Best regards to all,
I can’t believe this isn’t being prosecuted.
Well, maybe I can. Cops can come onto my property and kill me and say it was self defense.
This makes my blood boil.
Reading the story, it appears two stupid armed men met.
“However, before assistance could arrive, Mr. Coffey descended from the tree stand with his weapon cradled across his arms, disregarding the instructions of Officer Minton to leave the weapon in the stand. According to the officer when Mr. Coffey reached the ground, he advanced towards Officer Minton, holding his weapon in a “low ready”position and pointing it directly at the officer. Officer Minton commanded him multiple times to stop and then retreated up the hill from Mr. Coffey approximately 85 feet from the tree stand as Mr. Coffey continued to pursue Officer Minton with his shotgun pointing at him. Mr. Coffey was approximately 25 feet from the officer when again he was told to stop. Officer Minton stated that he thought Mr. Coffey was going to shoot him; he drew his service weapon, pointed it at Mr. Coffey and fired one round, striking Mr. Coffey in the chest. Mr. Coffey fell immediately. The distance between Mr. Coffey’s body and the base of the tree that Officer Minton fired from was 14 feet. Officer Minton radioed to the other officers that he had shot Mr. Coffey and EMS was requested. Furthermore, Officer Minton attempted CPR on Mr. Coffey without success.
“In the course of the investigation, SBI agents collected “scratch feed,” which is commonly used for baiting turkeys, from the area around Mr. Coffey’s tree stand. This feed was consistent with feed located at Mr. Coffey’s residence and with feed located near the tree stand occupied by Larry Helton. Agents also determined that Mr. Coffey suffered from hearing loss. According to information provided by the family of Clyde Coffey, the conduct described by Officer Minton was out of character for Mr. Coffey.
I’m trying to look for something that the game officer did wrong, but I can’t find anything.
He patrolled the area (legally), he investigated suspect activity (legally) and, if his story is true, an armed man approached him and aimed a weapon at him.
Again, this all depends upon the officer’s story and there’s certainly no one else alive to corrobarate or refute that story, but the article provides no evidence that would even minimally warrant an indictment.
A lot of honest, intelligent and capable people want to serve their fellow citizens by enforcing the law. It takes a lot of weeding to keep people like that away from a badge.
I know some posters on here have defended the officer, but I question his conduct. If the situation was growing tense, why not just diffuse it by walking away and returning later with backup, if the crime of turkey baiting is so egregious? Why force a confrontation with an obviously furious elderly man who is, after all, on his own property? If forced to shoot, why not aim for the arm or leg? Or did the officer not have that sort of skill from less than 20 feet? It’s just a senseless situation, and a man is dead because of a lack of discretion and common sense.
“He says there is no evidence suggesting the officer confused the
hunter with an animal. Instead, it appeared the officer was
protecting himself.”
The first part of this statement seems a strange statement for the investigator to make under the circumstances..
“holding his weapon in a “low ready”position and pointing it directly at the officer”
One part of this statement seems to contradict the other part, my low ready would be pointed towards the ground about six feet in from of me, not DIRECTLY AT a person 25 feet away.
As in any shooting of this type, the victor tells the story and the other side depends on physical evidence. I don’t know what happened, can’t even find a decent story about the circumstances/statements that the decision was based on but Mr. Coffey should not have had the firearm, or should have used it (not advocating that the officer should have been shot, only stating logical options for the confrontation), by the time the Wildlife Officer drew his weapon.
There are many versions of this on the Internet, why did you post the one with the provocative headline? Seems you are trying to make a statement about the authorities involved.