View Full Version : RIP Officer Tyler Stewart
platoonDaddy
01-14-15, 21:13
Body camera footage of fallen AZ officer released
Scroll to the 9 minute mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VAcLOO0vOko
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (KSAZ) -- Flagstaff Police Officer Tyler Stewart lost his life in the line of duty last month. He was killed while investigating a domestic violence incident.
The Flagstaff Police Department released video from a body camera that Stewart was wearing during the deadly encounter. It shows how the deadly encounter unfolded.
The actual shooting is not shown, but the moments leading up to it are test, dramatic, and some may find them disturbing so we do want to warn you ahead of time that this is tough to watch.
The video shows a typical response to a domestic violence call, it captures the moments leading up to the deadly confrontation with Robert Smith. It starts in his patrol car on the afternoon of Saturday, December 27, 2014. The officer was looking for a suspect in a domestic violence call.
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/27842220/2015/01/13/police-camera-shows-final-moments-before-man-killed-flagstaff-officer
Averageman
01-14-15, 21:31
That went really bad really quick.
RIP Officer Stewart.
SeriousStudent
01-14-15, 21:57
I can't watch videos like that without screaming at the monitor. I really, really hope the video proves useful in training videos for future and current LEO's.
My thoughts and prayers are with Officer Stewart's family and fellow officers.
Wow, I didn't see that coming at all, it seemed like just a normal conversation and the dude went off like "that".
RIP Officer Stewart.
Leaveammoforme
01-14-15, 22:33
Such a 180 it almost looked like a training video. Officer Stewart reacted quickly but I assume he or the suspect made space and Stewart never got ahold of suspects right hand. Yet again, some low life destroys other peoples lives.
Prayers sent for the family.
MountainRaven
01-14-15, 22:36
What's the moral of the story? Insist that the guy keep his hands out of his pockets?
HighSpeedDreams
01-14-15, 22:41
RIP brother. We'll take it from here.
Averageman
01-14-15, 22:47
What's the moral of the story? Insist that the guy keep his hands out of his pockets?
Yeah, I would say so.
Early in the Officer asked him about his hands in his pockets. I think the guy being so at ease made the Officer think he was safe. I'm no cop, but I would want to see everyones hands the whole time.
I kept thinking he was going to get shot in the house before they made it outside.
MountainRaven
01-14-15, 22:55
Yeah, I would say so.
Early in the Officer asked him about his hands in his pockets. I think the guy being so at ease made the Officer think he was safe. I'm no cop, but I would want to see everyones hands the whole time.
I kept thinking he was going to get shot in the house before they made it outside.
I expected the guy with the beard to open up the door with a shotgun....
What's the moral of the story? Insist that the guy keep his hands out of his pockets?
Request back up Officer before approaching residence.
Do not let subject out of view.
After contact, do not let subject go back inside vehicle/ structure.
Immediately, pat-down subject suspected in criminal activity.
If someone is going to kill you it will be with their hands. Hands, always watch the hands.
He knew something wasn't right and that is why he kept asking about his hands or the presence of weapons. Some look down at a .22, but any gun even a small knife can end a life.
Breaks my heart seeing what happened to Officer Stewart.
Hopefully, someone will learn from watching the video footage.
SKidevil said it all..... you cant stress enough about hands.... no matter what your doing. seeing the hands makes all the difference. never trust anyone that wont show you their hands.
i watched the video before i read everything... and the second that douche walked out of the house i would have ordered him to remove his hands from his pockets. if he didnt comply the less lethal would have come out with support hand while strong hand is ready to draw lethal.
i didnt read anywhere how long this young man had been on the department.. but hopefully others learn from this...
This was semi local here. Flagstaff is a small town and this is their 2nd line of duty death in their history. He had about a year on if I remember correctly. My wife is involved with a LE support group and we drove up their recently to put on a family support event. That department has taken this really hard.
Complacency kills.
Nobody wants to be the overbearing cop who is unwilling to relate to folks on a people level. It's cold so people put their hands in their pockets and things like that. But if nothing else, that video shows you just how little actual "warning time" you get when things go bad.
You don't know if you are talking to a regular guy who is having a bad day or a bad guy who is having a regular day. I think we are all about 99% certain when the guy walked away from the officer the first time he was grabbing a gun. From that point on the bad guy had time to plan, organize and decide when and how he was going to use the gun if he felt it became necessary. The officer by contrast had to come up with a "plan" on the fly as things were already in play.
Quite honestly I expected the ambush to happen indoors when the officer lost track of the two guys that he was aware of in the home. I'm amazed he then put his back to the door as he talked to the guy outside. I wonder if this was deliberate staging on the shooters part.
Pretty much everyone has covered the "should have" part already. If you have to ask if a person has any weapons or anything of that nature then you probably should verify it yourself. If a person truly isn't a threat, they will probably understand you checking pockets and such for your own protection and then they can put their hands back in their pockets if it's freezing outside. And if the DO have a weapon, their objection to a "quick search" will give you a LOT more warning than what this officer got.
I hate to criticize and MMQB but this was preventable without being a hard ass cop. It's a shame it went down like this. Hopefully this example with save other cops and help people understand why cops make certain requests.
.........................
Eurodriver
01-15-15, 14:05
Request back up Officer before approaching residence.
Do not let subject out of view.
After contact, do not let subject go back inside vehicle/ structure.
Immediately, pat-down subject suspected in criminal activity.
If someone is going to kill you it will be with their hands. Hands, always watch the hands.
