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Man Kills Himself With Chainsaw During Arrest
Omaha.com ^ | 12/22/04 | Kristin Zagurski

Posted on 12/22/2004 2:49:02 PM PST by gopwinsin04

Grand Island police went to the man's business about 5PM Tuesday to serve a federal arrest warrant for being a felon in possession of a firearm, said Deb Collins a Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman.

Paul Smidt Jr. 40, refused officers acess to the building, Smidt Lawn Care, anD barricaded himself inside.

Negoiations continued until after midnight when officers got into the building. Smidt, armed with a chain saw, barricaded himself in a bathroom at the back of the business.

Officers got into the bathroom and orderd Smidt to drop the chainsaw. When he refused, an officer fired a non-lethal beanbag at Smidt, who then lowered his head into the chain saw, taking his own life.

'He did not stumble or fall onto the chain saw,' Collins said.

All the officers who were on duty Wednesday were to undergo a stress debriefing.

(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: chainsaw
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To: gopwinsin04

Unique was to meet your maker.


21 posted on 12/22/2004 3:40:01 PM PST by dennisw (Help put the "Ch" back in Chanukah)
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To: gopwinsin04

This guy just gave the Islamic beheaders some ideas.


22 posted on 12/22/2004 3:41:02 PM PST by dennisw (Help put the "Ch" back in Chanukah)
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To: BenLurkin
Agreed. Somebody needs to look into this a little more closely.. I have great sympathy for LEOs and the job they do -- but I sense a little CYA going' on here.

Ditto here. I've got friends who are LEOs and they've got a TOUGH job sometimes. But I think this was a probably a major oopsie that went seriously wrong.

I'll try and catch my neighbor in the next day or so and ask him what he thinks about this. He's got first hand experience with the beanbag gun. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.
23 posted on 12/22/2004 3:45:10 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: hiredhand
Ya never know:

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-19.html

24 posted on 12/22/2004 3:50:12 PM PST by general_re ("What's plausible to you is unimportant." - D'man)
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To: hiredhand; BenLurkin
I've used chainsaws a fair amount....

I agree with you two.

25 posted on 12/22/2004 3:51:20 PM PST by Vigilantcitizen (#40)
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To: BenLurkin; hiredhand
Story sounds strange? Well, I'd hope so! The guy is holed up in a bathroom with a running chainsaw and people think one of his other decisions that day sounds a little inconceivable?
26 posted on 12/22/2004 3:52:20 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: general_re
Ya know....I was JUST perusing a Gallery server I set up for my oldest son, and he has a comic series in which one of the characters declares,

"Some people have to work their whole lives to get a Darwin Award, while others are born predestined recipients."

I thought this was strangely fitting. :-)
27 posted on 12/22/2004 3:55:52 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: Vigilantcitizen; BenLurkin

Yeah...pretty fishy.


28 posted on 12/22/2004 3:56:27 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: hiredhand

There's apparently something about chainsaws that inspires people to do dumb things:

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2002-08.html
http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2002-01.html


29 posted on 12/22/2004 4:00:40 PM PST by general_re ("What's plausible to you is unimportant." - D'man)
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To: HairOfTheDog
tory sounds strange? Well, I'd hope so! The guy is holed up in a bathroom with a running chainsaw and people think one of his other decisions that day sounds a little inconceivable?

I wasn't there, and I'm NOT qualified to criticize the LEOs involved, but it seems that if somebody could get a shot in with a beanbag gun, then they could have tossed a can of CS gas....or a flashbang....

I just think that shooting a guy with a beanbag gun who is holding a chainsaw at a high enough throttle to kill a person should they come in contact with it was ....er....maybe a bad choice.

Ah well....hindsight is always 20/20 eh? :-)
30 posted on 12/22/2004 4:01:32 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: general_re
The exact operation of (US made) grenades is classified (believe it or not :-). But a chainsaw is DEFINITELY the wrong way to retrieve the propellant from them!

All I can think of that comes to mind about that Croatian is JUST DAMN! :-)
31 posted on 12/22/2004 4:04:40 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: hiredhand
I just think that shooting a guy with a beanbag gun who is holding a chainsaw at a high enough throttle to kill a person should they come in contact with it was ....er....maybe a bad choice.

They'd have been justified to shoot him dead. They don't need to cover themselves here.

32 posted on 12/22/2004 4:25:28 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: gopwinsin04

Good for that two faced bastard.


