‘A life-or-death decision’
Facing a man with a shotgun in a darkened room, Floyd County police choose not to fire.
“I continued to give verbal commands to drop the gun, but due to his actions I believe Mr. Rogers was about to use the weapon against us.”
Those chilling words come from a Floyd County police report on a domestic violence call last week in Cave Spring. Trey Alan Rogers, 27, intoxicated and with a reputation for fighting police, was sitting in a bedroom with the lights turned out, holding a shotgun. Two officers were approaching with a flashlight, guns drawn.
Suddenly, “Mr. Rogers looked at me and dropped the shotgun,” officer Carlos Ribot-Aviles wrote.
At a time when reports of police killings are being highlighted around the country, this is a story of peace officers who didn’t shoot.
“Had he turned the gun toward the officers they could have ... they should have shot him,” Assistant Police Chief Tom Ewing said. “They were justified in using deadly force, but they made the decision to do what they did.”
Rogers was handcuffed, dressed and taken to jail. He was still being held without bond Friday on charges that include aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The situation Ribot-Aviles and officer Brett Padgett walked into that night was an obvious risk. Rogers had threatened to hurt his wife — “leave her unrecognizable” — and family. The 911 dispatcher had heard a loud argument in the background during the call for help. And there were dogs, described as protective, in the house.
“Other than a crime in progress, a domestic is probably the most dangerous call we answer,” Ewing said. “Everybody’s mad ... and we’re coming into their home. That was that man’s castle and (in his eyes) we just invaded it.”
There even have been instances when victims have attacked the responding officers once they realize the aggressor is being taken to jail, Ewing said. Police also have
to be aware that the territory they’re entering is very familiar to the people involved.
“They know the layout. We don’t,” Ewing said. “They know where the knives are. They know where the frying pan is, where the hot grease is.”
In deciding whether to shoot or hold their fire, officers have to take all that into account. And, Ewing said, “sometimes it comes back to haunt them.” He said studies show that a perpetrator can raise, cock and fire a gun before an officer with one at the ready can fire.
“I didn’t believe it, but we’ve practiced the scenario,” he said. “By the time your brain tells you you’re in danger and you react, you’re shot.”
All Floyd County officers do weapons training, but Ewing said there’s no way to completely prepare for a confrontation with an armed suspect.
“Both (Ribot-Aviles and Padgett) are on the Special Operations team so they have a little bit more training,” Ewing said. “But it’s a difficult job when you have to make a life-or-death decision in a split second.”