The Abbotsford Police Department was in charge of the investigation and yesterday they released video of the actual shooting as well as a press release regarding their findings.

Vancouver Police Chief Constable Jim Chu provided a statement on the incident, as did the Vancouver Police Union, both of which can be accessed through the Media Releases link (dated 2009.12.15) in the Public Affairs Media Section of the VPD website. 

After watching the video, please take the time to read the statement of Chief Constable Jim Chu.

Also, feel free to leave your comments here.  There is not a lot of opportunity for those who support their policing agencies to have their say, so I’m opening this post up as a forum for you to do so. 

In both videos, police officers face off with resistant subjects and the officers resort to using force to try and resolve the situations.  In both incidents, Tasers are deployed.  Why the Taser deployments were ineffective is something Smith covers in his article so I’m not going to comment on it here.  I’m also not going to comment on the actions of the officers involved as I do not know all the circumstances surrounding each incident. 

The reason I’m posting these two videos is to show how difficult it can be to arrest a resistant subject and how quickly situations can go from bad to worse.  Both videos are a good representation of what officers face on a daily basis, and why officers have to stay on their toes. 

The first video is a great example of a resistant suspect vs an assaultive suspect, and shows two officers trying to arrest a man on an outstanding warrant.  The officers are very patient with the suspect, but in the end he eventually gets away from them.  I’ll agree with you in the observation that the man was not being assaultive, but he was goal oriented none the less. 

The second video is from the camera mounted in the car of a Davenport (Iowa) police officer.  It captures Officer Clif Anderson’s attempt to arrest a very goal oriented suspect.  Watch the suspect’s body language as he climbs over the railing – you can see a visible change in how he carries himself. 

This suspect’s resistance turns into an attack on Officer Anderson, during which both men go out of view of the camera. Detective Jim Weakley, who just happened to be driving by on the bridge, jumps in to assist. During the ensuing life and death struggle, the suspect takes Officer Anderson to the ground, bites Officer Anderson’s eyebrow off and slams his head against the concrete before Officer Anderson is able to shoot the suspect twice.

Just a warning…the second video is graphic and may not be suitable for all viewers.

Video #1

Video #2 – fast forward to the 00:30 time mark

For the full story on Video #2, please read The Quad-City Times article, outlining the events in their entirety and to view photos of the injuries sustained by Officer Anderson.

To all the officers reading this – Let the experiences of the officers in the videos serve as a reminder to always stay alert, train hard, and treat each call with the seriousness it deserves. 

As Officer Smith says in his article – watch each video and then imagine what you would do in the same situation.

We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.