Board clears officers in shootings

In a meeting Wednesday afternoon to address two recent shootings by Bloomington police officers, the City of Bloomington Board of Public Safety found officers involved to be in accordance with Bloomington Police Department policy, leaving some residents upset about the results.

On Dec. 19, police received a call regarding a man with a shotgun threatening suicide. After a four-hour standoff and other efforts by police to negotiate with the man, Officer Chris Scott fired one round from his shotgun, hitting the man in the left thigh.

During this incident, officers and the Critical Incident Response Team responded by using less lethal munitions, such as shooting the man with 40-millimeter rubber rounds, Bloomington police Chief Mike Diekhoff said.

“Those bounced off of the subject and had no effect whatsoever, and caused him to point the weapon at the officer,” Diekhoff said.

In the internal investigation’s findings, Chief Diekhoff and the Board of Public Safety found Officer Scott to have acted in a reasonable way and to have followed the department’s standards to defend him and other third parties.

The other incident under review was the shooting Jan. 7 at the Bloomington Transit bus terminal at Fourth and Washington streets. The police received a call from a man saying “a black guy with an army outfit on” said he was going to “kill the police.”

Thirty-three-year veteran officer John Coleman arrived on the scene less than a minute later and saw the individual described in the phone call. Diekhoff said the individual that called 911 was the same individual who was armed at the scene.

“He called on himself,” Diekhoff said.

During this incident, the man revealed a nine-inch kitchen knife and began threatening the officers with it and ignoring commands to stop and put down the knife. Chief Diekhoff said there is a national standard of 21 feet for the gap between the officer and the individual that is the minimum to shoot.

“This individual had closed that gap and was within three to five feet of the officer, and he did that very quickly,” Diekhoff said.

Officer Coleman then felt threatened and fired two rounds, striking the man in the chest and upper abdominal area. Chief Diekhoff and the Board of Public Safety found that Officer Coleman’s actions were within the BPD’s training and he acted reasonably.

The board motioned and unanimously agreed to the findings of the chief’s internal investigation thus far to be correct and in accordance with all applicable laws.
Citizens at the meeting said they have heard conflicting stories about the Jan. 7 incident and think a more in-depth investigation is necessary.

Marc Haggerty, a Bloomington resident of 50 years, said he is not surprised by the outcome of the meeting.

“I think it was a rubber-stamp meeting of a board that doesn’t want to take responsibility for the management of the police force,” Haggerty said.

Haggerty had a problem with the unanimous motion to accept the internal investigation because the police had not spoken with the victim or his family. The victim in the Jan. 7 shooting is a juvenile and his name cannot be released.

“They haven’t spoken with the victim, they haven’t spoken with the family, and it seems wrong,” he said.

Haggerty also said he thinks the Board of Public Safety should do a better job defending the public and hearing the information the public has to offer instead of only accepting the police testimonies.

Board of Public Safety member Jim Sims said he motioned for both to be accepted because he believes the officers followed departmental policy. Sims also said the victim and his family have hired a lawyer and are “flat-out refusing to talk to police.”

“If there was in fact an opportunity to talk to the youth, it may have had a different outcome because there would have been more facts involved,” Sims said. “But I respect the victim and his parents’ right to just be silent.”

Other citizens questioned the BPD’s choice to not use tasers.

“We do not have tasers and they’re not going to work in every situation even if we did,” Diekhoff said.

He said BPD uses other forms of nonlethal weapons such as the 40-millimeter rubber rounds and distraction devices.

Both internal investigations were motioned and unanimously accepted as fair and within code at the meeting.

“There is still some unknown information, and whatever determination we come up with today will be based on the investigation facts as we found them,” Sims said. “Until the police or prosecutor’s office or whomever can talk with the individuals and work out some other details then this probably won’t be totally over.”