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Steve Myers
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Flint PD union calls for councilwoman's resignation Union president defends officers' shooting of woman with knife
By Taryn Asher
FLINT (WJRT) - (04/26/07)--Thursday night two Flint police unions were calling for a city councilwoman's resignation after she refers to a police shooting as a "senseless murder."
Flint City Councilwoman Carolyn Sims shared her opinions with council at Monday's meeting, just days after two Flint police officers used deadly force against a 46-year-old woman who they say refused to put down her knife.
Several police officers are quite upset, especially because Police Officers Union President Keith Speer says his officers did what they were trained to do.
Sims, who is also a former Flint police officer, spent several minutes at Monday's meeting bashing the officers who used deadly force to stop a Flint woman with a knife last week.
"And I don't care if you come back and talk about Carolyn Sims, but that was a senseless murder for the city of Flint," Sims said at the meeting.
"Carolyn Sims is senseless," Speer said.
Speer says he and several other officers within the department are outraged Sims called two Flint police officers murderers.
But they say they are even more shocked that during that same meeting she accused the officers of getting their inspiration to shoot Jo Ann Burgett from the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui.
"I'm wondering if the media played on that shooting in Virginia and if that had something to do ... you know that was on officers' minds ... you know, (they) got pumped up and wanted to see if they could fire as many bullets as Cho, whatever his name is," Sims said at the meeting.
"(It's) just utterly ridiculous. No. 1, we don't use Glocks," Speer said. "It makes no difference anyway. It shows just how little this woman knows."
Since the shooting of Burgett, many, including Sims, have questioned the officers' use of deadly force. Speer says the officers did what they were trained to do under the Use of Force Continuum.
The guidelines say they can one up their attacker and use deadly force if they come within 30 feet.
"You come at us with a pipe, with a knife, with any weapon, we can up that to deadly force ... a gun or whatever we have to do," Speer said.
"(With) everything I've heard and seen, (they) started it out between 20 and 25 feet and kept advancing. She never stopped. They were literally begging her to drop her weapon."
Sims did not return our calls. Both officers remain on paid administrative leave until the investigation into their actions is complete.
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=5248409 |
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Steve Myers |
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Sat May 05, 2007 3:01 pm |
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