Blows to the head as justification ("Feared for his life")
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:25 pm
Here is another case where being punched in the head justified deadly force. And note TXI's (least-) favorite phrase, "He feared for his life."
This isn't the best area of Texarkana, but it's far from the worst.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/lo ... icer-7.php
Man dies after fight with officer
Police say officer shot 25-year-old out of fear for his life and others
By: Terri Richardson - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 02/18/2008
A 25-year-old Texarkana, Texas, man was shot and killed Sunday morning during a fist fight with a Texas-side police officer at the Family Dollar store at 3019 S. Lake Drive.
Jermain D. Henry was pronounced dead at Wadley Regional Medical Center before noon Sunday. He was taken there by LifeNet ambulance, said Sgt. Shawn Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department.
The officer who shot Henry, who was unarmed, was injured during the physical altercation and was taken by LifeNet ambulance to CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System.
Store employees called police to the store at 11 a.m., complaining that Henry was trespassing.
“He (Henry) was banned for being rude and using foul language with the employees,� said Rick Pardue, a Family Dollar district manager.
The first officer to arrive located Henry near the checkout counter, Fitzgerald said.
“Upon making contact, the officer asked the suspect to step away from the counter so that he could speak with him,� said Fitzgerald.
The conversation quickly escalated into a verbal altercation and then a physical confrontation. During the fight, the officer and Henry fell to the floor. Henry wrestled his way on top of the officer and continued to strike him repeatedly in the head and upper body, Fitzgerald said.
“As the assault continued, the officer was able to retrieve his service weapon and shoot the suspect, thereby knocking him off the officer,� said Fitzgerald.
The officer was table to call for an ambulance for Henry and himself. The incident occurred near the cash registers, just inside the front doors.
“No one else was injured in the fray,� Fitzgerald said. “The officer feared for his life and for the lives of those in the store.�
The Family Dollar was surrounded by police cars, and crime scene tape cordoned off the parking lot. Detectives arrived after the initial flood of patrol officers.
Texas Ranger Jay Womack also responded. The police department’s standard operating procedure in the case of an officer-involved shooting calls for the Rangers to conduct an independent investigation.
The Metro Crime Scene Unit arrived about noon..
Onlookers and potential customers drove by slowly on U.S. Highway 59. Even with the police tape and apparent activities, some stopped to see if the store was open.
The store did not reopen Sunday, but will be open today.
“We are just concerned for our employees. They were in shock over this,� said Pardue.
“They shouldn’t have to be subject to things like that at work,� he said. “We’re a family-oriented business and that’s the way we want to keep it.�
Several onlookers stopped out of concern for employees, whom they consider their friends through patronage.
“I come in at 11 every morning,� said Michael Cridell, a cook at the Dairy Queen restaurant only 25 yards from the Family Dollar store.
“When I pulled up, a lady ran out, one of the employees. She was hysterical and was shouting, ‘He’s shooting, he’s shooting,’� said Cridell, who believes he heard the first shot fired.
“I heard the first shot go off after I got out at Dairy Queen. She ran across to where I was and I called 911 just as a squad car was pulling up,� said Cridell. “The second officer went into the building, and I heard two more shots.�
Police did not confirm that more than one shot was fired.
Cridell said numerous officers then arrived.
After ushering the female Family Dollar employee and one of her customers over to the Dairy Queen, Cridell watched EMTs take the wounded suspect from the store.
“I saw them carry him out on the stretcher. They were doing CPR on him as they brought him out,� said Cridell, who said he did not approach the front of the store.
“There is a relationship between the workers there and the workers at our place,� said Cridell. “Everybody goes between the two and develops a relationship with the workers.�
This isn't the best area of Texarkana, but it's far from the worst.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/lo ... icer-7.php
Man dies after fight with officer
Police say officer shot 25-year-old out of fear for his life and others
By: Terri Richardson - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 02/18/2008
A 25-year-old Texarkana, Texas, man was shot and killed Sunday morning during a fist fight with a Texas-side police officer at the Family Dollar store at 3019 S. Lake Drive.
Jermain D. Henry was pronounced dead at Wadley Regional Medical Center before noon Sunday. He was taken there by LifeNet ambulance, said Sgt. Shawn Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department.
The officer who shot Henry, who was unarmed, was injured during the physical altercation and was taken by LifeNet ambulance to CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System.
Store employees called police to the store at 11 a.m., complaining that Henry was trespassing.
“He (Henry) was banned for being rude and using foul language with the employees,� said Rick Pardue, a Family Dollar district manager.
The first officer to arrive located Henry near the checkout counter, Fitzgerald said.
“Upon making contact, the officer asked the suspect to step away from the counter so that he could speak with him,� said Fitzgerald.
The conversation quickly escalated into a verbal altercation and then a physical confrontation. During the fight, the officer and Henry fell to the floor. Henry wrestled his way on top of the officer and continued to strike him repeatedly in the head and upper body, Fitzgerald said.
“As the assault continued, the officer was able to retrieve his service weapon and shoot the suspect, thereby knocking him off the officer,� said Fitzgerald.
The officer was table to call for an ambulance for Henry and himself. The incident occurred near the cash registers, just inside the front doors.
“No one else was injured in the fray,� Fitzgerald said. “The officer feared for his life and for the lives of those in the store.�
The Family Dollar was surrounded by police cars, and crime scene tape cordoned off the parking lot. Detectives arrived after the initial flood of patrol officers.
Texas Ranger Jay Womack also responded. The police department’s standard operating procedure in the case of an officer-involved shooting calls for the Rangers to conduct an independent investigation.
The Metro Crime Scene Unit arrived about noon..
Onlookers and potential customers drove by slowly on U.S. Highway 59. Even with the police tape and apparent activities, some stopped to see if the store was open.
The store did not reopen Sunday, but will be open today.
“We are just concerned for our employees. They were in shock over this,� said Pardue.
“They shouldn’t have to be subject to things like that at work,� he said. “We’re a family-oriented business and that’s the way we want to keep it.�
Several onlookers stopped out of concern for employees, whom they consider their friends through patronage.
“I come in at 11 every morning,� said Michael Cridell, a cook at the Dairy Queen restaurant only 25 yards from the Family Dollar store.
“When I pulled up, a lady ran out, one of the employees. She was hysterical and was shouting, ‘He’s shooting, he’s shooting,’� said Cridell, who believes he heard the first shot fired.
“I heard the first shot go off after I got out at Dairy Queen. She ran across to where I was and I called 911 just as a squad car was pulling up,� said Cridell. “The second officer went into the building, and I heard two more shots.�
Police did not confirm that more than one shot was fired.
Cridell said numerous officers then arrived.
After ushering the female Family Dollar employee and one of her customers over to the Dairy Queen, Cridell watched EMTs take the wounded suspect from the store.
“I saw them carry him out on the stretcher. They were doing CPR on him as they brought him out,� said Cridell, who said he did not approach the front of the store.
“There is a relationship between the workers there and the workers at our place,� said Cridell. “Everybody goes between the two and develops a relationship with the workers.�
The article makes no mention of the offender's size (compared to the LEO's size) or whether or not the offender was under the influence of any type of mind-altering substance. Glad the good guy lived to see another day...