33 posted on 12/22/2004 4:26:39 PM PST by fish hawk
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To: gopwinsin04

Split Personality?


34 posted on 12/22/2004 4:29:47 PM PST by byteback
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To: byteback

A splitting-head ache.


35 posted on 12/22/2004 4:39:36 PM PST by Charles Henrickson (Chain, chain, chain, chainsaw of fools . . .)
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To: HairOfTheDog
They'd have been justified to shoot him dead. They don't need to cover themselves here.

They could have kept a safe distance and left him ALONE. Then if he had decided to harvest his own grey matter with a chainsaw, they would have at least been able to say in hindsight that they were NOT a factor in it.

IF he had chosen to come out, and toward them with a running chainsaw as a weapon, then by all means drop him. There's a lot to doubt here, and as long as there is doubt, the LEOs involved will have to give account.

But this story in its present form is just not believable. Think about it....cops pop him with a beanbag gun, and immediately afterwards, he runs a chainsaw into his cranium far enough to kill him.

Didn't we adopt a three shot burst trigger for this same reason? ...to keep a soldier from holding the trigger because of trauma reaction and taking out friendlies? as I remember, that was at least ONE of the reasons.

We aren't that gullible. The LEOs don't have to cover for anything if this is the way it happened. But there is a lot of doubt as to whether them shooting him with a less than lethal weapon had anything to do with his death.

I still root for the cops...and say that they tried to incapacitate him from behind, knocking him forward onto the saw, and indirectly causing his death. I also think the deceased deserves a "special" sort of Darwin Award for being shot with something that was NOT supposed to kill him, but caused him to jam his head into a running chainsaw.

I can only imagine the LEO who fired the beanbag saying just after the grisly event, "Now THAT wasn't supposed to happen!"
36 posted on 12/22/2004 5:24:42 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: hiredhand
They could have kept a safe distance and left him ALONE.

They had an arrest warrant for him, "If you don't want to be arrested, just don't answer the door and they'll go away" is not a very workable law enforcement policy. A guy with a running chainsaw is a deadly threat, I can only imagine how small a space really is in a home with a chainsaw wielding man. Yes, deadly force was justified.

You look at guy engaging in a string of bizarre and self-destructive behavior and see cops who might be lying. I don't know why. But I guess I am OK with you thinking that.

37 posted on 12/22/2004 5:32:26 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: HairOfTheDog
They had an arrest warrant for him, "If you don't want to be arrested, just don't answer the door and they'll go away" is not a very workable law enforcement policy. A guy with a running chainsaw is a deadly threat, I can only imagine how small a space really is in a home with a chainsaw wielding man. Yes, deadly force was justified.

You look at guy engaging in a string of bizarre and self-destructive behavior and see cops who might be lying. I don't know why. But I guess I am OK with you thinking that.


PULEASE! I did NOT say that the cops were "lying", or that they were trying to "cover up" anything!

I was merely pointing out (and mind you I'm not the only one!) that this story is NOT very believable, and that it wouldn't have hurt anything to just leave him where he was for awhile and make sure he didn't go far!

Supposing the guy only held the chainsaw at throttle he would have run out of gas in an hour or so anyway, maybe less. He had no hostages, and was "holed up". Where in the world did they think he was going to go?!

Just because a warrant has been issued, the officers serving the warrant don't have the option of applying deadly force FIRST unless circumstances dictate. The very fact that they used a less than lethal weapon indicates that they understand this. It goes without saying that you have to put yourself in very CLOSE proximity in order for somebody armed with a chainsaw to hurt you.

I think it's been well established that the LEOs involved in this CHOSE to take action, whereas in hindsight it could have better to wait.

Truth be known....though I root for the LEOs, this doesn't look good for them. I won't be surprised if somebody in this guy's family finds a cop hating lawyer and takes them to court.

Seriously, WHAT were they thinking when they shot a man holding a running chainsaw?! It rates right up there with shooting somebody holding a grenade...the pin has been pulled, and they're holding the latch.

It was just a bad choice.
38 posted on 12/22/2004 5:48:59 PM PST by hiredhand ( "Pudge the Indestructible Kitty" lives at - http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: hiredhand

Heh... OKAY!


39 posted on 12/22/2004 5:51:08 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: HairOfTheDog

When chainsaws are outlawed, only outlaws will have chainsaws.


40 posted on 12/22/2004 5:53:21 PM PST by JusPasenThru (If you want to get it movin' you must learn to doof da bouven.)
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