Veteran Dallas SWAT shot a colleague in leg and shot him self in finger

[RTFM]

Print | E-mail | Most E-mailed | RSS

SWAT veteran shot officer in raid, police say


08:52 PM CST on Tuesday, March 21, 2006

By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

A veteran SWAT officer accidentally shot a colleague in the leg and probably shot himself in the fingertip during a violent confrontation at a suspected drug house last month, according to a Dallas police investigation.

Sgt. Kenneth Wilkins, 50, a 23-year department veteran, has asked to be removed from the tactical division because of the incident. A separate internal review will determine whether the supervisor violated any police policies.

On the morning of Feb. 16, SWAT officers surrounded a house in the 1200 block of Oak Park Drive in the Red Bird area to serve a Drug Enforcement Administration search and arrest warrant in connection with a suspected methamphetamine ring.

On Tuesday, the department's special investigation unit found that SWAT team members Adolfo Perez and Harry Deltufo were shot in the bullet resistant vest and ear, respectively, by a gunman firing through the door of the home. Both men recovered from their injuries.

Investigators determined that as officers returned fire, Sgt. Wilkins accidentally shot Senior Cpl. Dale Hackbarth in the back of the leg. Cpl. Hackbarth's injury was the most severe but was not life-threatening.

Sgt. Wilkins did not return phone messages Tuesday.

"As with any friendly-fire incident, a thorough review will include an examination of managerial, training and policy issues to see where we as a department can improve our performance and minimize the chance of something like this happening again," said Lt. Rick Watson, a police spokesman.

Deputy Chief Jesse Reyes, commander of the homeland security and special operations division, which includes SWAT, said Sgt. Wilkins is temporarily assigned to communications.

"He has returned to light-duty work," Chief Reyes said. "He's going to offer some input as to where he would like to go, and the department will evaluate those options and take appropriate action."

The department also is examining tactics used in last month's operation, particularly the decision to use a loudspeaker to announce the officers' presence before serving the warrant.

The DEA chose not to seek a "no-knock" warrant that would have allowed the Dallas SWAT team to go into the home with no warning.

Judges can grant such warrants when investigators believe that the people they are trying to arrest or search will try to destroy evidence or that they present an extreme risk.

Authorities had intelligence that the men inside the home, which was surrounded by a tall metal fence, had surveillance cameras and weapons.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032206dnmetofficer.486fb3fa.html

 

[robert garner]

Sorry
for both the Sargeant and the cpl.
However, it IS good that Integrity and personal responsibility,is a basic of this mans psyche.Nobody will probably be harder on him,than himself.
More men of this caliber need to be recognized,I believe it would go a long way to dispell the Us vs. Them, along with his Departments lack of stonewalling and obfuscation,which is refreshing.
My Best to all involved.

 

[ball3006]

I have seen these guys many times...

in the news and I don't doubt something like this would happen sooner or later. One film clip showed a gaggle of swat moving down the street with their shields up and all holding there guns in perfect "gansta style" over the top of the shields. My eyes hurt from the rolling at seeing this. I used to be a police chief and I can't believe what some departments do...........chris3

 

[kel]

The suspect never left his house to go shopping? Couldn't they have avoided this with more planning and man hours...

 

[Crosshair]

At least he admits that he screwed up. Good to see there are people that will own up to their mistakes. Hope he has better luck somewhere else in the department.

 

[TheEgg]

In the local Dallas media, the day after the event occured, some of these four officers where rolled out as heroes. If I recall correctly, the Sgt. was there with his bandaged finger.

I am now somewhat mystified about this. Did the Sgt. not KNOW that he had shot himself and probably his partner? If he did, why did he allow himself to be trotted out for the media, instead of recusing himself until the friendly fire incident was resolved?

Did he actually tell the investigators about the friendly fire, and volunteer to transfer, or did he keep his mouth shut until the investigators figured out what had happened, THEN asked for transfer when confronted with the facts?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I sure would like to.

 

[wallysparx]

don't forget, they have 2 new .50s and 20 ARs!

 

[panzermk2]

AND FN P90's

 

[buzz_knox]

Did the Sgt. not KNOW that he had shot himself and probably his partner? If he did, why did he allow himself to be trotted out for the media, instead of recusing himself until the friendly fire incident was resolved?

It's possible that he didn't know until the investigation was concluded. Whether from the understandable distraction of being in a firefight to blocking the memory (something I've seen witnesses do), it's possible that 1) he didn't realize that he was discharging his weapon before coming on target and/or 2) he wasn't fully aware of his sight picture.

The end of the investigation might have actually been the first time he really knew/understood the facts.

 

[ArmedBear]

Yet another pointless casualty of the "drug war".

 

[Standing Wolf]

Yet another pointless casualty of the "drug war".

