Posted on 05/25/2013 5:29:58 AM PDT by Altariel
FIFE, Wash. -- Fife police say they had no choice but to shoot a father who was holding his child hostage early Friday morning, but his mother says there was no reason to kill him.
Police say 30-year-old Leonard Thomas was despondent over the death of a friend when he called his mother, Annalesa Thomas, to come care for his 4-year-old son.
When Annalesa arrived, she said Leonard refused to hand the boy over and assaulted her, so she called 911.
"The grandmother, fearing for the child's safety, entered into the child's residence where she was assaulted," said Lt. Dave Woods of the Fiffe Police Department.
Police say Leonard had a drive-by shooting conviction from 2000 and an officer safety alert. When police arrived on scene, members of a SWAT team spent four hours trying to talk him out.
"He was actually holding the child as a shield, walking around the residence and at one point even holding the child out the second floor window," Woods said.
According to police, the man put his son on the porch early Friday morning, but then tried to pull the child back inside the house.
SWAT officers opened fire on the man, who was hit and later died at St. Joseph's Hospital.
Annalesa tells a different version of the story.
"I had begged them just prior, 'Please don't shoot my son. He is drunk and he is belligerent, but he is not armed.'
(The officer) said, 'We've got to follow protocol,'" she said.
(And there you have it. Policy was followed. Officer Safety was ensured. Circular Force Continuum justified. Now, STFU. - AF)
She said Leonard eventually sent his son, Elijah, out to police.
"He ran down the stairs. A policeman came and snatched him up, ran down the driveway and down the street the opposite way," Annelesa said. "Not even two seconds later they ran down the driveway, in the gate, ramrodded the door and then I heard two shots."
Woods said the incident is under investigation, but said the information he has contradicts Annalesa's description of the events.
Police claim Leonard told them he was armed, but no guns have been found.
They say they also shot his dog because it acted aggressively toward them.
“”He was actually holding the child as a shield, walking around the residence and at one point even holding the child out the second floor window,” Woods said”
So police did NOT follow protocol when Michael Jackson did the same thing.
sounds really fishy to me, as I have said in the past, do not call the police for “help”. If you call expect them to shoot or arrest someone.
Amazing how the Founders got by for decades without any $50-an-hour policethugs...
In all fairness to the police, it is not their job to risk their lives to clean up after crappy people who have ruined their own lives and are offering to ruin the lives of others.
So if called, they are authorized to use whatever force is necessary to end the situation, while minimizing risk to themselves.
Police hate the prospect of being bitten by dogs, so if a dog offers to do so, they will kill it. Sorry if it is the “beloved snookums who would never hurt a fly”. They don’t know that, and it is not their job to know that.
This applies to “good boys who were turning their lives around”, as well. Cops don’t know that, and they don’t care. And it is not part of their job description to try to save the life of somebody who is risking the life of anyone else. Unless Tyrone is doing everything he can to obey police orders, to not threaten or menace them, to not try to escape or resist, well, tough.
If the perp is in anyway putting the child in harm’s way....The perp needed to be dealt with ASAP. The child is not like an adult where he is able to figure out the situation and escape when the situation present itself.
The drive by conviction should have been enough for a life sentence.
SWAMPSNIPER gets to the point. This idiot was convicted of a drive by shooting, and he’s out and about?
I’m no fan of militarized cops, but when our revolving door justice system keeps returning homicidal trash to the streets, I can understand part of the attitude that goes with it.
Maybe the deceased had something that looked like a weapon when they breached that door, maybe not. The only ones alive who know are the police, and guess what story they are going to tell?
I feel sorry for the kid and the dog.
If he was guilty, absolutely yes.
But “convicted” does not automatically mean “was 100% guilty of the crime”.
There’s been several recent cases of people convicted of rape, being released after being exonerated, to use an example.
The “officer safety alert” could be a concern.
It would likely be quite easy to attach such an alert to the record of each and every Freeper.
The disparities between the government employee account and the mother’s account suggests that this may not have been a good shot.
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