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| NEWS > 27 January 2007 |
Other related articles:
An impromptu test of integrity
Debate has arisen over whether University of Florida police acted hastily in using a taser to restrain a student who was asking belligerent questions at a student forum hosting Sen. John Kerry last Monday. Here's the scene: Andrew Meyer, 21, approached an open microphone holding a book. John Kerry pointed to him and says, "Yes, you."
Meyer began a self-indulgent polemic, recommending Kerry to a book about voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election. He then asked about the senator's participation in the Yale secret society Skull and Bones. Meyer was obnoxious, but clearly harmles... Read more
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Louisville Courier-Journal - L
27 January 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Louisville Metro Police, KY
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Police officer kills ex-office
When police Officer Brent L. Jones saw a car drive erratically out of a White Castle parking lot and cross a concrete median early yesterday, he immediately gave chase.
What Jones didn't know was that the driver, James Michael White, was a former police officer driving on a suspended license with a warrant for fleeing police.
A few minutes later, White was dead, shot by Jones after White allegedly threatened him with a knife outside a nearby mobile home.
Police are investigating.
White, 33, died after being shot four times about 1:30 a.m., said Jack Arnold, a deputy Jefferson County coroner.
West Point, Ky., Chief Vernon Curl recalled White as a good officer who was born and reared in West Point. He said White has three children who live there.
"I'd known he'd had some run-ins with the law in recent years. Occasionally, there's a few (officers) that get into this and get off on the wrong path," Curl said.
Jones, 27, who has been with the department for four years, is on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure.
Officer Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman, said Jones appears to have followed proper procedures, but no rulings will be made until the investigation is complete.
The shooting
When White would not stop initially on Greenwood Road, Jones decided it would not be safe to follow with lights and sirens because of speed and other traffic, Mitchell said.
So he turned them off and continued to follow the Ford from a "safe distance," Mitchell said.
White pulled up to the mobile home on Clark Run Road off Cane Run Road near Lower Hunters Trace and went inside, with Jones following, Mitchell said.
Inside, White allegedly wielded a knife, and Jones began to back out of the mobile home, Mitchell said. Jones repeatedly told White to drop the knife, but White followed Jones out and then lunged at him, Mitchell said.
Police did not say how many times Jones fired his weapon.
Mitchell said two people were inside the mobile home, where White lived, at the time of the shooting but neither witnessed the incident.
Clara Osegueda said she had just lain down to go to sleep when she heard four gunshots. She went outside and saw several police cars in front of her mobile home, four down from White's.
"It shocked me to hear this," Osegueda said. "They told me this was a quiet place."
The investigation
Public Integrity Unit officers are investigating to see if the shooting was a crime. The case then will be turned over to the Professional Standards Unit to see if Jones followed appropriate police procedure.
Jones' personnel record shows no previous discipline and several commendations for his work, including one for his attempt to save a man pinned under a vehicle.
His record also shows he had never discharged his weapon in the line of duty.
Some of the events leading to the shooting may have been captured on Jones' in-car video camera.
Mitchell said Jones could not have used a Taser, a less-lethal weapon that shocks suspects to subdue them.
"The Taser would not have been an appropriate tool to use in this incidence," Mitchell said.
Police policy does not require that officers use a less-lethal option before using their guns. It allows an officer to use deadly force if he thinks his life or the lives of others are at risk.
White's record
White was a police officer in West Point for about a year, leaving in 1996 for a job with the Brandenburg, Ky., police department, where he served until May 1997.
Police chiefs at both departments said he resigned his positions and had no history of discipline.
White had active warrants from two 2006 cases, according to court records.
In September he was charged with possession of a controlled substance. Later in the month he was charged with reckless driving, fleeing or evading police, disorderly conduct and driving on a suspended license. He was released on a personal recognizance bond that required he show up for court on Nov. 20 and that he not drive.
A warrant was issued for him when he failed to appear.
In 2000 he was convicted in Breckinridge County of flagrant nonsupport. Records show he violated his parole and was given a three-year suspended sentence.
In 2001 he was found guilty of felony theft and possession of a forged instrument in Hardin County. His sentence in that case was not available.
In 2004 he was convicted in Jefferson County of drunken driving, receiving stolen property and resisting arrest. He was given a one-year suspended sentence. He also served six months in jail after a 2003 Jefferson County conviction for criminal trespassing.
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