Charlotte: Suicide by cop?
WyrdWoman
Police say officers fired in self-defense
By LEIGH DYER
Darryl Woodall Jr. died early Thursday after he lunged at a state trooper
with a weapon police thought was a gun.
But after five law enforcement officers shot and killed the 23-year-old
Gastonia man, they discovered the weapon was two screwdrivers fastened
together with duct tape.
Some are calling the incident "suicide by cop," a phenomenon gaining
recognition as a key factor in some police shootings, and a devastating
consequence for many officers.
Before the shooting around 1a.m. on Interstate85 in west Charlotte, police
said Woodall told witnesses that he wanted police to kill him. Police
wouldn't say who those witnesses were, but said Woodall did not talk to
the officers during the incident.
"He had made the statement to people that he was ready to die," said
Deputy Chief Larry Snider of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. "He was
willing to make police help him."
Family described Woodall as a quiet man who kept to himself. His uncle,
Ray Good of Gastonia, said his nephew suffered from depression. Woodall
had once attempted suicide, had held up a bank in 1996 and had been
psychologically evaluated after the robbery, according to court records.
Police were still piecing together what happened on I-85 early Thursday
after a chase that began in Gaston County and ended in west Charlotte. But
Vivian Lord, a criminal justice professor at UNCCharlotte and former
police officer, said she would categorize his death as a law
enforcement-assisted suicide.
Lord's nationally recognized study of 32 N.C. police departments found 64
cases of suicide or attempted suicide by cop from 1991 through 1998.
They include the shooting in September 1998 of Randy Curtis Fullerton.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police wounded the Mooresville man after he lunged
at officers with a broken bottle. He later apologized to police for his
suicide attempt. In a 1997 Shelby case, a man forced officers to fatally
shoot him outside the city's police station.
Police wouldn't say how many shots officers fired Thursday, but said
Woodall was struck multiple times.
Good said he believes police used excessive force.
"Why shoot a man that many times? Something's wrong here," Good said.
State law and the policies of both Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the
N.C. Highway Patrol allow officers to use deadly force if they fear their
own lives are threatened or they believe force is necessary to end a
threat to the life of a third party, officials said.
In a situation like Thursday's, Lord said it's not surprising that so many
officers fired their guns.
"They're all there to protect each other," she said.
For many officers, the aftermath of the shooting is difficult, experts
say. Officers deal with shock, guilt and anger after discovering they've
been manipulated into carrying out a suicide plot.
"It's a tragedy that affects all of us," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Chief Darrel Stephens.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the State Bureau of Investigation are
conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting, which is standard
procedure. Internal-affairs units for police and the Highway Patrol are
conducting separate internal investigations into whether the shootings
complied with policies.
They will be aided by clear videotapes of the incident captured by cameras
in the troopers' cars, said Lt. Eddie Ginn of the Highway Patrol.
The three officers and two state troopers will be placed on administrative
leave during the investigation, routine after such shootings, officials
said. They are Trooper J.A. Brodhage and Trooper D.J. Johnson Jr., and
Officers Nelson Bowling, Erik Jonasse and Troy Hurst of
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
Here's what happened, according to accounts from police, troopers and
witnesses:
About 10 p.m. Wednesday, somebody jumped into the car of a Gastonia pizza
delivery employee and stole it. The theft took place in front of an
apartment where Woodall lived with his mother and stepfather.
Mary Ann Ridyard, an employee of Papa John's Pizza on East Franklin
Boulevard, said she delivered a large cheese pizza and 2-liter soda to a
Balthis Drive address in Gastonia.
Ridyard left her 1999 Ford Escort running.
As Ridyard made change, she said, "I heard my car pull off. I walked down
to the parking lot, looked all around and my car wasn't there."
Ridyard said she returned to the apartment to call police.
About 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Gastonia police stopped the car after
discovering it was reported stolen.
Two people got out of the car. One, a 19-year-old, was taken into custody
and a 15-year-old ran away and was caught a short time later in
Mecklenburg, police said.
