imported post
Particle wrote:
What kind of person shoots UP instead of downward into the dirt? It doesn't take much to realize that's not a good idea.
I'm thinking he may have shot pretty much laterally. How else could two bullets land so close to the grandfather and the child?
Here is an update, with more detail. The event's an example of horrendously bad judgment by the shooter and at least one colleague. It's truly amazing and saddening how a person could be so careless with a gun. NPD is pretty much in
defense mode, not saying too much important that people don't already know.
City responds to questions, officers on leave
By Julianna Parker
August 07, 2007 12:57 am
Transcript Staff Writer
NOBLE — Three police officers were placed on administrative leave after a stray bullet resulted in the death of a 5-year-old boy in Noble Friday, the police chief announced Monday.
More than 50 people attended the regular Noble City Council meeting Monday evening to question city officials about the shooting.
All expressed outrage at this “senseless act” that resulted in the death of a child.
Noble police officers responded to a call at 7:42 p.m. Friday that involved a snake hanging from a bird house in the 300 block of Crest Lane in Noble, according to a statement released Monday by Noble Police Chief Ben Daves.
This was Daves’ first official statement since the incident.
The yard at that location abuts a wooded field near a pond where two boys were fishing with their grandfather and great-grandfather.
The officers fired two shots at the snake, Daves said.
“They were waiting on the snake to quit wiggling when they heard the cries from the field,” he said.
One of the bullets from the 40-caliber gun struck 5-year-old Austin Haley in the head. He was rushed to Norman Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
At the meeting Monday, citizens raised questions about the conduct of the officers and the policies the city set in place that led to the tragedy.
“How can an arrogant officer fire an arm like that in an area that’s not rural and put my little nephew on the streets of glory?” asked David Henry, Austin’s great-uncle.
Dixie Gillum, Austin’s great-grandmother, called the shooting an act of “negligent homicide.”
City officials had no excuses for the tragedy.
“I apologize to the community for this event; it should never have happened,” City Manager Bob Wade said.
Mayor Gary Hayes said he wishes he could turn back time and change things. He said an apology was not enough, but he recognizes that something went terribly wrong.
“We as a community have to look at this and say, ‘OK. How can we make sure something like this doesn’t happen again?’” Hayes said.
The family of the Haleys spoke with tears and anger at the meeting.
Gillum said Austin’s 2-year-old brother keeps asking his mother where Austin is. She said Austin’s parents are “devastated” and were not at the meeting because they were at the funeral home making arrangements.
Two investigations are being conducted as a result of the incident, Wade said at the meeting Monday.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal investigation, and Noble officials are conducting an administrative investigation, he said.
Daves said he could not release the names of the officers on leave or comment on their track records.
Daves did say, however, that “there hasn’t been a questionable discharge in the three years I’ve been here.”
Former Noble Police Officer Kevin Austin said the officer who fired the shot was a rookie, only about one month out of training school.
Wade said one of the three officers who responded to the call was a shift supervisor with five years’ experience.
Wade said he will investigate the shooting and find out what training and policies need to be changed.
Austin’s grandmother, Cheryl Tracy, asked the council why an animal shelter wasn’t called to pick up the snake peacefully. Several other citizens said the snake could have been killed another way.
The Noble Police Department usually keeps a part-time animal control officer on staff, Daves said.
That position is vacant and the department was advertising for the job, he said.
When the department is “in between” animal control officers like this, Daves said officers only respond to emergency animal calls.
But “emergency” is open to interpretation, even in the case of snake calls.
“We had to go just to see what the situation was,” he said.
Daves said the police department has no official protocol for animal complaints.
Someone called into the police station at 8:12 p.m. to say they heard shots fired near the 1200 block of Etowah Road, according to the chronological phone log acquired from the Noble Police Department.
The report came 30 minutes after the initial animal complaint.
The last names of the person who received the emergency calls and the reporting party’s names were blacked out on the phone log. Also, the record of what was said over the radio was withheld. Daves said that was because the situation was still under investigation.
With the three officers involved in the shooting on leave, only seven officers are left to patrol the community, including the chief himself, Daves said.
There are two full-time officer positions vacant, in addition to the part-time animal control officer position, he said.
http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_219005715.html
