Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) Near Miss is a voluntary, non-disciplinary officer safety initiative that allows law enforcement personnel to read about and anonymously share stories of close calls or “near misses,” which provide lessons learned that can protect fellow officers in similar situations.
Event summary
An anonymous person called 911 to report a man using drugs in a car in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The complex was in a high-crime neighborhood known for heroin and meth use.
I had recently received a tip regarding a specific apartment that the drugs were being sold from, so the caller’s description was likely to be accurate. The caller described the specific make, model and color of the vehicle.
I arrived and waited around the corner out of sight until my backup unit arrived before approaching on foot. As we turned the corner, we could see the man sitting in the driver’s seat and very clearly “on the nod.” The vehicle’s engine was running, and the vehicle was backed into a parking spot.
We made contact with him, and he complied when I told him to turn the vehicle off. However, he hesitated and stuttered when I asked for his ID. I visually scanned the interior of the vehicle and saw the handle of a black handgun poking out from a backpack on the passenger seat next to him. I ordered him to not move, opened his door, braced my right forearm across his chest, and reached across him with my left hand to remove the gun.
Normally I wouldn’t reach across someone like that, but the guy was so clearly on the nod that I knew I could safely remove the gun before he even knew what was happening. I handed the gun to my backup unit so he could secure it, and then stalled until he got back.
I then asked the guy for his name, and he began patting himself down and reaching into his pockets, possibly looking for his wallet. My partner and I both shouted at him to stop, but he didn’t. Then, he reached up to the ignition, turned the key, and started fumbling with the gear shift. My partner and I had been preparing to forcibly pull him from the vehicle and were both standing in the open driver’s side doorway. The way the car was positioned, the vehicle would have to make an extremely hard left-hand turn in order to exit the parking spot, which meant we were both standing directly in the path of the rear tires.
My partner was able to safely jump backward and out of the way, but in that split second, I feared I would trip over my partner if I also tried to jump backward, resulting in both of us being run over. So, I went the only other direction I could – forward – and into the vehicle. I’m a small guy and the driver was a small guy, so I ended up kneeling on his thighs with both my knees. I slammed the gear shift back into park, swung my elbow at the guy’s face a few times, and managed to turn the ignition off before the car traveled more than two car lengths.
My partner radioed for emergency backup, and then caught up to us and helped me pull the guy out of the car and onto the ground.
After getting the guy under control, I found I had scraped my head on the doorway of the car, and my head was bleeding quite nicely, which really freaked out the other officers who arrived to assist.
The other officers searched the car and found a second handgun, several knives, nearly 200g of meth, 80g of heroin, and several thousand dollars in cash and gift cards.
Contributing risk factors
Several risk factors contributed to this near miss:
- Complacency;
- Decision-making;
- Suspect under the influence of alcohol/drugs;
- Suspect’s possession of a weapon.
Lessons Learned
Several lessons were identified:
- Don’t allow your perception of a suspect’s diminished ability to cause you to deviate from sound tactical principles.
- Consider other options to secure the weapon in plain view. Reaching across the front of a suspect can afford the suspect a substantial tactical advantage and possibly access to the officer’s firearm.
- With a firearm within arm’s reach of the suspect, two or more officers should utilize a contact/cover tactic with one officer providing lethal cover from a safe angle while the other secures the weapon or the suspect. Using a contact and cover approach with the backup officer on the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle could also give the contact officer and the backup more room to move to safety if the suspect attempts to drive away.
- With the driver’s door open and the suspect in a semi-conscious state, consider turning off the ignition and removing the keys.
- Officers are repeatedly told in training that where there’s one gun, there are two. While the officer in this case successfully located the first gun right away and continued to take safety precautions after that, he didn’t really comprehend the very real possibility that the subject might have a second gun. This is a reminder to NOT simply go through the motions, but to actually EXPECT to find a second gun.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR NEAR MISS
Support this critical officer safety initiative by reading and sharing the near-miss stories and lessons learned that your fellow officers have shared, and consider sharing your own near-miss experiences at LEOnearmiss.org.