Noble officers charged with manslaughter(shot at snake, hit boy)

The Norman Transcript ^ | Sept 7, 2007 | Tom Blakey

[Mariebl]

Prosecutors filed second-degree manslaughter charges Friday against two Noble police officers involved in the Aug. 3 accidental shooting that claimed the life of 5-year-old Austin Haley of Noble.

Brad Rogers, 34, and Shawn Richardson, 29, are expected to turn themselves in to authorities next week, said Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn.

Rogers, who had been on the Noble police force approximately one month, was the officer who reportedly twice fired a .357 semi-automatic handgun in a residential area, attempting to shoot a snake in a bird house. One of the two shots struck Austin Haley in the head while he was fishing at a nearby pond with family members.

Sgt. Richardson was the supervising officer at the scene, Mashburn said.

“Being a member of the law enforcement community made the decision more difficult,” Mashburn said. “At the end of the day, I looked at the law and visited with the family and made the decision based on the law.”

Mashburn said he “thoroughly reviewed” OSBI reports and “personally walked” the scene of the shooting.

The second-degree manslaughter is based upon “culpable negligence,” Mashburn said.

“Culpable negligence is defined as the omission to do something a reasonably careful person would do,” Mashburn said. “Based on my review of the OSBI report and my viewing of the scene, I concluded these officers failed to do something that a reasonably careful person would do by firing a weapon at a non-poisonous snake that was stuck in a birdhouse without knowing what lay behind their location.”

Mashburn said he looked at other cases involving accidental deaths, and determined there “must be some level of accountability for the officers involved.”

Several family members attended Mashburn’s afternoon press conference at the Cleveland County Office Building.

“Just because they wear a uniform doesn’t mean they’re above the law,” said Cheryl Tracy, Austin’s grandmother. “If they had just used their brains, our grandson would not have been shot.”

[Mariebl]

Well, the DA made the right call. I don't like police-bashing, as such, but this was not a situation where you have a split second to make a life-and-death decision. The policemen's actions were 100 percent unjustified, and they need to answer for them.

Actually, the fact that the officer was new almost makes it worse, since that means that he'd been through a firearm safety course very recently.

On a side issue--their actions would have been completely unjustified even if the snake had been a rattlesnake, but this article says that it was nonpoisonous and another version of the article, which I can't seem to locate again, says it was a black rat snake, of all things!

So, how to tell a rattlesnake from a black rat snake? You can look at the head. You can look at the tail. You can look at the body--rattlesnakes have a more muscular physique. You can look at the color. ('melanistic rattlesnake' turned up zero Google hits, which actually surprised me.) You can look at the location. (Although rattlesnakes do climb, a snake in a birdhouse is probably NOT a rattlesnake.)

By the way, for another irrelevancy, note the grim irony of the newspaper headline.

[Uri’el-2012]

This is a training issue.

There should have been a shotgun in the cruiser.

[Natural Law]

"There should have been a shotgun in the cruiser."

Wrong, there should have been an adult in the cruiser.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The officer must not have followed the guidelines for gun safety.

This tragedy was so avoidable, on many levels.

My heart goes out to the family.

[darkangel82]

The prosecutor did the right thing. Hopefully these two will get the meximum.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

The DA looked at the law and the circumstances surrounding this shooting and absolutely came to the proper conclusion. I applaud the effort.

There was zero reason to shoot at the snake in the first place, and the decisions went downhill from there. I pray that lessons have been learned by many.

[Uri’el-2012]

There should have been a shotgun in the cruiser." Wrong, there should have been an adult in the cruiser. 3 posted on 09/07/2007 8:46:57 PM MDT by Natural Law

I know there was a radio in the cruiser.

Call for backup or advice in the absence of training.

[GeronL]

you don’t have to shoot snakes, use a hoe. fry it up.

[GeronL]

you don’t have to shoot snakes, use a hoe. fry it up.

[BerryDingle]

A pair of pruning shears and a step ladder.

[InkStone]

This is the type of story that makes your soul ache. You just look across the room at your own kids and shake your head in disbelief.

I thought persons applying to become police officers were carefully screened, and throughly tested psychologically. Or maybe not.

May God comfort the hearts of his parents.

[misterrob]

At your service

[JSteff]

“On a side issue—their actions would have been completely unjustified even if the snake had been a rattlesnake”

Are you nuts? Even if it was a rattlesnake it was not a tiger or anything that hunts down humans for food or sport.

Snakes ARE much more afraid of us. Move out of the way, or catch it and bag it.

I have caught gatersnakes, black snakes, copperheads, eastern diamondbacks, and a cottonmouth... all before I was 14.

I didn’t know what the copperheads were or the diamondback was until I got them back to the “nature center” at the local boy scout camp.

I think the cottonmouth was sick (it was slow) and had been released in the forest by an owner who did not want it anymore. After all cottonmouths are not native to PA!

[PAR35]

Assuming this is Oklahoma, the charge sounds appropriate, but they aren’t looking at much time:

“Any person guilty of manslaughter in the second degree shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary not more than four (4) years and not less than two (2) years, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one (1) year, or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both fine and imprisonment.”
Oklahoma Statutes
Chapter 24 - Homicide
Section 722 - Second Degree Manslaughter - Punishment

[GeronL]

lol. snakes beware

[GeronL]

lol. snakes beware

[PAR35]

The maximum isn’t much.

[Elsiejay]

The rat snake can exist in many colors and color combinations other than black. Why it is called the “black” rat snake I do not know; perhaps that is the most prevalent of its colors. I once saw a snake in southeastern Minnesota that a herpetologist placed in the rat snake family, although its 5-foot long body was yellow with black stripes scattered along its length, normal to the axis of its body.
All that aside, I have not been able to understand why the policeman thought it necessary to shoot the snake.

[bobby.223]

itchy trigger finger tonight?

[GeronL]

laptop, i double-tap the pad, its my fault