Hey, whaddaya mean, pal? It was a Great Victory!

 

[Otherguy Overby]

Where were the feds?

On the morning of Feb. 16, SWAT officers surrounded a house in the 1200 block of Oak Park Drive in the Red Bird area to serve a
Drug Enforcement Administration search and arrest warrant in connection with a suspected methamphetamine ring.

Why are locals serving DEA warrants? Let the feds do their own job.

Maybe a few of them could shoot each other.

Besides the Dallas cops have other items on their agenda like arresting drunks in bars.

 

[TheEgg]

It's possible that he didn't know until the investigation was concluded.

As hard as that is to accept from behind the comfort of my carbon fiber tactical black keyboard, I guess I can sorta understand how if the chaos/noise/adrenaline/fear was high enough he might not of known.

So, possible -- but I would still like to hear a comment on this from DPD or the Sgt.

 

[Dannyboy]

Cool. I wonder if it was filmed for that stupid TV show. I'd like to see it. Hell, I'd probably record it.

 

[sturmruger]

Does anybody have any pictures of these guys?? I watched the Dallas SWAT show a few times and would probably recognize most of the regular guys.

 

[AK-74me]

A&E has a section of there web site dedicated to this show, that has the profiles of most of the guys on the show you could go there and compare faces and names to the ones in this article.

here you go:
http://www.aetv.com/dallas_swat/dswat_cast_crew.jsp

 

[johnny blaze]

We had a stand off situation here where a house was surrounded for several hours. The SWAT team dedided to go in. Upon breaking down the door, one SWAT member was hit in the hand. The attack was called back, and the wounded officer was taken to the hospital.
They decided to storm the house again. The perp was already down, seems he had shot himself before they even got there.
The wounded officer had shot himself in the hand with his own pistol, and said that he did not know that he had shot himself. It was all over the news before they found out that he had shot himself, how much of a hero he was.
I guess that accidents do happen, but to shoot yourself in the foot in front of children, is just not right.

 

[Gunpacker]

Happens more than you would think. Cops with little gun handling experience especially.
In Charlotte a few years ago, there was a shootout with an armed perp. Several officers returned fire, and only one person was injured. A cop, shot by one of his compatriots.

 

[Correia]

It's a good thing that everybody on the internet is so well trained, skilled, and has been through multiple gunfights that they are able to read this little news article and figure out exactly what happened.

Ball3006, you were a police chief so you also probably know that the reason you hold your pistol sideways when using a ballistic shield is because the slot you're shooting through is too narrow to hold it the regular way and still get a sight picture.

Kel, to answer your question. No. Probably not. It was a meth lab with multiple suspects. There was probably always going to be at least one person there cooking.

Wally, Panzer, and that has exactly what to do with this situation exactly? Let me guess, because this one cop had a negligant discharge, during a gun battle, where two of his buddys had just gotten shot, that shows that the Dallas PD is too irresponsible to own guns? Okay then.

And before anybody jumps all over me, no I'm not a cop, no I don't knee jerk defend anybody, I don't like the war on drugs either, and no I'm not excusing negligant discharges. But I get really tired of reading this same type of thread 20 times a day with the same exact bunch of comments.

 

[Finch]

Why are locals serving DEA warrants? Let the feds do their own job.

Maybe a few of them could shoot each other.

:banghead:

 

[orangeninja]

Before anyone starts bashing the Dallas SWAT guys I’d like to make a couple of pointers.

1.) These guys are the go to crew in one of the nations more violent cities, and they volunteer for this……gentlemen….this is balls.
2.) These guys train constantly, continually and when they’re not training, they’re thinking about training. They probably train more in one month than a platoon full of internet commandos will in a lifetime. Anyone here trained on dynamic entry? Anyone here ever even seen a REAL ballistic shield that wasn’t in a Surefire picture? Anyone here have the training to offer a valid critique of this group?
3.) Dallas SWAT, like many SWAT teams throughout the U.S. do not tolerate mistakes, but sometimes they happen. When lives are on the line, perfection is the order of the day, but the men we demand perfection of are no more perfect than you or I.

This officer will likely not forgive himself for this for a long time to come, never if the injury results in permanent damage. No amount of beating him up will be worse than how he feels right now.

So go ahead, criticize them, tell us all how you would have done this or that. Tell us how many times you’ve seen them doing something fundamentally wrong tactically or how you “heard” such and such about one of their supposed screw ups.

Am I preaching? Dang right I am. I know more than a couple of Dallas cops and they are continually crapped on by the media, the city council, the mayor and occasionally their departments and you know what? They tend to be some of the nicest guys out there, a bit beat up, but professional nonetheless. When I find people criticizing the Dallas Police it tells me more about that person than it does about DPD.

I for one will pray for this officer and the wounded officer. Maybe that’s Highroad, maybe it isn’t.