Man shot by police after being mistaken for a suspect

[Dominus Atheos]

http://www.oregonlive.com/clark-county/ ... stake.html

A Vancouver man mistakenly shot by police searching for a fleeing gunman said Monday that officers didn't shout a warning or say anything to him before they opened fire.

Brent Graham said one bullet passed through his thigh after two Vancouver police officers and a Clark County deputy fired several shots at him on Halloween morning in a wooded area near the 700 block of Northeast Blandford Drive.

"It was totally unjustified. ... I'm lucky I was only hit once," Graham, 55, told the Oregonian.

Graham had minutes earlier called 911 to alert them to a suspicious car parked with rifle cases inside. Graham lives in the area and had spotted the car as he was driving to work at a Portland-based private security firm.

He said he got out to take a look and wasn't aware of the car's connection to an earlier shooting. He said he never saw the officers arrive with their guns drawn and didn't know who was shooting at him

His thoughts were to "get out of the way and dive," he said.

Vancouver police said they shot at Graham because he matched the suspect's description – a white man in his 50s-- and they wanted to prevent him from fleeing into the woods. They didn't realize the 911 caller was still at the scene.

Graham – who had noted on his call to 911 that he was armed -- took cover behind a gravel pile and fired a single shot that didn't hit anyone, police said.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office investigated Graham's shooting and has forwarded its findings to the Clark County prosecutor for consideration of charges against the officers involved, said Kim Kapp, a Vancouver police spokeswoman. The two Vancouver officers, Cpl. Chris LeBlanc and Officer Brian Frances, returned to full duty on Dec. 17, Kapp said.

They were placed on administrative leave after the Oct. 31 shooting – a standard practice in officer-involved shootings.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office did not return a call for comment on the status of Deputy Anthony Spainhower. Authorities have not released how many shots the officers fired or whose bullet struck Graham.

Graham said his wound has healed, but he's now easily spooked by loud noises.

He said he has hired a lawyer, but would not say if he plans to take any legal action. He referred further questions to his lawyer. A message left for Graham's attorney, Steve Thayer, wasn't immediately returned.

Authorities released an hour of calls to 911 that came in when police shot Graham and from the drive-by shooting that police were investigating when they encountered Graham.

John Kendall, 58, had shot his next-door neighbor, 33-year-old Abigail Mounce, in the face with a rifle about four miles away near Northeast 63rd Street and Andresen Road.

Kendall then drove to Blandford Drive, fled into the woods and fatally shot himself, police said.

Abigail Mounce survived the shooting. While still in the hospital last month, Mounce said her right cheek had to be reconstructed and she likely would lose her right eye.

The neighbors had been in the midst of a property dispute when the shooting occurred. In March 2013, Mounce and her husband, Erich, sued Kendall in Washington Superior Court for constructing "an unsightly temporary tarp structure" and operating a vacuum cleaner repair service in a shed on his property, court records show. They also sued Kendall for allegedly renting out his house to a large number of people who frequently parked cars on the street.

The couple and Kendall were scheduled to appear in court on the day of the shooting, according to court records.

Nearly two dozen 911 calls taken in the first eight minutes after Kendall shot Mounce shows confusion over the race of the shooter, the color of his car and how many shooters were involved.

Callers reported that Kendall was in his silver Buick in front of Mounce's car when he fired several shots from the driver's side window, made a U-turn and fired at his neighbor's car again as he drove away.

The first calls came in at 8:22 a.m., which included calls from a driver who was stopped close enough that she reported bullets bouncing off her car and a chief at the Vancouver Fire Department Station 5 across the street from the shooting.

See, this is why the police don't get the benefit of the doubt in my eyes anymore. After nearly killing an innocent man two of the officers were returned to active duty with apparently no punishment, when in a just world they all would have been indicted for assault with a deadly weapon.

[Jub]

When I first read this I thought the shooting took place in Vancouver BC and I'd somehow missed it. I have to say that while I'm not glad that an innocent man has been recklessly shot, I am glad it happened in the US and not here.

[Tribble]

Well Canadian police aren't exactly saints either, although they don't seem to shoot people quite as often as their American compatriots. Probably because of the paper work.

[Jub]

Well Canadian police aren't exactly saints either, although they don't seem to shoot people quite as often as their American compatriots. Probably because of the paper work.

Trust me, I know all to well that police here aren't saints, but when they fuck up they do tend to face justice sooner or later. They also don't suffer from the extremes of excess that US officers do.

[Ziggy Stardust]

From the article:

Nearly two dozen 911 calls taken in the first eight minutes after Kendall shot Mounce shows confusion over the race of the shooter, the color of his car and how many shooters were involved.

It's pretty amazing that there can be so much confusion and ambiguity when the incident itself was incredibly straightforward. A man walked up to a neighbor with whom he had a history of contention and shot her in the face with a rifle, and suddenly people are calling the police about blacks gangs running amok.

(And yes, that last hyperbole was just a joke. I just feel the need to specify considering how bad the irony detectors on some people are about these sorts of things)