I am relating this without realizing what all the points of interest might be. However, I think it will be interesting to other members......Iowa City, Iowa is a college city of about 60,000 people. With another small town adjacent to it the urban area is a total of about 75,000 for what that is worth. It is home to the the U of Iowa with a student body of about 23,000 I guess. Anyway, several years ago there was an incident that occurred about midnight I think. The local police were checking doors at this row of businesses in a quiet area of the city. This was not a primary business area, perhaps it was sort of like a small, quiet strip mall. I am not absolutely positive but something like that. The police standing policy at the time was to check the doors and if a door was not secure to enter and investigate. There was no policy to call the business owner. So, two officers found a door unlocked. They called for their supervisor who arrived. One officer then pulled his weapon, opened the unlocked (or ajar?) door and entered to investigate. Immediately on entering he encountered a man who it was later determined was on the phone. I do not know if the man was sitting or standing. The officer, for whatever reason, fired at the man and killed him. Well, the man was the owner of the business, an art and sculptor studio. The owner was an artist and was legitimately in his studio working late at night. I forget what the young officer is reported to have told his chief, something like, "I panicked," or something like that. Those are not his exact words. It actually sounds like to me, but this is only my opinion, that he thought the phone was a weapon and shot before he clearly assessed. In any event the police officer resigned from the force and would have been fired anyway. The County Attorney (District Attorney) convened a grand jury who found no reason to indict the police officer. The city did not contest the law suit brought by the dead man's parents (he was single) and the city willingly paid $3 million dollars to the estate. The city also ensured that the police department changed the policy about investigating unlocked doors of businesses late at night. I think the policy now is to try and reach the business owner by phone. I also think that going in with a weapon in hand is forbidden without further suspicion of a break-in. So, beyond this being a point of interest to members I have one question for those LE Officers out there. In your jurisdiction what is the policy on drawing a weapon before going in to a situation as described above?
Thanks, Moe
Thanks, Moe
