Man sues ex-trooper, agency

fullmoon (anonymous) says...

After my last posts on this topic defending Trooper Sawyer some of you wanted me investigated by the DOJ. I'm sure what you wanted to know is: 1 Is this person a police officer? 2 Has this person ever kicked a suspect in the head? Well, the answer to both questions is YES. I'll even tell you about one relevant right here that is relevant to this case.

July 24, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

fullmoon (anonymous) says...

Oops, to many relevants.

July 24, 2008 at 10:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

abitskeptical (anonymous) says...

Thank you for that disclosure fullmoon.

I realize that those of us who have not been in LEO cannot understand everything that LEO deal with & encounter.

However, one does not always have to "walk a mile" in a particular moccasin to see that the moccasin is ugly & does not fit correctly.

Some things are wrong. Period.

There are some things for which it is appropriate to consider context.

But in every case of "police brutality" of which I have been aware, the offending officer uses the context of the situation to justify or excuse his/her behavior &, interestingly, it NEVER has anything with his/her lack of professionalism or ability to control rage.

For a profession that has little patience with "excuses" this borders on/is hypocrisy. Never have I seen an officer accused of brutality say "I admit I lost it & I was wrong to handle the situation in the manner in which I did."

July 24, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

fullmoon (anonymous) says...

Several years ago, I was patrolling an apartment complex. There had been reports of a masked man breaking into single women's apartments the night before. Within a few minutes, I saw a man walking behind the apartments towards a treeline wearing dirt smeared black jacket and pants and a black SKI MASK. It was January and it was not completely covering his face, but it certainly wasn't cold enough for that. It didn't take any super cop senses to know I needed to identify this guy. I got out of my patrol car, approached him, told him why I was out with him, asked for his ID and why he was at the apartments. All in a very professional manner. He did give me his ID but could not explain what he was doing at the apartments and began cursing me and was very nervous (he was in his early 20's about 6'02'' and over 250lbs, bigger than me but not as fit). I tried to pat him down for weapons and at that point he shoved me and took a swing at me missing. He squared up with me. I sprayed him with pepper spray which was ineffective and I pulled out my asp baton, trying to hit him in the leg, telling him to get on the ground. He ran a short distance into the wood line. I radioed in and went after him.

I caught up to his back and he stopped running. He started to raise his hands and I thought he was surrendering. He had other ideas. In one hand he had a pistol which as he tuned around he pointed at me. I had my asp in my gun hand and was fortunate to be close enough to start hitting him and the gun just as he said "f**** you, I'm not going to jail." He was going to shoot me in the face!

Now this next paragraph compares to Trooper Sawyer's case.

The gun went flying one way and he stumbled and fell the other way. He was face down on the ground and was trying to get up. I started hitting him with the asp. And guess what, I hit him in the HEAD. I hit him all over. I tried to cuff him but he resisted so I hit him some more. Finally, I was able to cuff him and my backup arrived.

Some of you armchair quarterbacks you would say that as soon as he lost his gun it was no longer a deadly force situation. As the person that almost got my face blown off I have to disagree. Lots of things could have still gone wrong that would have resulted in me being dead. The deadly force situation was not over until he was cuffed, thoroughly searched and in the back of a caged police car! You may ask if was a deadly force situation, why didn't you shoot him. Well at first, I couldn't transition from my asp to my gun. Later I could have but I chose not to for a reason I won't say because you wouldn't believe me. The gun was recovered the gun which was a .45 loaded with the hammer back.

July 24, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

fullmoon (anonymous) says...

I charged him with everything I could think of. All of it was dropped except for AWIK (assault with intent to kill). This guy also claimed he had mental issues and needed treatment. He plead guilty and was sentenced to 6 years. He served about 3 ½ and is now back out on the streets living in your neighborhood. He learned one of two lessons that day either: 1 Don't carry a gun and mess with the police. Or 2. The next time I'm out to rape or rob and the police get out with me, shoot first. I hope he learned the first one but I doubt it.

I could have sat at Denny's that morning drinking free coffee (never did that its unprofessional). I could have chickened out and never got of my car when I saw the suspect. But chose to face a real criminal who was out to harm people I don't even know. I have a bachelor's degree, prior military, graduated from the police academy with distinguished graduate and physical fitness honors, have been a cop for years ( I'm in my late thirties now), and am not a loose canon with anger issues. I became a cop to BRING my honor and integrity to law enforcement, not just GET those qualities from a tin badge.

There were several witnesses that corroborated my story. They couldn't believe I did not shoot him. They were sure I was going to die. There was no video.

If there was video and you watched the last 30 seconds, you would have seen me ( a very angry cop) standing over some poor soul that was face down on the ground and I would have been yelling and beating him all over (head included) with an asp baton. You would have seen me try to cuff him and then beat him some more. As other officers came on scene and obscured the view of this video, you would have seen me tearing at his clothes as I searched him and then dragged his body to a patrol car and ingloriously shoved it in.

You would be calling for my head and the heads of the other officers who didn't "stop" me and you would have it all wrong. Just replace the gun with a multi- ton dump truck and you have Trooper Sawyer's case. Now go ahead and sue me and shop around until you find a jurisdiction that will charge me for doing what I had to do to survive a deadly encounter with a deranged criminal.

July 24, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

SCPDBLUE (anonymous) says...

THANK YOU FULLMOON. I hear you loud and clear... AMEN BROTHER,AMEN......Been there got the ripped up uniform,2nd guessed by IA,But was cleaned. The suspect is also back out on the street. Seen him 2 days ago,same crack corner,no job,dont want a job,employers wont hire him because he is a scumbag.... The revolving door needs to be shut.

July 24, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

number1volsfan1 (anonymous) says...

Hey poli1471--johnq2 is a troll. Most of us just try to ignore is bull__it.

July 24, 2008 at 2:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

number1volsfan1 (anonymous) says...

Most of us ignore his bull__it (sorry for the typo).

July 24, 2008 at 2:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

fullmoon (anonymous) says...

I sure earned my $25,000 salary that day and guess what, I was back out on the street the next day to do it all over again if I had to. That is only one incident of many that I have been in and I am not a special or unique cop. Every cop worth their salt has the same stories as Trooper Sawyer and myself. This is not about walking a mile in a cop's shoes. This is about recognizing a potentially deadly situation.

And shame on his leadership for turning their back on him. Why have they done this? It is because when they are publicly called out to respond, they wrongly insert political correctness into the use of force continuum in order to appease ill-informed society. It does not make it right. If they can't explain the events better than "it's not pretty" or "the video is troubling," then they need to resign.

Trooper Sawyer did show restraint, he could have ended this deranged criminal's escapade in a dump truck like this:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c15_12...

Any questions?

July 24, 2008 at 2:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

rollo (anonymous) says...

Fullmoon,
Thanks for sharing, I haven't looked at your link, probably no need.
I'm not LEO, but if this clown had run from me, endangering who knows whos' lives, aside from mine, he would have been DEAD RIGHT THERE.
No psych treatment necessary, his family might sue, but he would never present such a danger to innocent folks again.
And thanks Fullmoon for putting yourself on the line, so I don't have to.

July 24, 2008 at 8:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )