UPDATED AT 10:30 a.m. Thursday
Tacoma police shot and injured a man Wednesday night after he refused to pull over and allegedly drove directly at an officer standing outside his patrol vehicle.
The 34-year-old man was shot at least once and was undergoing treatment at Tacoma General Hospital, the department reported. His condition was not known this morning.
Officers tried to pull the man over about 8:30 p.m. in the area of South 64th and South D streets after noticing that he was driving without headlights, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.
“The vehicle didn’t flee, he just refused to stop,” Fulghum said.
The man continued driving about 30 mph so officers did not initiate a pursuit.
Police learned his identity by running his license plate and went to the man’s listed address, which was an apartment complex at S. 66th Street and Tacoma Mall Boulevard.
An officer parked his marked patrol vehicle to block one of the entrances of the apartment complex. The officer was standing outside the vehicle, Fulghum said.
The man was driving north through the parking lot. He allegedly hit a couple of parked cars and then continued driving straight toward the officer.
The officer opened fired, striking the suspect. The suspect’s vehicle grazed the officer and continued moving forward until it hit a Dumpster.
The car caught fire, Fulghum said. Officers pulled the man from the burning car.
The man was talking to officers at the scene. Paramedics then took him to Tacoma General Hospital, where he also was talking to officers, Fulghum said.
“The officer may have been grazed by the vehicle when it went by him,” Fulghum said.
The officer was not seriously injured.
The officer was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure when 0fficers fire their weapons.
Works for me.
How dumb is this guy?
Ok so for the police to say he didnt run or they didnt chase. They came down our road doing more than 30 mph. And his vehicle was followed by more than 12 cops. That is a chase we could hear the sirens for miles before it got here, And then when I got to the site where the shots were fired. The man was lying on the ground lifeless and his vehicle was not crashed into a fence it was on top of the dumpster behind a restraunt. And the police completly man handled the man. They were not gentle and the man did not move at all the whole time I watched. And they did not rush him to the hospital. They sat there rolling him, and lifting him up by his arms and pulling his legs. And still the man did not respond. Then they put him on a gurney and his arms fell limply off the gurney and they crossed his arms and tucked them into straps and they nonchalantly walked the gurney to the ambulance. And did not leave with lights and sirens, and they drove the speed limit. I saw the mans whole body and saw no burn marks.
Hopefully they can update this from “shot” to “killed”. Great way to save the Pierce County Jail, the Office of Assigned Council, and then the Department of Corrections a whole lot of money in a time of crisis. Trying this guy in court and then housing him for his whole life will cost a whole lot more than a few rounds of ammo, and a week of paid administrative leave.
So, as Ms. Glenn reports, the officer was seated in his patrol car, “in the driveway of the apartment complex” and the suspect…
Later described as “driving through the parking lot, allegedly continued driving straight toward the officer in the parked car.”
So is the “officer” in this case left handed as to enable him to draw his issued Glock or Kimber firearm and be able to effectively employ it out of his driver’s window? Or, did he shoot clean through his front windshield?
And how, exactly, was this officer able to determine that this vehicle traveling in his direction was the suspect? Or does the TPD just shoot at anyone entering an apartment complex sans operational headlights?
Wow, quite the imagination.
I see the arm chair cops are at it again–before the first pen to paper you guys have completed your investigation and the cops are guilty. Well why do we even need a police force with such stellar crime fighters as the likes of most of you on this blog? Hey, I wish I could solve the crimes of Pierce County by sitting at my computer, reading the initial story and bang out a solution. All this without even being there and being clairvoyant enough to know what both cop and suspect were thinking during the entire incident. Man, are you guys good!!
ginahopk–as a box of rocks
i saw it from when it started @ 56th st. La Huerta parkin lot the man in the white suv took a right i am pretty sure his lights where on the police turned his sirens and the car continued slowly next thing u know theres like 13 police cars and the guy lives where i do i got there before the cops did next thing u know they shoot him my 4 daughters heard the breathe knocked out of him i really felt as he was not a threat y r police allowed to shoot, i would understand beatin him but come on
@thumpertaz23 – What did you want them to do, bend down and kiss this punk ? Why don’t you go give yourself a group hug ?
jessica–you are so close you heard the breath (not breathe–that’s what you do) knocked out or him–so close to hear that and you didn’t fear for your kids? Man are you insane or what?
If your going to pull your weapon then use it with maximum effectiveness. A little more time at the range will help.
Seems like a lot of Cop haters on this blog today. You drive a car at me and you are dead. Just because the car has no bullets doesn’t mean it’s OK to run it at people and expect them to not do anything. The Cops protect people and kids so get over it already!
