn't mean the use of deadly force is justified by them or others," said Michael Lyman, a professor of criminal justice at Columbia College in Columbia, Mo.

Sheriff Lee Baca walked the block where the incident occurred and talked with residents about what happened. .

Baca, who has been increasingly critical of the deputies' tactics, was joined on the tour by activist and 2004 presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton, who flew in from New York.

Baca has expressed concern about the tactics of the 10 deputies.

The shooting, which lasted 18 seconds and peppered five homes with gunfire, unfolded about midnight Monday after deputies spotted a white Chevrolet Tahoe matching the description of a similar vehicle involved in a nearby shooting.

When deputies tried to question 44-year-old Winston Hayes, he allegedly took off, leading several patrol cars on a low-speed chase though a working-class neighborhood of small bungalows off Alondra Boulevard.

After 12 minutes, deputies were able to surround the truck on Butler Avenue. Three of them were approaching the vehicle on foot when Hayes backed toward them, prompting them to open fire.

One deputy was hurt after being shot by "friendly fire." Hayes, who was unarmed, was hit four times and remained hospitalized Wednesday. Deputies said Hayes told them he was high on drugs.

"Often times, officers are not aware of where everybody is because of tunnel vision," said David A. Klinger, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

"It kicks in when any human being is in any life-threatening situation or there is a crisis situation," Klinger said.

[kellynla]

120 rounds into one vehicle and the driver is not dead?
these cops need to spend some time at the range...

[cripplecreek]

I saw a high ranking police official on the news last night talking about this. He isn't happy that Al Sharpton is comming to town to turn the perp into a hero and create a racial issue where there is none.

As he pointed out, that neighborhood gets shot up every day and Al Sharpton doesn't show up to end that violence.

[absalom01]

The video is very disturbing, and shows one officer firing into the windshield while at least two other officers were moving into the first officer's fire. It also shows one younger officer waving his pistol directly at the cameraman telling him to get out of harms way. The after action reports indicate numerous rounds impacting in private residences surrounding the shooting.

It seems to be a matter of pure, dumb luck that no one was seriously injured in this little dustup.

That said, there's a limit to how much, and what kind of accountability can be laid at the individual officer's feet. The video showed mostly younger, presumably less experienced officers. Also, LASD rolls one man cars, unlike most jurisdictions who have two officers in each car. Combine the apparantly inadequate training, the lack of senior officers to keep things 'real', and the inability for even two officers to confer during the chase except over the radio, and we should only be surprised that this didn't happen sooner.

[Rutles4Ever]

Straight outta...

[kellynla]

amateur hour...

I saw the video
looked more like a bunch of teenagers taking shots at a moving vehicle without considering the safety of others...they're lucky no one, including each other, or in the surrounding houses that had bullet holes in them was hurt!

[WilliamofCarmichael]

There was a case a few years ago in L.A. where a businessman became disoriented and stopped on a freeway overpass. He called his wife telling her he had no idea where he was. He thought he had driven into a remote mountainous area. He had experienced the problem prior to this incident.

I don't remember how things got out of hand but eventually the police became convinced that the situation was extremely dangerous and from a distance ordered him to drive his car off the freeway to a nearby street.

There other police joined and surrounded the car at a distance.

I heard about the incident from The Radio Detective (Jerry Pearce) show. Mr. Pearce, a long-time law enforcement officer, sheriff's deputy and private investigator interviewed a relative of the man and had a copy of the coroner's report.

The police started firing when the man opened the car's trunk and appeared to have a weapon. It turned out to be an air rifle, I believe. I believe that the man was hit by at least 150 rounds any one of 50 rounds would have killed him.

I do not remember enough info to search successfully. Even with the man's name I believe that I found only one news article (in a foreign newspaper) about the incident at the time.

In case you don't know, you can't get more conservative, pro-police than Jerry Pearce.

[King Prout]

before the advent of PC, this sort of thing was known as a Polish Firing Squad

[G.Mason]

" ... As he pointed out, that neighborhood gets shot up every day and Al Sharpton doesn't show up to end that violence."

Al Sharpton? Is he related to that standup c^om^edⁱa^{n Sharpton, who ran with the other eight dwarves for the Jackass Party's presidential nomination? That Al "Ah Likes Tawana" Sharpton?}

[shekkian]

120 rounds into one vehicle and the driver is not dead?

It apparently doesn't take much for a weapons qualification in this police department.

[MineralMan]

"The shooting, which lasted 18 seconds and peppered five homes with gunfire,"

---

Not only did they not manage to kill the guy in the vehicle, but they hit several houses. These cops need some gun control lessons, it seems to me.

I can see no reason whatever for 120 rounds being fired in such a situation. And they didn't even kill the guy. They ought to all be fired forthwith.

[etcetera]

Sounds like some kind of military training kicked in. You start shooting, even if you don't have a clear target, and your buddies will come on line and start shooting.