Man threatens to harm himself; Police shoot him

[disorderlyvision]

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,526353,00.html

Monday , June 15, 2009


A Port St. Lucie police officer is on administrative leave with pay while authorities investigate the shooting of a 44-year-old man in his bedroom.

Police were called early Sunday to the home Manuel Salvador Morales Jr. shared with his parents because relatives said Morales was threatening himself with knives. Police spokesman Tom Nichols says two officers confronted Morales, who was armed and failed to comply with their commands. No additional details about the confrontation or how Morales was armed were released.

Nichols says Officer Albert Riccardi fired two shots at Morales, who was hit twice in the torso and pronounced dead at a hospital.

Morales' sister says he had recently been treated for schizophrenia and had been drinking Saturday night.

[Dr.3D]

Well, we can't have people doing the job of the police now can we? :rolleyes:

[Anti Federalist]

"We had to destroy the village to save the village".

Now, if comes out that this man legitimately threatened the cops with a knife or a gun, then, well, it's a shame, but everybody has the right to defend against an imminent life threatening attack.

What is more important to take away from this story:

Do not call cops.

If there is any other possible way to deal with a situation, do it.

If you care about the person in question for god's sake, try everything possible first, before calling a cop.

Dial 911 and Die is taking on a whole new meaning.

[acptulsa]

Remember this if you see someone threatening suicide. The police are always available to respond to such emergencies. It's much like the Hara Kiri ritual of having someone stand over with an extra sword. Gotta have someone willing to finish it for them if they lose nerve.

Your tax dollars at work, people. Doesn't it make you feel warm and fuzzy?

[Mini-Me]

<sarcasm>
Officer Riccardi later made the statement, "Things were getting out of control. For some ridiculous reason, Mr. Morales believed his body was his own, and I had no choice but to shoot him to leave no doubt that it was our property."
</sarcasm>

[newbitech]

so they didn't taser him because./.......

facepalm...

[Feenix566]

Well at least the guy won't be hurting himself any more.

[malkusm]

Hmm....doesn't that defeat the point?

[KCIndy]

so they didn't taser him because./.......

facepalm...


Don't you know??? Haven't you heard???

Tasers are reserved for 72 year old great grandmothers, mouthy little kids and unarmed, unresisting Baptist preachers.

Everyone else gets the Glock.

[TonySutton]

Here is the story with more details.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jun/14/officer/

[disorderlyvision]

Here is the story with more details.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jun/14/officer/

Thanks, here is the story:



PORT ST. LUCIE — Angie Morales-Pena, 44, always thought she and her twin brother, Manny, would die at about the same age.

On Sunday, sitting with her parents in the home they shared with her brother for almost five years, she cast some of the blame upon herself for his death earlier in the day.

But she also questioned why the Port St. Lucie police needed to gun Manny down in his bedroom.

“I called for help, to come talk to my brother, and they killed him. I don’t understand,” Morales-Pena said.

“I’m stunned, in shock, we haven’t slept, our lives have been changed forever. He’s my brother and I will miss him.”

Manuel Salvador “Manny” Morales Jr., shot twice on his left side below the chest, was pronounced dead early Sunday morning, shortly after being taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute’s trauma center in Fort Pierce.

According to Port St. Lucie Police spokesman Officer Tom Nichols, two officers confronted an armed Morales in a bedroom of the four-bedroom Southwest Croquet Street home at about 1 a.m. Sunday.

“When the officers went into the bedroom, they gave Mr. Morales several commands and he failed to comply,” Nichols said. “Therefore the officers felt their lives were in jeopardy.”

Officer Albert Riccardi fired two shots with his department issued Glock .40 caliber handgun.

The officers had to force their way through a closed door to enter the bedroom, Nichols said. Police did not release how Manny Morales was armed.

Manuel Morales Sr. said he was looking into the bedroom from the back yard and it appeared police used a taser on his son before the shooting. No one at the Morales home Sunday said they saw the shooting or if Manny Morales was armed.

Angie Morales-Pena said they found a butter knife in the bedroom after the police left.

“We need to know what happened in that room,” she said. “We have no weapons, all we have in this house is a B.B. gun.”

Morales-Pena had returned home from the movies with her 12-year-old daughter and a friend at about 12:30 a.m. A short time later, she found her brother in the kitchen threatening himself with knives.

They started to argue and she called police in fear that her brother would hurt himself.

Manny Morales, a former peer counselor with the 19th Circuit Public Defender’s Office, had grown depressed looking for work, his sister said. He had recently been treated for schizophrenia and was drinking Saturday night, Morales-Pena said.

“He just needed help at that moment,” she said. “Now I’ll never see my brother again.”

Riccardi, who has been with the department for about a year and a half, has been placed on administrative leave with pay as the department continues to investigate the incident, Nichols said.

The department’s investigation may take about a week before the results are presented to a grand jury.


Seems like it went down like this:

Sister: my brother needs help he may kill himself

Cops arrive: put down your knife

victim: NO

Cops: wait a second; he didn't comply with our demands.....Fire!

Sister: wtf did you do that for

Cops: problem solved lady he won't committ suicide now, besides our lives were clearly in danger. he didn't comply with us

[Original_Intent]

Hey, at least our cops get the job taken care of instead of like in China where some random passerby had to try to off the potential suicide because he was holding up traffic.

Not sure how much traffic this guy was holding up in his own bedroom, but hey, better safe than sorry.

[Mini-Me]

Riccardi, who has been with the department for about a year and a half, has been placed on administrative leave with pay as the department continues to investigate the incident, Nichols said.
It's bad enough that these "rogue" cops don't get life sentences, but the fact that they're just given leave WITH PAY goes to show just how much the system actually cares.