DeschutesMan–well said and my feelings exactly. Some the bloggers here think all cops just want to kill and eat burnt dead babies. What a bunch of pathetic losers.
Jessica–you said “…next thing u know theres like 13 police cars…” You had time to count these cars going by and still beat the cops home. How fast were you driving on those city streets? And with your kids in the car! Yes, I suppose I answered my original question–you are insane.
to all the bright remarks i………..said……………….the……..man………..lived……..in….my…..complex…………everybody………..heard everything………..as for the spelling get a life and yeah dumby we counted it was right in front of my damn place and the guy was goin like 30 wise guys yes i must be insane for trying to explain to a bunch of idiots i’ll pray for u cause i think ur mama must of dropped u on ur head once or twice or thrown u cause with a mouth like that i would of laters losers
Every incident doesn’t have to result in police using maximum force! If the guy wasn’t running away and wasn’t going fast, he was probably drunk or for some reason medically unaware… not that this is a good state to be driving a car in, but it doesn’t deserve being shot. The police could have simply shot out his tires at any point of this story.
Planting a police car in his driveway seems like a deliberate set-up since this guy seemed like he was on auto-pilot so of course he was going to pull into his own parking area. How was the policeman in the driveway “grazed” when this report says he was sitting inside his car? The victim must have been going so slowly, the cop had time to jump out of his car and shoot… and then when the car “kept moving forward” it didn’t hit the police car anyway. So why is it immediately assumed that a car slowly moving forward (toward its usual parking space) is considered vehicular assault worthy of being shot? Don’t police have any other training beyond pulling their guns for every situation?
I hope Jessica and Thumpertaz23, and any other eye-witnesses, come forward to help fill in these questions.
The cops do not eat burnt dead babies. They prefer them in the W.C. Fields style – slow roasted over an open fire.
That’s what W.C. said when someone once asked him if he liked children.
its just hood shit… its what happens on the daily in tacoma
It sounds to me like a diabetic coma.
He’s lucky they didn’t kill him, probably because there were so many witnesses. TPD doesn’t like disputed testimony in officer-involved shootings.
Well actually, donut shop investigations are the TPD’s, Lakewood, and Pierce County Speciality!
Just go ask the donut shop investigators, who assisted Chief Brame murder his wife?
The donut shop investigators are taught at the statewide Academy, that is why today opening remarks in the Otto Zehm Murder Trial, starts today with the FBI and U.S. Attorney, using the criminal element statutes for those who attended the Washington State Donut Shop Training Academy.
18 USC 242, eh pazzo 242, confusing a Guild Lawyer, Guild Mayor, Guild Police Chief, but never confusing, those who attended a real Academy.
The guy clearly should have not been driving, for whatever the reason, or pulled over when seeing a string of police cars following him. However, I don’t think this is an acceptable reason for an ambush, and use of deadly force by law enforcement. Maybe they should have waited until the car was parked and asked him what he was doing?
As a society, don’t execute people for not paying attention; we execute them when other lives are in imminent danger.
SO HE HAD NO HEADLIGHTS?
Neither did the Tacoma Police Department, when Crystal called for assistance, and was executed, by the Tacoma Police Chief, using assistance from the detective squad, mayor and cover it up team forever.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner, all wrapped up in a Crown Victoria,
The lights are on, but of course as usual the batteries are running on empty!
Whatever happened to the tasers? It seems a lot of these officer-involved shootings could be just as well handled with a 15-foot taser shot. Then again, I’m not the officer involved.
I know this happens in tacoma all the time. But what shouldn’t happen is the lies. They are saying they had a cop at his apartment which they did, they say he didn’t chase. Well thats a lie, more than 15 cops and the suspect car headed down my road twice at a high rate of speed. And when the suspect car headed down our road he had lights on. Did I want them to kiss his forehead no but they should have been a bit more respectful. If they weren’t concerned about him and were just going to go to his apartment then why the over abundance of police presence. I understand if they shot him due to fear for their life, But why the treatment afterwards. And trust me if the suspect decides to sue or fight it I will gladely testify to what I saw. I am not a cop hater I respect them for what they do, however when they act like they did last night, and the lies that are coming out I do not agree with them.
Someone is not telling the truth, the whole truth, or any part of the truth. Cover-up in progress. Guaranteed. If their lips are moving…. Perhaps a few months of silence during the investigation (report manipulations and designed media vilification) will allow this to slide under the radar. Real eye witnesses threatened or ignored. TPD are liars.
So a police officer – inside a patrol car – shot this man just for driving towards him? Jeez. Usually, when a policeman decides to execute someone who is driving a car, the officer at least claims he was “dragged” by the car (i.e. – the driver does not respond immediately to a command to stop, so the officer puts his hand on the car and then fires away).
