Posted on 11/22/2001 6:21:13 AM PST by Squantos
Thursday, November 22, 2001
5:49 a.m. CT
Officer fired for shooting another officer
The Associated Press
LUBBOCK (AP) - A Lubbock police officer who authorities say accidentally shot a SWAT officer during a July operation was fired Tuesday.
Police Cpl. Wade Lee was cited by interim Police Chief Claude Jones for violating departmental policy regarding firearms safety and falsifying a written report about the shooting of Sgt. Kevin Cox by a fellow officer.
"Today I have taken actions to assure Lubbock's citizens and members of the Lubbock Police Department that this administration will be proactive in providing professional police protection of the highest quality and maximum support and leadership to our police officers," Jones said in Wednesday's editions of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Lee can appeal his termination to the City Civil Service Commission or an independent arbitrator. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
Jones issued letters of reprimand to 12 other officers involved in the SWAT raid. The officers were cited for violating department use-of-force guidelines and lapses in judgment, Jones said.
"Be assured these personnel actions are serious, and in my view, commensurate with the violations," Jones said. The department said it could not legally release the names of the officers.
Officer Tracy Taylor, who investigators initially considered the most likely source of the fatal gunshot, will return from paid leave to work in the department's accident investigation division.
Taylor and Lee had been on paid leave since the shooting.
Jones removed three officers, including Taylor, from the SWAT team. Four others, including team commander Lt. Randy Franklin, resigned from the team. Six of those officers received letters of reprimand, Jones said.
Assistant Police Chief Randy McGuire stepped down and will assume his previous rank of lieutenant. McGuire was the senior officer commanding the SWAT operation.
Former Police Chief Ken Walker was placed on administrative leave during the shooting investigation, as city officials accused him of mismanaging the Police Department. He resigned Nov. 8 in exchange for a $130,000 settlement.
Lee, a team sniper, accidentally fired his rifle, prompting other team members to fire at least 160 shots.
Cox suffered a fatal wound to the head, which Jones said was caused by Lee's single shot.
Initially, Lee misrepresented that he fired deliberately at a specific target, according to the suspension order.
Lee later told investigators that he did not have a target and fired accidentally, the suspension order says.
The investigation did not determine how Lee's shot, fired from across the street toward Cox's back, hit Cox in the forehead.
"I can't explain that. I don't understand all the physics involved, and to this point I don't know a ballistics expert who can explain that right now either," Jones said.
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Ya'll Stay Safe and have a good Thanksgiving......
When they kill unarmed people in their own homes because they're undertrained, ill-intentioned or easily frightend nothing happens to them.
Can you name for me one instance when a SWAT guy has been diciplined for killing or maming an unarmed citizen?
Stay Safe !
You read my mind.
Have a good Thanksgiving AABEST & as always STAY SAFE !!
Have a good Thanksgiving MileHi and Stay Safe....
Maybe this is the same magic bullet that killed Kennedy.
FReegards
The ONLY reason this had any reprecussions is the victim was a fellow officer. I feel for the officer's family but God knows how many other people have been shot by mistake in these SWAT operations. Adrenaline, sleepy stunned people and guns make this a certainty.
The blatant overuse and misuse of SWAT teams is going to destroy the MORAL authority of the real police. People are noticing these guys are for the most part above the law. When regular cops in the sixties and seventies were being raked over the coals for doing real police work which involved threats and intimidation of violent thugs (hey you can't play nice nice with these guys flame away)and criminals people saw that and understood it. These unanswered deaths and shootings are a completely different matter.
Real Police Officers don't wear face masks, black uniforms, carry german submachineguns, use grenades, and kick in people's doors in the middle of the night. This type of capability should be available for extreme circumstances but now every situation is an excuse to suit up and "kick a door".
These guys were made for situations like Columbine where they withdrew because of the danger and bombs according to the team leader Vince Dimana. (Who later that year lead a raid that shot an unarmed man in his bedroom and had no consequences.) In the 60's a real POLICE OFFICER, no body armor and armed with a model 10 would have gone in at Columbine and stopped it. What a sad change.
No real mention of it in West Texas news, Midland's bravest and best (SWAT) surrounded an apartment the other day, because this man's girlfriend reported vague threats. He had no guns,knives,bombs,nothing. The guy walked out with his hands up quietly and calm. However the local news called it a tense situition.
When citizens kill officers, they can see years in prison and possibly the death penalty. But when officers burst in someone's home, armed to the teeth and high on adrenaline, and one kills another, he is fired?!
He works for a "state" organization. He is above the law, reference L. Horiuchi, FBI at Waco, etc.,ad nausium.
In the United States everyone is equal, it's just that some are more equal than others.
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-66
Thats just my opinion based on a few years of working as a deputy sheriff ......
Stay Safe !
You have a great Thanksgiving Bert and don't get too pie faced now :o) and Stay Safe !
Stay Safe and have a good holiday....
Given the fact that affirmative action has destroyed morale and changed the type of person who becomes a police officer (and I am not talking about race) this development might not be all bad. Memphis is begging for officers and wonders why it has to look the other way on criminal records and the such on new officers. Hell they have stabbed qulified line officers in the back for fifteen plus years now!
I felt for my friends that dealt with this in their career. (Most have gone elsewhere, (to smaller departments) the few extra dollars are not worth it) People with half a brain hate this s#!t but situations like the one above and many others are pissing the same people off at the SWAT type S#!T.
We are going to end up with a bunch of semi-criminal sociopaths who think they are abve the law if this road is continued down.
I am sure there were many officers out there that wanted to do something but I heard Vince Dimana say the danger (to themselves) was the reason they (the SWAT team) pulled back! Good grief!!!!!! The sherrifs deputy that was assigned to the school ran and cried about it to Connie chung. I was utterly disgusted.
Still there were plenty of officers who were willing, they just weren't on the initial SWAT team. It was a disgrace.
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