Posted on 08/06/2007 11:16:57 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
NOBLE (OK) — Three Noble police officers are on administrative leave after a police shooting Friday left a 5-year-old boy dead.
Noble Police Chief Ben Daves released an official statement this morning on the shooting. Daves said he is not yet releasing the names of the officers involved in the shooting.
Austin Haley was struck in the head and killed by a bullet while fishing with his grandfather. Noble police officers responded to a call about a snake in a birdhouse in the 300 block of Crest Lane, Daves wrote. The pond where Austin and his grandfather, Jack Tracy, were fishing was in a wooded area near the home. Daves confirmed two shots were fired at the snake to kill it.
In his written statement, Daves said it appears that one of the bullets fired by the officers at the snake also struck the boy.
"Moments later, cries were heard in the field, and the officers immediately went to investigate,” he wrote. "The officers began to render what aid they could and called for emergency medical assistance.”
Both the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Noble Police Department are investigating the shooting.
"Our prayers are with the young man's family,” he wrote.
Prayers for all...
“Our prayers are with the young man’s family,” he wrote.
Mine include the poor cop involved here, too.
Follow-up to yesterday’s post >>>
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1876472/posts
The dock the boy and his grandfather were on was 200yds from the tree with the snake...they were not bystanders, as some speculated yesterday. They could not see these cops, and, obviously, the cops didn’t see them.
Still no word on the species of snake.
What a terribly tragic accident.
You don’t shoot your firearm unless you know the trajectory of your bullet. Police officers should know this. I have zero sympathy for these officers.
Firearms Rule #1- There’s no “I’m sorry” with a gun.
Of course he/she won’t, because they were just doing their job... After all it was a dangerous snake and they were just following department policies.
KNOW YOUR BACKSTOP! And if there’s no backstop, make sure you can see as far as a bullet from your gun could possibly do serious damage.
Obviously these rules sometimes need to be bent in a major emergency, but getting a snake out of a birdhouse doesn’t come even remotely close to meeting the threshold for ignoring basic gun safety rules.
They both deserve at least 10 years in prison.
I'm sick of idiotic @$$hat cops getting off with slaps on the wrist for killing civilians 'accidentally'.
There are no 'accidents' with firearms. Barring a mechanical failure, not even alleged in this incident btw, there are only intentional and negligent discharges.
This was a case of absolute bone headed wreckless disregard for the safety of the public.
If some flatfoot did this to my kid he'd never live to see a trial.
L
“Mine include the poor cop involved here, too.”
Do you pray for the other poor idiots, like drunken drivers, when they kill someone?
Incomprehensible grief all around.
whatever.
Nobody feels worse about this than the cop. I’m sure he’ll pay a big price beyond that, and I have no objection to whatever the outcome is.....but this isn’t a cop-gone-bad or a drunk driver.
It’s criminal negligence that resulted in the death of the boy. Do you think the drunk driver INTENDS to run over someone? Of course not... To that extent they are both accidents. It’s the negligence that in both cases that makes it a crime.
Not even the family of the five year-old?
While I agree with many of your sentiments, I’m still stuck waaaay back at the beginning of this situation:
What is there about a snake in a birdhouse that a) motivates someone to call the police, b) motivates the police to dispatch someone to the scene, and c) then motivates a police officer to discharge his weapon, regardless of the type of ammo used, direction of discharge, etc, etc.
See, I’m just not “getting” where this was a situation that required police involvement, and even if the person making the call to the police thought this required police involvement, I’m still completely clueless as to why a snake in a birdhouse would merit police involvement.
Pure negligence on the part of the cops, shooting with an unsafe backdrop.
If a so-called “civilian” had done this, they would be in jail or out on heavy bail on a manslaughter or, at the least, reckless endangerment charge.
If you 3 want to judge me somehow morally deficient for expressing empathy for this cop also, so be it.
If he decides to blow his own brains out will you cheer? I won’t.
Ah, yes. In Hillary’s socialist village, every accident is a crime. Socialism must provide a risk-free world, don’t you see. Every detail of human activity must be regulated, therefore, any accident is a crime and must result in prison.
These morons should get life.
I refuse to believe that OK has no animal control resources.
After all the auguments the one thing that confuses me is why a pistol??if and I say if the right decision is to shoot..why not a shotgun??? A little Anne Oakley thing going on?
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