These days, I am more scared of the police than I am of criminals. In my day, the police helped people – they didn’t just lurk around waiting for an excuse to scratch their itchy trigger fingers. Scary.
Sounds like we need Phoniex Jones on the case!
Any Tacoma Pig Department defenders want to counter that there are no good explanations for the facts set out so far?
The man continued driving about 30 mph so officers did not initiate a pursuit.
An officer parked his marked patrol car in the driveway of the apartment complex.
The suspect, who was driving through the parking lot, allegedly continued driving straight toward the officer in the parked car.
The officer opened fired, striking the suspect. The suspect’s vehicle continued moving forward until it hit a fence and caught fire.
“The officer may have been grazed by the vehicle when it went by him,” Fulghum said.
I am quick to support our police officers; however, this one just does not pass the “smell” test.
something stinks as the TNT report does not match the supposed witness statements.
Many could understand our police officers being a little quick on the trigger after the Lakewood 4; but, now they are beginning to appear a little too trigger happy. If they were concerned about this driver and had thirteen cars chasing him at 30MPH, I can not help but believe that they had numerous chances to end this with a box-in manuever. Letting it escalate to gun play is a black eye for the officers involved.
Funny, I have made it through my whole life without being put in a situation where I can get shot by the police. If you make bad decisions,hang with the wrong crowd,do the wrong thing, act like a thug and most important dont pull over those decisions can cost you.
I read all you arm-chair cops post and you have no clue what you are talking about.
Jessica–read your post, you write like a 5th grader. Take an english class so you will, at least, sound like you completed grade school.
Misunderestimated–”box in maneuver”, really. You watch too many cop shows. About the time you get along side the joker he pulls out a weapon and shoots you in the head–yeah that worked real well
Pikgitar– “Tacoma Pig Department”–and I see the unbiased idiot responds.
thumpertaz23–”I am not a cop hater”–really, never would have proved that by your statement. You say the cops are lying, maybe you are the liar.
onetuffgrandma–”These days, I am more scared of the police than I am of criminals.”–then feel free to call your local rapist, thief, burglar, child molester, or any other series of criminal types next time you want to report a crime. I am sure they will be of great help to you.
eadn says: ‘Whatever happened to the tasers? It seems a lot of these officer-involved shootings could be just as well handled with a 15-foot taser shot. Then again, I’m not the officer involved.’–I have to ask: Have you ever seen a taser go through glass or metal; I don’t think sooooooooo!
Liberty Ding Dong–you, I just laugh at.
So here’s the thing, I wasn’t there; I don’t know if the cops were right or wrong. But you pathetic bunch already want to nail the cops to the cross without any information other then this article. As for the eye witnesses, how do I really know if you are truly eye witnesses or just a bunch of cop haters? How do I know you aren’t the liars? That said, I will wait for the reports to come out and then make an INFORMED decision on who was right and who was wrong.
i bet he was white
My goodness, freedom is speak is alive and thriving, lol. Hopefuly, none of you are seriously offended by these remarks, slurs and vivious attacks on character and education or lack of. If this goes as planned, some of you might be contacted.
Good luck
Here’s a radical idea: How about when the cops pull you over, you actually…pull over? Hmmm! Every time I’m pulled over, I pull over, produce the required paperwork, and go on my merry way, maybe with a ticket, maybe not. I’ve never been tazed, manhandled, bludgeoned, beaten, shot, or otherwise suffered at the hands of the police. Funny how that works.
The police officer was standing outside of his car that he placed blocking the exit. The article does not state whether the officer even tried to get out of the way. The vehicle did not hit the police car. Since the officer was not in the police vehicle; does the officer have the right to shoot a person to prevent damage to the vehicle? After all, he placed it there to stop the vehicle. Somehow I think this will go down as a bad shooting.
I am glad that for one the police leave their warm cozy homes to go help people who not only don’t appreciate the jobs police do but the ridicule them when they follow procedure and do what any person with common sense would do. The thing I can’t grasp is people tend to jump all over the police due to the fact they give tickets or injure people but when you have to put up with the risks they do everyday and then deal with the public not appreciating what you do I wouldn’t want to be a police officer. Some of you just have no common sense and wouldn’t unless you were actually a police officer and I am sure the ones who said they saw everything and it didn’t look fair to the man how would you feel to know that he was a sex offender(living around your kids) or a murderer or a man that beat his wife or even a drug dealer or addict you wouldn’t see him as a victim you would see him as a threat a bunch of hypocrites like to comment on these things I just want to say if you want to ridicule and judge then go out and get all the facts first
I respect the police force and appreciate what them and their families have to go through and it isn’t any different doing what they do here at home when others do worse and sacrifice the same and maybe innocent casualties happen in other countries think about that
Pazzo 242 and Laguera2530, I agree that all facts should be obtained before we judge the police action… however I would hope that the police do the same and gather full information before SHOOTING people who forget to turn on their headlights and have the audacity to drive toward a police vehicle which is blocking their parking spot. (How did the cop know he wasn’t going to just pull up and stop?) I want to support our law enforcement, but this seems very strange… this person may simply have been in need of a medical intervention and may not have had negative motives at all.
