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Jimbalaya
Excessive force? We’ll see
By JIM HARRINGTON
Article published on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006 |
Like much of the Tampa Bay Area, and especially Polk County, east Hillsborough County, and Lakeland regions, I was glued to the news, anxious to know if the police had gotten their man, Angilo Freeland.
Freeland, of course, was the notorious suspect turned cop killer, who gunned down Polk County Deputy Matt Williams, his canine, Diogi and wounded Deputy Douglas Speirs on Sept. 28 after a traffic stop.
Freeland, it can be reasonably assumed from the fact that he shot and killed a police officer, was not going to go down without a fight.
And he got one. And lost.
I’m not surprised by that, but I was stunned by the words of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who led the charge and later, after Freeland had been found, indicated that his officers used all of the ammo on hand to bring down Freeland.
“I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that’s all the ammunition they had. We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back,” as reported in many media outlets, including Fox News.
The family of the 27-year-old drug dealer has retained the law firm of Grady Irvin, a well-known Tampa lawyer to push the governor’s office for an independent, unbiased investigation into the matter.
The SWAT team fired 110 bullets and 68 struck him.
Gov. Jeb Bush’s office wants to wait until the Polk Sheriff’s Office completes its investigation. Jorge Angulo, an associate of Irvin’s, said it is likely that the next governor will have to decide whether to proceed with an inquiry.
“We want to substantiate that he was shot without bias,” said Angulo, in a telephone conversation last week.
Like everyone else, I wanted Freeland taken into custody. If he fought back, as the police say he did, then it’s reasonable to assume that he would be met with force.
But 110 shots?
How many officers are needed to bring down somebody, even if he is threatening them, like Freeland was? How many officers, using semi-automatic weapons, fired their weapons?
These questions, and more, should be answered by the sheriff’s own investigation.
The bottom line is whether excessive force was used.
At the very least, a state level investigation would determine whether the police were acting professionally in their duties.
Judd’s office was too involved in this to give a completely unbiased report. His emotions run too high.
With civil rights groups considering their own investigation, it only makes sense that another set of eyes would look at it.
The Florida Civil Rights Association has called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to consider the police tactics and amount of gunfire, according to the group’s Web site.
Judd, nor his spokeswoman, would comment on why so much force was necessary.
“We have said everything we’re going to say about that,” said Carrie Rodgers.
A news release on the sheriff’s Web site dated Sept. 30 gave this information:
“The investigation into the homicide of (Deputy Matt) Williams and Diogi, the shooting of (Deputy) Doug Speirs, the shooting at the two (Lakeland Police Department) officers, and the shooting of the suspect, is launched by PCSO and FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) and will be turned over to the Office of the State Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit for review.”
Jim Harrington is the editor of the Largo Leader, Clearwater Citizen.
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Article published on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006
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