Posted on 07/20/2016 5:55:58 PM PDT by Auntie Mame
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CN) — In a lawsuit against the United States, a retired sheriff's captain claims a U.S. Forest Service officer shot at him 16 times as he tried to drive away from a needless confrontation at a fire camp.
In his federal lawsuit, John Gocke says Forest Service Officer Ty Davis first tried to climb into his car through the driver's window, and when Gocke pushed him out and began to drive off, Davis fired 16 shots at him "almost killing plaintiff and causing extensive damage to plaintiff's vehicle."
"At no time did plaintiff pose any threat to the general public as he was not impaired in any way while operating his vehicle, except while under fire from defendant Ty Davis' gunfire," Gocke says in his July 17 complaint. He calls Davis's "decision to use deadly force" against him "per se unreasonable."
After being shot at, Gocke says, he got out of his car in a well-lit area, where he was "immediately set upon" by Davis and other Forest Service officers, who handcuffed and arrested him.
He faces a felony charge of resisting an officer, punishable by up to a year in jail.
Forest Service spokesman John C. Heil III said: "We cannot discuss litigation matters."
Gocke, who is retired from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department, says Davis "employed deficient approach and containment tactics and immediately began making matters worse by imprudently firing into a moving vehicle causing threat of injury and death to everyone at the scene."
According to the complaint and several news reports, Gocke, 61, was driving to dinner on July 20, 2015, when he noticed a lot of Forest Service activity at the county fairgrounds, which were being used as a base camp to fight the North Fire. He took an alternate route to dinner, but on the way back stopped to ask what was going on.
The officer he asked turned out to be Davis, who had "a confrontational attitude" and asked for identification. Gocke showed him his badge.
Then, "for no apparent reason," Gocke says, Davis told him to get out of his car.
"Plaintiff, seeing no reason for defendant Ty Davis' demand that he exit his vehicle, decided to leave the scene to avoid further problems," the complaint states.
Gocke's attorney, J. Pat Ferraris with Disenhouse Law in Riverside, told Courthouse News: "You're not required to get out of your car ... unless [police] have probable cause" of a crime.
As Gocke drove away at 5 to 10 mph, he says, Davis jumped into the moving car "without provocation."
The Forest Service said in a statement last year that Gocke had been "non-compliant," and then "attempted to flee and dragged the officer along with the fleeing vehicle."
"The officer fired his weapon, striking subject's vehicle numerous times, but no one was injured," according to the Forest Service statement.
The .40 caliber bullets from Davis's Glock 22 model handgun took out a tire and the rear window of Gocke's Subaru Outback.
After Gocke gave up, he was turned over to the sheriff's department, which released him a few hours later.
He was arrested and charged with the felony in late April, soon after Ferraris filed a formal claim with the government.
"I wouldn't put it past individuals to have put pressure on the district attorney's office" to file the charges, Ferraris said .
In addition to Davis, Gocke sued the United States, the Forest Service and its governmental parent, the Department of Agriculture. He seeks punitive damages for civil rights violations, negligence, battery, malicious prosecution and failure to train and supervise.
The TSA and BATFE send their rejects to the NFS?
I automatically side against fed tree cops ever since the shut down theater crap they pulled.
It’s a mattter of whose story you believe. Maybe they need body cameras.
A retired sheriff's captain did this? LOL, take the same attitude towards a deputy and you'll get the same response he did from the forest service.
Sucks when their own methods are used against them. Must be quite the eye opener.
What was the Forest Service trying to hide so badly they had to stop this guy, and when he showed a badge, they wanted him out of the car and up against the wall (so to speak) ?
Back in the 70s it was FS troops that overran several desireable properties that were within or adjacent to federal land that the FS wanted to add to that Federal land. The occupants were killed and the land taken.
He probably interrupted their coverup of the fire that they started. Since he was alone they probably figured they could drop the “hapless camper” arson charge on him.
This is one of the reasons for checks and balances.
Different levels of government help protect us from them.
Let’s see the reason given for the arrest. I doubt if they have one.
Mr. GG2 who is from the West has had numerous run ins with the BLM. He and some hunting buddies had to disarm one of those fools one time. They told him to GTFO and he could pick up his weapon at the sheriff’s office.
Another time a BLM ranger tried to keep Mr GG2 from walking to his mining claim. The arrogant little so and so said it was his forest. Mr. GG2 said “no its the peoples forest and you work for us”. Then the ranger threatened Mr. GG2 and it started to escalate from there until Mr. GG2’s partner came along and said to the BLM guy “ hi I’m so and so attorney at law” and handed him a card. At that point the little weasel left.
I could go on and on. The BLM needs to be shut down. They are a completely rogue agency.
some are very, how should I say it, territorial?
When Gocke complied with Davis’s request for ID and showed Davis his sheriff’s badge, Davis should have done something other than try to jump thru the passenger window. Unless Davis was looking for a disability retirement. Who in the heck tries to jump thru a passenger window? They’re not Daddy trying to take the keys out of the ignition of their son’s car.
The day and age of a forest service or NPS ranger employee driving a work pickup or riding a horse, with a chain saw, maybe a shotgun for protection are just loooooooooooooooooong gone.
The cops have been all sent through FLETC. They are the lefties from college trying to save the animals. Being lefties automatically qualify them as nut jobs. The old rangers of yesteryear are retiring out. The Clintonestas are in. Just wait until the obama college bunch get power.
Now for your question. Yes, the only time in my life where I have ever run into a bad cop was at a federal park. There were a couple just into power. Seldom smiled, very unfriendly. Then there are stories about little sweetie with a badge and a taser, nailing old men walking dogs.
My favorite cops are city and county, and many state. The feds I no longer trust.
Forest Service???
Since when did watching trees become a job for SWAT officers?
Ty Davis is just the kind of asshole that would be perfect for Obama’s “civilian force as large and as well armed as the military”.
It was on County Fairground lands, not Forest Service. Forest Service LEO has no jurisdiction outside National Forest land.
I'm sorry, that just makes me laugh harder. For the rest of us peons, citing lack of jurisdiction during a street interaction with a deputy sheriff, in order to defy a specific command, is a guaranteed face-first body slam into the pavement - and if pursued, a bullet.
And that's if you're right about the lack of jurisdiction. If you're wrong, you just get the bullet.
:shrug: Like I said, sucks for them to find out what their own tactics feel like - big eye opener.
Pretty stupid (or drunk) retired police captain if he never learned the rule “you can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride”.
He only had done to him what cops normally only do to ordinary citizens.
“you can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride”.
It appears he has beaten both.
Yeah, but lucky for our side he can't shoot for squat...
I tend to avoid run-ins with the cops, so I'll take your word for it.
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