We need to start reporting on and congratulating cops who come up with creative ways to dissolve tense situations; there seem to be far-too-many situations needlessly escalating into gunfire.
.
Pazzo – Jessica does not write like a 5th grader. Jessica writes like a 2nd grader.
I wish I could shoot degenerates and then be forced to take a paid vacation.
pazzo242, I think I love you. LOL! All of you people really should wait to get ALL of the facts before you condem the police officer.
It was quite the show when they passed in front of my house…Kind of like the Daffodil parade and the 4th of July combined…Big line of cars with lights and sirens and then about three minutes later here comes ‘tail end charlie’ bustin’ ass to catch up…’Hey guys, wait for me!’…Pretty good chuckle there…
Wow, wow: Nicky Heat, wheres that space man
Any witnesses to this incident, please contact Armijo Investigations. armijoinvestigations.com
jessica13 Thank you for telling us what you saw. It’s a shame that there are people that do things like piss & moan over spelling & insinuate you are a bad parent because you saw something.
There are a lot of idiots that should lurk more & post less on this board.
The only people I’ve ever known who call police personnel “pigs” have been either punk teenagers or criminals of any age. I guess if I was a contemptible low-life thug I might feel the same towards law enforcement as pikgitar and his type.
angiensi–Thanks and back at you.
itwasntmethistime–Yep, I have to agree, I was just trying to be a bit nice. I have a hard time with that, being nice, when there are so many idiotic postings like on this story.
Wow, how many of you cop-haters simply craft your own quotes for this story? The article states: “An officer parked his marked patrol vehicle to block one of the entrances of the apartment complex. The officer was standing outside the vehicle, Fulghum said.” See that last line, where it says the officer was *standing outside* his vehicle? Let’s go over it once more, for the illiterati among us: the officer was standing outside his vehicle. If you’re going to disparage the story, at least don’t make up your own version like sobriquet: “So, as Ms. Glenn reports, the officer was seated in his patrol car…” – or earth_watch: “How was the policeman in the driveway ‘grazed’ when this report says he was sitting inside his car?” Next time you feel mouthy, how about you step up, take the training, swear the oath, and pin on that badge? Are the cops infallible? Nope. Are they highly skilled, trained, and professional in just about every possible situation? You bet. Cops aren’t Supermen. Like everyone else, they can make mistakes. They’re just held to a higher standard than the rest of us because of the great power they wield, and rightly so – they don’t need armchair quarterbacks like you criticizing before you have any real info. Sadly, they also put up with an awful lot of abuse from a small, but noisy, segment of the population they serve and protect. Do everyone a favor, sobriquet, and earth-watch, and tuffgrandma… keep your pie-holes zipped until you have the facts – don’t just manufacture details to suit your own agenda. People like you don’t deserve police service – but I’m betting you each demand it much more often than the rest of us. I’ve called 911 once in the last year… how many times this month have YOU called?
Baconator–Yea!!! Nicely said. I honestly think there are more people out there who are willing to wait for the dust to settle and the ink to dry before pointing fingers. By the looks of this blog it would seem the other way around but these are just the big mouths and nothing more.
I monitor these stories just because of these people so the posts are not just one sided. I never assume the cops were right but I don’t assume they are wrong either. Just like life, there are good and bad but law enforcement has a higher percentage of good then most other professions according to:
1) Copyright 2009 The Dedham Transcript. “Good cop, bad cop: Statistics show less than 1 percent of police officers run afoul of the law” – Dedham, Massachusetts – The Dedham Transcript”
2)Good Cop Beats Bad Cop, Research Shows; Study Explores Why Dialogue Yields Better Results Than Coercion
ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2011)
Jofish10, you are a contemptible lowlife punk. And the Tacoma PD are pigs. I watched 6 TPD get on a witness stand and every one of them told the same fabricated lie and then they got caught in that lie. I am the only person in the city of Tacoma to be charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and obstructing a public servant, who, after a three day jury trial was found NOT GUILTY of all three charges. Further, the jury took less than 1 minute to reach that decision. And even further, the jury told the judge and the prosecutor to charge the cops with assault and battery on me. TPD are PIGS and LIARS and COWARDS.
pikgitar, so based on that, we are to believe that you are a fine law abiding citizen who was randomly chosen by the TPD to file these charges against. Give us a break.