(From Police Press Release) – On February 8, 2017 at approximately 12:14 pm, Woodland Police Officers responded to the 1100 block of Matmor Road for a report of a male subject wearing a trench coat over a towel. It was reported the subject was walking around an apartment complex, exposing himself to people, and carrying a pair of scissors and a Chef’s knife. The witness also stated the subject was cursing at passers-by.
Officers arrived in the area and immediately started searching for the subject. Another witness reported to dispatch that the subject was walking in the 1300 block of Coolidge Place with a large knife in his pocket and was now carrying a golf club. It was reported the subject was attempting to break into vehicles. Another witness reported to officers on scene that the subject was on Garfield Place.
Officers responded to Garfield Place and located the subject still with the golf club. The subject was acting erratically and swinging the golf club around. Officers on scene repeatedly told the subject to put the golf club down and attempted to negotiate with him. The subject charged at and assaulted officers causing injury to one officer. Officers used a Taser to gain control of the subject. The subject was handcuffed and soon after officers discovered the subject was not breathing and began CPR, as well as calling for emergency medical assistance.
The subject was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Woodland Memorial Hospital where the subject was pronounced deceased.
The subject’s name will be released by the Yolo County Coroner’s Office after notification of the next of kin. The subject does have a violent criminal past with the City of Woodland.
Several officers involved in this incident have been trained in crisis intervention techniques. The Woodland Police Department’s standard operating procedure for any officer involved violent incident is to have an outside agency conduct the investigation of the incident. The Yolo County Sheriff’s Department is conducting the investigation and will submit the investigation to the Yolo County District Attorney’s office for review.
An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, February 9th. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available. The Woodland Police Department requests anyone with information about this incident to call the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office 24 hour business number 530-666-8282.
Based the information provided in this article a more accurate headline would be “Officer Involved Death in Woodland”.
Maybe. But we have presented tasers as less lethal uses of force, but in a whole host of circumstances tasers are very dangerous.
“Maybe”
Exactly. If it’s maybe why would you make an unequivocal statement?
Perhaps gets more ‘attention’, more “hits”?
It’s not a statement, it’s a title for an article.
Another version of the events…
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/crime-fire-courts/man-dies-in-woodland-police-custody/
Right or wrong, the Emptyprize headline is less inflammatory…
More important are unanswered questions that I hope to look into.