Posted on 09/13/2010 5:13:48 AM PDT by marktwain
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Spokane police say a 74-year-old pastor was reaching for a handgun in the waistband of his pants when he was shot by a sheriffÂ’s deputy last month.
Pastor Wayne Creach was killed as he approached an unmarked police car in the parking lot of his Spokane Valley business after dark.
Police Lt. Dave McGovern said Tuesday that Deputy Brian Hirzel warned Creach several times to drop the handgun he was holding, and that Creach instead put it in the waistband. Hirzel ordered Creach to get on the ground, and struck him in the knee with a baton when Creach didn't respond.
McGovern said the deputy then saw Creach drawing his gun out of his waistband and fired.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
The story seems a little thin, as the only other witness is the dead pastor. (the information about being on his own property, the police car being unmarked, and it being after dark, is from previous articles)
Don’t the police have an obligation to inform the property owner when they intend to use his property for a stakeout?
Wow what a terrible situation the police dept is in. I am a conservative but very suspicious of our police departments. Im always wary of an institution that is tasked with telling me how i can and can’t defend myself.
Everytime i hear of an incident like this im always suspect of the police. I think they are in the business of trying their darndest to get someone on something. Our police have too much power and its only getting worse since obummer took over.
The police are always in unmarked cars here on Long Island. Crown Victoria is the latest model. This cop was in a parking lot which I presume is for the public. The pastor should have called the police if he was suspicious, not go all John Wayne on a car that should not have been there. Once a cop tells you to drop your weapon, you drop it. If you do not you are asking to get shot. The police have no way of knowing in a split second if you mean to kill them or not, so you just do what they say, and then sort it out.
Cops shot - and killed - a man on his property who had done nothing wrong.
Cops, just like many things in the USA, have deteriorated
to the level of jack booted thugs.
25 years ago, police were good old boys and friends.
Now they are like Nazi storm troopers.
“a man on his property “ The article says that the car was in the parking lot where the pastor’s business was located. I am assuming it was a public parking lot, not the personal property of the pastor. Unfortunately the article did not elaborate on the situation of the business. When I read it, I pictured a strip mall with a public parking lot. I thought the pastor was leaving for the evening, late, and saw the car. It was awful that the police man shot the man, but police, particularly today, are trigger happy so it is best to just do what they ask, and ask questions later. Because usually they can come up with a reason why they had to shoot someone, and are believed. The same is not always true when it comes to a citizen with a gun.
I agree that we have trigger happy police - shoot first, lie later.
Why can’t people accept this for what it was, a simple tragedy involving two people who didn’t know who the other one was, rather than an example of jack booted thugs and other nonsense?
I feel for the old pastor, who might have still been half asleep and hard of hearing. But at the same time acting like Rambo has its consequences and risks.
This officer is in the same state that had multiple policemen targeted and gunned downed in cold blooded murder. Confronting an uncooperative armed person is not the easiest of positions to be put in.
This is something I have thought about in the past. What if I am alone and I am pulled over for a traffic stop and the cop's gun goes off by mistake, or the cop has a tricky finger? And he shoots and kills me? All the cop has to do is claim he thought I had a gun or that he feared for his life, then he walks. And do not get me started on the planting of evidence by cops to cover their asses!
If I remember correctly, this was the same cop that went on vacation later on that same day he shot the pastor, leaving town, going to Las Vegas, without discussing the shooting with his chief.
The interview Friday came after law-enforcement officials allowed Hirzel to travel to Montana and Las Vegas for a vacation before giving the voluntary statement.
"So, you just shot a well-respected pastor in his own front yard. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to Disneyland!"
So we have very power full Police, well funded and aggressive. They have a code book so large you can't possibly cram it into the back of a Police car. Add to that wide discretionary powers. Time to clip the wings of Police everywher. De fund. Vote “No” on bond issues or sales tax to fund these orgs. You commiserated earlier about “what a terrible position to put the PD. How about what a terrible position to put the property owner in? Police should not even be on his property without asking permission. The Police are not Lords. They are attack dogs on chains. That's it. When a dog goes bad you shoot it and another.
Apparently the deputy's story has changed since it was originally reported.
An earlier article below says that the pastor's gun was drawn the whole time.
Also, the pastor's son, in the same article, says that autopsy information leaked to him showed no evidence of a baton strike.
In this later editorial, the newspaper tries to tell people to trust the police. Read the comments, though.
The citizens are distrustful of law enforcement agencies that seem to be targeting citizens, and a prosecutor that apparently refuses to investigate, according to this and other comments.
Exactly right! This preacher was murdered while doing so.
It was the parking lot of a garden supply store that was closed, so it was not open to the public at the time. This happened in the middle of the night. The Pastor lived next door to his business, which people had attempted to burglarize before. That’s why he noticed the car in the lot and came out armed.
“Confronting an uncooperative armed person is not the easiest of positions to be put in.”
“Be put in”? The policeman put himself in that situation, by trespassing on private property in an unmarked car, in the middle of the night, without notifying the property owner of his presence. If police operate like that, they are going to continue to put themselves in positions like this.
Police need to remember they are not prison guards trying to manage a population of dangerous convicts. They are public servants, and the public they are supposed to be serving is, for the most part, law-abiding, and armed. In a nation where owning and BEARING firearms is completely lawful, police cannot start spraying bullets whenever they see someone with a firearm who doesn’t have a badge.
The only time I would drop my gun would be if I was standing on grass if not I would lay it down I don’t want mine scratched.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.