Police refused to identify the two people. The 19-year-old will not face
charges and the 15-year-old's involvement is still under investigation,
Gastonia police said.
The driver took off, police said. One suspect told officers the driver had
a gun, they said.
Troopers joined the pursuit as it entered I-85 and tried to stop the car
as it traveled north into Mecklenburg County at speeds that hovered near
the speed limit.
When the driver refused to stop, troopers used stop sticks - devices used
to deflate tires - to puncture its tires near the Mulberry Church Road
exit.
The man continued driving on flat front tires, periodically waving an
object that officers believed was a gun, police said. He stopped the car,
but refused to follow a trooper's order to get out of the car and drove
off again, they said.
The suspect stopped a short distance later, opened the driver's-side
doors, placed his legs outside the car and smoked a cigarette, again
ignoring officers' commands before driving off again.
The driver later pulled the car to the shoulder of the road near the
concrete highway divider, jumped from the car with something in his hand
and rushed toward the trooper who was standing behind the stolen car,
police said. Two troopers and three Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers
opened fire. Police did not release specifics about where all the officers
were standing. Woodall fell just a few feet from the patrol car of the
trooper who had been following him, police said. Afterward, police
discovered the weapon to be two screwdrivers taped together in an L-shape.
Police closed northbound I-85 from the Billy Graham Parkway to the
Brookshire Freeway after the shooting, snarling morning rush-hour traffic
for hours while they collected evidence.
Thursday's incident was the first fatal shooting by Charlotte-Mecklenburg
police since November 1998, when an officer killed a man who had fired on
police with an assault rifle. Internal and criminal investigations cleared
the officer.
Before that, a string of police shootings of civilians between 1993 and
1998 in Charlotte brought a public outcry and increased scrutiny of police
use of deadly force.
The last fatal N.C. shooting by a state trooper was in 1997 in Wake
County.
Patrick Cannon, the Charlotte City Council member who heads the public
safety committee, said he hopes to ensure a tape of the shooting is
released to the public.
"I don't think we're going to hear an outcry like we have in the past
relative to some local incidents," he said.
Police Chief Stephens said there will be a thorough investigation.
Nora Hiatt
>
> "Why shoot a man that many times? Something's wrong here," Good said.
>
again!!! Don't they know the officer who gets the longest
straw is the only one who gets to go bang bang!! Whatever were they
thinking?
Why I'm going to check tomorrow and make sure that every officer in my
city is being equipped with no less than 5 straws of varying lengths to
be carried with them at all times. I mean when they have to make a
split second decision whether an officer or citizen lives or dies, we
must NOT have them running around looking for 5
straws to make the shooting nice and legal now must we?
Thanks for posting this, I hope it opens a lot of peoples eyes.
It is sad when it happens, but it does.
Nora
NewsTalker
Nora...@sprintmail.com wrote:
> > Good said he believes police used excessive
force.
> >
> > "Why shoot a man that many times? Something's
wrong here," Good said.
> >
draw those damn straws
> again!!! Don't they know the officer who gets the
longest
> straw is the only one who gets to go bang bang!!
Whatever were they
> thinking?
>
> Why I'm going to check tomorrow and make sure that
every officer in my
> city is being equipped with no less than 5 straws
of varying lengths to
> be carried with them at all times. I mean when
they have to make a
> split second decision whether an officer or citizen
lives or dies, we
> must NOT have them running around looking for 5
> straws to make the shooting nice and legal now must
we?
>
> Thanks for posting this, I hope it opens a lot of
peoples eyes.
> It is sad when it happens, but it does.
>
> Nora
>
Police say officers fired in self-defense
By LEIGH DYER
they would, wouldn't they Nora? They always do!
Darryl Woodall Jr. died early Thursday after he
lunged at a state trooper with a weapon police
thought was a gun.
--
Stu
"that joke isn't funny anymore...it's too close
to home and too near the bone" - the smiths
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