Posted on 05/08/2015 9:55:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A black South Carolina man was in serious condition Friday after being shot by a white deputy sheriff responding to his report of someone breaking into his house.
Authorities moved quickly to try to calm tensions over the episode, which occurred in the same county as the April 4 police shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, and amid a furious national debate over police use of force in minority communities.
"We're as sorry as we can be," Charleston County Sheriff James Alton Cannon Jr. said in a Friday meeting with community leaders.
"What makes this even more of a tragedy for us is that someone in effect called us for help and we ended up being a part of him getting injured seriously," Cannon said.
The victim, Bryan Heyward, called 911 around 11 a.m. Thursday to report that armed men were trying to enter his mother's home in the rural town of Hollywood, authorities said. "It's an emergency and they have guns," Heyward said, according to recordings released by authorities.
Two deputies arrived and were told that shots had been fired and two black suspects had been seen fleeing the back yard, the sheriff's office said. The deputies went around back and noticed damage to a front window and a back door, Cannon said.
Then Heyward, 26, appeared in the back doorway, holding a .40-caliber handgun that he'd been using to protect himself, Cannon said. One deputy, Keith Tyner, told him to drop it.
Heyward did not immediately do so. The deputy fired twice, hitting Heyward in the neck with a single round, according to the sheriff's office.
It was not clear how much time elapsed between the warning and the shot.
Heyward was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina, where authorities said he remained in the intensive care unit.
Relatives and family lawyers said Friday that Heyward was unable to speak and could not move his lower body.
On the way to the hospital, Heyward spoke to an investigator who was wearing a microphone. A 20-minute recording of the conversation was played at Friday's meeting between police and community leaders.
"The officer did it, but it was an accident," Heyward told the investigator, according to the recording, adding, "I should have put the gun down, but I didn't."
Heyward also told police he had exchanged gunfire with two suspects who fled the home on bicycles, authorities said.
S.C. Man's Family Wants Cop's Tape Recording ReleasedNBC NEWS
Representatives of Heyward's family said that the deputies at the scene were also wearing microphones, and found it curious that recordings from those devices have not been shared with the public.
"Just as that tape was released today so quickly to try to justify the shooting, why can't those other audio tapes be released?" said the Rev. Charles White Jr., a field director of the National Action Network and a cousin of Heyward's.
Those recordings could reveal how long Tyner waited before shooting Heyward, the family representatives said.
"We have no issue with officers protecting themselves and others when they have their lives endangered," lawyer Chris Stewart said. "But to not take the time to make sure you're not shooting the person that called you is a concern."
The family representatives also stressed that Heyward was clearly frightened when he called 911, and might not have known who was shouting at him when he stood in the back door.
"I challenge each of you to ask yourself in a situation as traumatic as that, what would you do?" lawyer Justin Bamberg told reporters. "Can you say definitively that your first thought would be to drop the firearm?"
Cannon said he did not fault Heyward for arming himself. "In my opinion he was doing what he had a right to do in protecting himself from these individual who were apparently attempting to get into the home," the sheriff said.
"We certainly think this is a remarkable young man and our prayers are with him and his family that he will overcome this serious injury," Cannon said.
But Cannon did not offer an opinion on whether Tyner broke any rules or laws. That judgment, he said, will be made by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which investigates police shootings.
"An officer was confronted with a situation where he's dealing with someone who is armed and is in a position of having to make a split-second decision as to what the threat is at at that point in time," Cannon said.
Hours after the shooting, police arrested one of the suspects, a 22-year-old man named Thomas Zachary Brown. He is charged with burglary and attempted murder.
BFL
“I should have put the gun down, but I didn’t.”
Tough to do, but he’s right. He’s lucky he’s not dead.
Sad SC ping.
What makes this even more of a tragedy for us is that someone in effect called us for help and we ended up being a part of him getting injured seriously,” Cannon said.
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Shouldn’t this go down as something that really could have gone without having been said?
A one time popular saying
“Sometimes it is better to let people think you are a fool rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt”.
If you drop the gun immediately as ordered, can it discharge when it hits the ground? If it does discharge, you will wind up looking like a piece of Swiss cheese, if you don’t drop it you will wind up looking like a piece of Swiss cheese also. The best thing to do is have nothing in your hands when the cops arrive on the scene...
“Tough to do, but he’s right. He’s lucky he’s not dead.”
Yeah, but he may well be paralyzed! This quick on the draw stuff has to be stopped. Too many innocent people getting shot, then the sheriff says “we’re so sorry!”
I hope Mr. Heyward will be all right.
If the good guy had been in a shootout in the house with the hoods then he may have been partially deafened and for damn sure his adrenaline was pumping.
Sounds like they have a bit of a problem.
Still, this has to be taken in the context of 1.2 officers in the country and with the internet, every episode like this will be reported.
I had a friend, Rob Noblin, got shot three times when Obama’s son pulled gun out of defective holster in 93.
Forgive me for not crying and fearing riots every time something like this happens.
1.2 millions guys facing eight hours a day of insanity. It’s simple odds that things will go wrong sometimes.
What if it isn't the cops who show, up but criminals?
I am sure the Sheriff does feel bad, as well as the Deputy. I feel bad about this one and I wasn’t even there.
From the information made public at this point, this shooting appears to be justified - unfortunate, but justified.
Basically, though, doesn’t this mean self defense with a fire arm should not be attempted? Because if you draw a fire arm for self defense, you can’t be sure when the criminals will retreat and when law enforcement will arrive. The human brain can only react so fast. So, if you draw a fire arm in self defense, there’s a good chance you will be fired on by law enforcement?
Blacks just don’t have any experience with the police and don’t know how responde to them.
You betcha. If you’re a cop and arrive on a site where it was reported shots were fired by black males, and you’re suddenly confronted by a black male holding a gun, would you assume he was a criminal or a good guy? If you assume wrong, what are your chances of getting shot?
I’m always amused by cop shows where the detectives, often in undercover type clothes, chase bad guys down city streets and somehow all involved seem to know which are cops and which are perps, including uniforms that randomly show up.
Friendly fire or its potential is a huge problem in any armed encounter. If you are armed and call the cops, how you are going to let them know you’re a good guy when they show up had better be a subject for serious thought.
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This is very regrettable but as you say, understandable. What really gets to me is the Brian Claunch story and others such as people being shot dead by officers on a drug raid at the wrong address. The Brian Claunch shooting really bothers me because almost no one knows about it and the reason no one knows is immediately obvious when you see a picture of Brian Claunch. Everyone in this country should be made aware that a man with one arm and one leg, sitting in a wheelchair in a nursing home was shot dead because he supposedly had hemmed an officer of the law into a corner of a room and was making threatening motions...with a BALL POINT PEN! We don’t need leos who cannot handle such a situation without committing legalized murder.
GOOD GOD!!! I believe you but I must read on as you know how shocking it sounds!!
I think I see the problem here...Heyward, 26
Young black male with a gun in his hand not following a directive fast enough...
Unfortunately, the normal situation far too often, he is considered the perp...He was profiled wrong...
Dollars to donuts he was an older man, he would not have been shot..
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