Posted on 06/24/2006 8:26:19 AM PDT by seowulf
Navy Yard city
A Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputy was placed on administrative leave Thursday after shooting a man in the leg while the man was in a tree at the corner of National Avenue South and Arsenal Way.
The shooting is under investigation, although preliminary information indicates it was accidental, according to Deputy Scott Wilson, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The deputy, who has five years on the force, meant to fire a Taser, not the gun, Wilson said.
The man, who is believed to be in his 20s, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday night.
Sheriff’s deputies and Bremerton Fire and Rescue personnel were dispatched to the intersection of National Avenue South and Arsenal Way at 11:40 a.m.Thursday after an employee of a local business said a man had climbed 15 to 20 feet into a fig tree and was acting strangely. The man had been in the tree and talking to himself when one employee arrived at work at 7:30 a.m.
Deputies and rescue personnel attempted to coax the man from the tree for almost two hours before he was shot. During that time, the man was becoming increasingly hostile toward rescue personnel and deputies trying to get him out of the tree, witness David Blakeslee said.
Deputies were unsure whether the man was intoxicated, on drugs, or possibly experiencing a psychotic episode. They wanted to get him down before he hurt himself or others, Wilson said. One deputy attempted to discharge a Taser at the man, but when it did not work asked another deputy to fire a Taser. Instead of grabbing the Taser, the deputy grabbed and fired the gun, Wilson said.
Deputies carry both a Taser and a gun on their utility belts. The Taser used is similar in shape to the 40-caliber compact model gun the deputy used, Wilson said.
The Taser, popular with law enforcement because it can stop an individual without using lethal force, is a handheld weapon that delivers an electric shock via two stainless steel barbs.
Blakeslee, an employee with nearby B&B Auto Repair, described the man’s reaction to getting shot:
"He said, ‘Ow, that hurt, I’m coming down, I’m coming down.’"
The man climbed down the tree on his own where medical personnel were waiting, Blakeslee said.
"I think they (emergency personnel) handled it really well," said witness JoAnn Baxter. "They didn’t know if he was going to harm himself or others."
Blakeslee, who works across the street from where the incident occurred, said he heard the man talking to himself early Thursday morning. He at first thought the man was a land surveyor on the vacant lot using a walkie-talkie. Two hours later, the man was still talking to himself. Blakeslee went across the street and saw the man about 15 to 20 feet up in the tree.
He also saw "something strapped around the tree," although he could not see what the strap was attached to. Unsure if the man planned to hurt himself or what would happen if he fell, Blakeslee called 911 to report the man’s strange behavior.
"They talked to him for a good hour and a half," he said. "It’s unfortunate he got shot."
The Washington State Patrol is investigating the shooting, and the deputy will remain on administrative leave — as is standard procedure — until the investigation is complete.
The shooting is the second by Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies in the past six weeks. On May 16, two deputies responding to an anonymous 911 call at 4 a.m. shot and killed Shane Williams, 26, on the street in the 3700 block of West E Street, not far from the scene of Thursday’s shooting. Preliminary investigation by the Washington State Patrol determined that Williams had charged the deputies with a machete.
This guy has demonstrated total inability to be around firearms. Bye Bye.
Substitute citizen for the officer and the "mistake" might become attempted murder.
How hostile can a man get 15 to 20 feet up in a fig tree? Was he spitting or pissing on the officers below? Throwing down handfuls of leaves? Shaking the branches at them is a fierce and menacing way? Assuming the deputy pulled the correct weapon and tased the guy, wouldn't that make him fall out of the tree? As it turns out, the shot to the leg was probably the better of the two alternatives given the errant arborist could descend on his own.
Damn! I meant to fire the Taser!
I hate it when that happens!
BTW, what would happen if you taser a guy who is up a tree? Does the fall hurt him more than the bullet in the leg? Great choices.....lol. Climb that tree and you can choose between a bullet and taser. We dont put up with tree climbing around these parts!!!
Of course there is a chance with this type of "mistake" the officer could get himself or others killed by drawing the wrong weapon.
Seems to me that the cops are getting just a little too free with the use of tasers these days. I guess, since they're non-lethal, they feel like they can just zap anyone who doesn't immediately ask "how high?" when told to jump.
This is one for the Mythbusters.
I wonder if they ever heard of pepper spray? Seems like it'd be worth a try on a strange man in a tree.
Yo Cody! Hold mah taser and watch this!
That's my take on it.
It's not if the tree is in your own yard.
Ah, we are led to believe that the victim's only transgression was that he climbed up the fig tree and acted strangely. It was only at the end of the article, like a trivial afterthought, that we learn this eccentric tree-lover "charged the deputies with a machete". Like "Motorist" Rodney King, this gentle sort will go down in journalism annals as "Climber".
Ummm, That was a seperate unrealted incident fRiend.
You might want to go back and reread that last paragraph.
The climber and the machete-wielder are two different guys, I think.
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