Posted on 02/19/2005 8:20:52 PM PST by holymoly
CHICAGO - An off-duty correctional officer shot and killed a friend and co-worker early Saturday whom he mistakenly believed was trying to carjack a vehicle being driven by his wife, police said.
Arlin McClendon, 36, of Calumet City, was killed while trying to pull a joke on a longtime friend in an area where two dozen carjackings have occurred in less than a year, authorities said.
"It is a tragic accident, a case of mistaken identity," said Calumet City Police Sgt. Larry Smith. "The victim and the shooter were lifelong friends. They worked together."
McClendon was driving in the suburb just south of Chicago at about 1 a.m. with a colleague when he spotted an SUV that belonged to his friend.
"McClendon began honking and flashing his lights in an attempt to get the vehicle to pull over," Smith said.
What McClendon did not know was that his friend's wife was driving the SUV with the couple's 4-year-old child. His friend, who authorities did not identify Saturday, was in a third vehicle, Smith said.
Once the SUV was stopped, as a joke, McClendon ran up to it and started pounding on one of the windows, said Bill Cunningham, a spokesman for the Cook County Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail where the two men worked.
He also began pulling on a door handle.
The woman's husband did not recognize McClendon, whom he had worked with for years at the Cook County Jail, and mistakenly believed his wife was being carjacked, Smith said.
"He got out of his car and identified himself as a police officer and shot his friend," he said.
McClendon, who was shot multiple times, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Over the last six months there have been 24 carjackings in Calumet City and "that may have played into" the off-duty officer's belief that his wife was being carjacked, Cunningham said.
The two both started working at the jail in 1992, he added.
No charges had been filed in connection with the shooting Saturday night, Smith said.
And although an investigation was pending, given the nature of the incident, it was unclear if the off-duty officer would face any criminal charges, Smith said.
Correctional officers are not issued firearms, but are allowed to carry weapons while off-duty, Cunningham said.
OK. He might have told his buddy what he was planning to do. Unless the buddy is just telling a self-serving story.
anybody who believes anything more of this whole piece than dead and 1 a.m., line up over here on the far left.
"Comedy is not pretty"
Yep. When it smells that bad, something is rotten
What got me was he says he identified himself as a cop then opened fire. I'm not believing there was much of a pause.
If he's pulling on the door handle and the doors not opening the n it's locked. He deserved to have a gun pointed at him. Not to get shot. You're always supposed to show more accessment than that.
I support the right of every American to carry a gun and to be allowed to shoot a criminal on site. But shooting before discerning what you're shooting at is not a good example of responsible gun use.
Helloooo?
You call banging on the car door, trying to get at your wife and child "without any cause?"
Helloooo?
That's what gets me -- the shooter knew this guy *all his life*. I just can't imagine not recognizing a friend of mine standing by my wife's car, no matter what stupid stuff he was doing, unless I didn't even pause for a moment before opening fire.
If the shooter spent even the *minimum* amount of time and attention necessary to make sure it was a proper shoot before opening fire, I find it very hard to believe he wouldn't have recognized someone he knew well. Nor do I believe that the friend wouldn't have instantly gone, "hey, it's me!" if the shooter had identified himself and then actually waited for the "perp" to stop his "attack" before shooting. Sounds more like, "Halt, *bang* *bang* *bang* or I'll shoot!"
And even in Texas you can't shoot someone just for banging on a car window and pulling on the handle, no matter how nuts they're acting.
Going just by what's in the story (and admittedly stories like this are notoriously inaccurate), the shooter needs to face a grand jury.
The only thing I can assume from this is the guy yelled "Freeze! Police" then shot him when he turned to see who yelled "Freeze! Police!"
Accidental shooting...yes.
Poor judgement by the shooter nonetheless. If you yell "freeze" you don't start shooting.
I was always told the funniest things were always the most vicious. I believe there to be a great deal of truth in that.
Negligent at best. If the guy didn't have sufficient training and self discipline to avoid killing someone in this situation, he shouldn't have been allowed to carry a firearm.
'And even in Texas you can't shoot someone just for banging on a car window and pulling on the handle, no matter how nuts they're acting.'
Banging on a car window is also a sign of urgency. The story could have easily been "cop shoots man fleeing from hooligans".
Oh that is a good one. Let some civilian make the same mistake and its 15-20 and complete loss of all their wealth. I'll have to remember that "mistaken identity" bit. This board is really entertaining!
Right, or "cop shoots man frantically seeking help for his child who was injured in a nearby car accident", etc.
This idiot is a clear Darwin Award winner. Anyone that stupid has a Constitutional right to the award. Faking a crime is not a joke.
The guy forced the SUV to stop, then bangs on the window and tries to open the door at 1 am in an area where a lot of car hijacking have taken place in recent time.
If you saw someone do that to the car your wife and child were in, what would YOU think?
I'm not in Texas, but I would. Here in my small town of Missouri, a man who had robbed a pharmacy in broad daylight , escaped to his car. It wouldn't start, so he ran to a nearby drive in window of Wendy's. He tried to open the passenger door of this man's vehicle waiting in line. Too bad for him....the man had a gun and shot him.
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