Posted on 12/17/2021 4:06:03 AM PST by marktwain
On March 5, 2019, Officer Nathan Heidelberg and another officer responded to an alarm call at about 1:16 a.m. The officers checked the backyard of the residence. They did not find a problem. The residence is a large single-family home with outbuildings. Then the officers checked the front door. They found it was unlocked. An alarm went off. The officers backed off.
Then Officer Heidelberg announced himself and attempted to enter the residence. The homeowner, David Charles Wilson, now alerted, fired a shot in the direction of the front door. The shot struck Officer Heidelberg. He was pronounced dead about an hour later. From newswest9.com:
The homeowner, David Charles Wilson, was inside the residence at this time and admitted to firing his handgun in the direction of Officer Heidelberg.
On May 2, 2019, a grand jury indicted David Wilson for the death of Officer Heidelberg. Here is the statement of Wilson’s attorney, from ketk.com:
Wilson’s attorney later said Wilson was defending his home and mistook Heidelberg for an intruder.
In September of 2019, Wilson’s attorney filed a motion to quash the manslaughter indictment stating that the alarm system in Wilson’s home had malfunctioned and mistakenly alerted the police. According to that motion, Wilson was not aware that his alarm company had called the police and the malfunctioning alarm happened in the pool house, which is on a separate alarm system from the main house.
That motion went on to state that Heidelberg and another officer first checked the backyard, but the gate was locked. The officers then went to the front of the house where they tried the front door and found it to be unlocked.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
When I was a teenager, our home alarm system would routinely arm itself during storms (Never could figure out why or how), and when I came home from school, I would set it off. The alarm company would call us while calling the police so we would expect them.
Yes, mistakes and a tragedy but not a crime.
Homeowner just fires shot in the direction of intruder? Didn’t have a visual on the intruder? What could go wrong?
So, if I am hunting in the forest and just shoot at anything, most people here would upbraid me for not making sure of my target before firing.
This guy just fires at his front door, not making sure of the target before firing. If it had been a daughter selling girl scout cookies, would the people on this thread have been so be so forgiving.
I always make sure of my targets before shooting anything. And the homeowner should have also.
There aren't many daughters going house to house selling cookies at 1:16 in the morning......
Fine, mea culpa. How about a neighbor wondering why the door was swinging open? Somebody asking for help during a breakdown, etc?
Seriously, this is just like FJB joking about firing a shotgun through the door for crime prevention. The man still needed to make sure of his target.
I wonder if he head the police announce themselves...but then does it matter, since every home invasion claims the same.
I think, in hindsight, that since they had Angie Dickinson already there, they should have used her, as she would have at least sounded less threatening.
But one has to wonder what the hurry was. Why not attempt to call the guy from downtown (a little police lingo there)? If they had a legal alarm linked to the police, which is likely the case, then the police should have had phone numbers.
I am a bit skeptical of that jury.
Bad analogy.
1. Hunting is a premeditated predatorial practice with set bagging and behavioral limits, not so defending your house.
2. Any cop doing the same thing at a passer by would get away with it, without even a trial or grand jury. Just look at the Miami kidnapping where cops were shielding themselves with bystanders. They got medals and praise for it by their chief for “reasons of urgency against threat”.
Well, the jury goes by the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt. There is nothing sceptical about the jury, and nothing sceptical about a prosecutorial process with limits on the weight of the government’s word and powers.
Not in the case of Alec Baldwin apparently...
This! This is a big suit on the alarm company. Pitting predator cops vs scared home owners and then washing your hands off seems to me reckless.
I agree.
AND, the officers should have had their red/blue/white lights on, and they should have waited (no hurry) and they should have announced themselves loudly. I mean, if I’m an officer, there’s no way I’m going in somebody’s house in the dark of night in Texas because I am going to ASSUME they ARE ARMED and WILL SHOOT !!
An aside comment...........I lived in Midland in the mid sixties for six months or so. 98% of Midland is rock solid conservative. I’m sure that jury hated that the officer was killed but both the officer and the shooter made mistakes and destroying the shooter’s family would not bring the officer back. Terrible tragedy all around.
Odd reporting from the link...
“The front door to the apartment was open and one of the officers stated that Officer Heidelberg announced himself as part of the Midland Police Department before hearing a shot fired. The two officers who joined later heard him announce himself as well. “
“At first, Officer Heidelberg said that he was okay, but soon after another noise was heard and Officer Heidelberg was found face down.”
An apartment vs a house?
Door “open” vs door “unlocked”?
“...soon after another noise was heard...” what noise?
Also, why didn’t the cops just ring the door bell? Especially before entering the house?
I have mentioned this before. If a police officer is about to make entry into a home, let folks inside now it’s the cops and not a home invasion. And it’s easy to do that.
Park a police car out front, and turn on its lights and siren.
Civil suits, however, are another matter.
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