Wellness check leads to shootout

[Calmoney]

5min video

This might be posted before, but I saw this last night and whoa.

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[Celt]

Curious to know what the hell that was all about.

 

[wirehairfan]

The Troup County Sheriff's Office have released dash cam video showing a bizarre shootout between a deputy and a mentally unsound man. Deputy Michael Hochett was called to a residence by a family member who was concerned of 28-year-old Matthew Edmondson's mental health. The deputy made his way to the home, but when he arrived he didn't notice anyone present. He then entered the property and can be heard walking around, knocking on doors trying to find someone. A short time later Matthew pulls up in his truck. He seems annoyed at the deputy's presents and starts shooting at the patrol car. Deputy Michael was not in the car at the time, but heard the shots. He shouts "Sheriff's Department!", to make sure his presence is known. Moments later Matthew encounters the deputy inside the property, and Matthew then fires shots at the deputy. The deputy does not return fire and starts running away, back to he patrol car. He jumps over the fence and Matthew then fires additional shots at the deputy, who then returns fire and hits Matthew's shoulder. The deputy then gets in his patrol car and leaves the scene before backup arrives.

A 6 hour standoff with police ensued after the video ends, which resulted in Matthew's eventually capture. He now faces serious charges including attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer, and false imprisonment.

 

[Airborneguy]

I remember that one. I believe he ended up being yet another sovereign who claimed shooting at the cop was his right since he was on his land.

 

[Calmoney]

Scary situation

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[Kwalsh]

so my only question is why did they delete the footage of the deputy just entering the property when nobody was home?? does a wellness check allow them to just walk right in??

 

[Airborneguy]

Yes of course he can. The guy's father called. This wasn't a random check or based on anonymous info.

 

[GOPerfect]

so my only question is why did they delete the footage of the deputy just entering the property when nobody was home?? does a wellness check allow them to just walk right in??

Absolutely. He was called out, he cannot ignore a call. He cannot just show up, check the gate and leave. It would be a dereliction of duty,.

 

[Saltwater60]

What I find weird is the deputy left and left the other guy/kid there who seemed to be forced back into the truck. I’m surprised the deputy made it out alive. Running away like that. Scary business for sure.

 

[Airborneguy]

Rural policing is different from urban policing. He was alone, outnumbered (the mother) and under fire, with a limited amount of ammo and a bunch of unknowns on the perp’s side.

Withdrawing to await backup was a great idea. Who gives a shit if the perp died in the interim? Actually that would have been better.

 

[Glenn B]

A short time later Matthew pulls up in his truck. He seems annoyed at the deputy's presents and starts shooting at the patrol car. Deputy Michael was not in the car at the time, but heard the shots. He shouts "Sheriff's Department!", to make sure his presence is known. Moments later Matthew encounters the deputy inside the property, and Matthew then fires shots at the deputy. The deputy does not return fire and starts running away, back to he patrol car. He jumps over the fence and Matthew then fires additional shots at the deputy, who then returns fire and hits Matthew's shoulder. The deputy then gets in his patrol car and leaves the scene before backup arrives.

So, after reading the above section of the description of what happened, before viewing the video, I was wondering why on earth did the officer flee the scene. I mean leaving the scene and not at the very least keeping the bad guy under surveillance to assure he did not start shooting at anyone else would seem the right thing to do based on the info in the posted written description of what happened. So, I figured there must be more to it than what I had just read. Then I watched the video to see if there was more pertinent information and indeed there was some very crucial information in making a determination as to whether or not the officer acted properly in leaving the scene. An extremely important bit of information, that the officer had been shot, had been left out of the above description. Surprisingly no one else mentioned that the officer had been shot as the probable reason he had left the scene. I do not think he withdrew to necessarily await back-up, and then as the implication would have it to reengage, nor do I think he necessarily left because he was out numbered (unless I missed something, we cannot even be sure he knew the woman was there). I think he withdrew, and did so wisely, because he had been shot.

If you are shot and can withdraw and get yourself to safety and medical attention that would probably be the best thing to do in most situations. Of course, even though you might be able to get away safely, there are some situations wherein remaining engaged might be the right thing to do but I think not in this case. I think the officer did right to get away and to promptly seek medical attention since it was not like the criminal was shooting down scores of others at the time. One thing I think he should have done, that anyone in such a situation should do, is to report not only that you have been shot and are back in your car but you need to tell dispatch that you are leaving the scene and headed to wherever and what route you are taking. That is imperative for your own safety in the event you pass out or crash or whatever. The dispatcher though should have been asking him all of that as well and then relaying it to other officers.

The officer is lucky to be alive. Even though distance is your friend in a gunfight, especially one in which pistols are being used, him running away as he did put him at potential great disadvantage. He could have easily been shot by the bad guy, maybe even killed, as he ran but luckily for him the bad guy for whatever reason did not shoot him as he ran or as he climbed the fence. Immediately going for cover may have been the much better thing to do and that probably was what he had been trained to do, that is if he received even fair tactical firearms training. There was good cover available, he ran right by it. Note, I am not faulting the officer for anything, I am stating the facts as I saw them and thinking through them based on my experience, training I received and training I gave. In the state of mind he must have been in, I imagine it would be easy to miss good cover and that is why during training, LE firearms instructors go over the same things over and over and over again - they are trying to make it second nature to use cover and other tactics they teach you.

You can see the importance of cover quite clearly in this video. The bad guy would likely not have been shot had he used cover before shooting at the officer. Of course, I am quite happy he did not get behind cover immediately because it gave the officer a golden opportunity to shoot him and that is just what the officer did, kudos to him. You will note though that as soon as he is shot, the bad guy then goes for cover and is apparently not hit again by any shots fired by the officer and it seems evident the officer fired at least once more and I am pretty sure fired twice more without hitting the dirt bag again.

I am not faulting the officer for anything and it would be difficult to fault the officer for not immediately going to cover; although, I would bet there is an excellent chance this video now is used as a training film for the purpose of teaching about recognizing and using cover. The truth is though, sometimes when the pucker factor hits, it flushes all your training down the toilet.

Happy the officer is alive, happy the bad guy got shot to end the threat to the officer, and hopefully the bad guy went or will go to jail for a long time.