He knew something wasn't right and that is why he kept asking about his hands or the presence of weapons. Some look down at a .22, but any gun even a small knife can end a life.
Breaks my heart seeing what happened to Officer Stewart.
Hopefully, someone will learn from watching the video footage.
Is backup always possible?
How do you avoid the subject going out of view? Prevent him from going back inside? Physical detainment?
Patting him down is when he got shot!
I'm not at all nitpicking, I'm just trying to learn how this would be preventable. The dude just seemed so calm...like was said above, it seemed like a training video.
"Yeah man, just minding my business. I'll leave her alone. Oh, by the way...take these bullets to the head. Bang."
.........................
Mauser KAR98K
01-15-15, 20:22
Is backup always possible?
How do you avoid the subject going out of view? Prevent him from going back inside? Physical detainment?
Patting him down is when he got shot!
I'm not at all nitpicking, I'm just trying to learn how this would be preventable. The dude just seemed so calm...like was said above, it seemed like a training video.
"Yeah man, just minding my business. I'll leave her alone. Oh, by the way...take these bullets to the head. Bang."
The suspect was not all "calm." He gave out a few indicators that he was hiding something. He was "chuckling" at the situation, kept moving--fidgeting--but the clear indicator was before the conversation changed to the blinds, he was looking down and was silent. That should have been clear he was running something through his mind, and I think Officer Tyler caught it too late. That was why I believe he suddenly wanted to really frisk the guy.
Why didn't he have back-up from the start? DV calls are the worst.
The suspect was pretty calm actually but the silence and then the angling away at the beginning of the pat down were huge indicators. More importantly, as soon as I contact someone they don't leave my sight. If they do you MUST assume they dumped something or armed themselves and react accordingly.
Every Officer has their own style to gain compliance and maybe not to be a PIA cop, but you can't let the basics fall by the wayside.
Plus I never ask to frisk someone, why give them a second or two to prepare a plan? If I have legal authority I tell/help them to place their hands in the position du jour and then just search. At any point any escalation is met with appropriate control.
MMQB sucks and I hate judging others actions in short single view clips with minimal context and no mindset. I use these videos to train myself as I mourn for the fallen.
Dennis.
Patting him down is when he got shot!
I'm not at all nitpicking, I'm just trying to learn how this would be preventable. The dude just seemed so calm...like was said above, it seemed like a training video.
You do not have to be a cop to see the warning signs.
He was bouncing all over the place, not calm.
Kept strong side away from cop.
Get his hands out of is pockets before you tell him you are going to search him.
Shit can go south so quickly.
When I tell someone to keep their hands out of their pockets, and they go back to their pocket (or pockets), they are going in cuffs. Hands on your head, interlock your fingers, or you're going on your face. If they keep putting their hands in their pockets, they are doing so for a reason...
This is such a shitty situation, and the P.O.S. killed himself like the coward he was. Pisses me off.
I had a firearms instructor give me some valuable advice once.
Rules of staying alive
1. Watch their hands
2. Watch their hands
3 Watch their ****ing hands
Shit can go south so quickly.
When I tell someone to keep their hands out of their pockets, and they go back to their pocket (or pockets), they are going in cuffs. Hands on your head, interlock your fingers, or you're going on your face. If they keep putting their hands in their pockets, they are doing so for a reason...
This is such a shitty situation, and the P.O.S. killed himself like the coward he was. Pisses me off.
I had a firearms instructor give me some valuable advice once.
Rules of staying alive
1. Watch their hands
2. Watch their hands
3 Watch their ****ing hands
I agree with all of the above. But I wonder how many would be cry police state and excessive force had he gone the above route and the guy had no gun. I bet people would be swarming about civil rights violations and cops just wanting to beat people down.
I have had a few nut ****ers try shit like that before for guns and drugs.
Eurodriver
01-16-15, 06:21
I agree with all of the above. But I wonder how many would be cry police state and excessive force had he gone the above route and the guy had no gun. I bet people would be swarming about civil rights violations and cops just wanting to beat people down.
I have had a few nut ****ers try shit like that before for guns and drugs.
I had a really long chat last night with university PD. He rolled up to the bar on his bicycle and it was freezing out (60*) so I turned on one of the little propane heaters we had on our patio and we started to chat.
Things I learned:
1) His job would be so much easier if people just complied. Frisking someone doesn't mean they are going to jail. Putting someone in cuffs doesn't mean they are going to jail. Resisting means they are going to jail.
2.) People would face a lot less time if people just complied. Weed can send you home with a citation. Resisting with violence is a felony.
3.) Everything he does is because he doesn't want to get shot, and at the end of the night if it comes down to you being uncomfortable and him being alive guess what he will choose?
4.) He hates carrying a Sig. Too heavy.
5.) He's probably more conservative than 99% of M4C.
6.) He saw the video of the UOF training with that activist in Arizona and thinks that should be required training before protesting police actions (he was kidding...sort of ;) )
Sounds pretty reasonable.
I couldn't care less about weed. Weed can be destroyed (depending on the amount...not if you've got a LB'er in the trunk) if you're just honest and cough it up. But if I have to search everyone, the vehicle, all for a bag o' weed and a pipe, someone's taking the fall (ticket or jail if you're running for the Sinaloa of Gulf Coast homies).
A pat down does not mean you're under arrest, just as being detained doesn't mean you're arrested. However, freaking out during either of those processes will probably lead to being arrested.
If everyone, including Police, were calm, reasonable, and used common sense, we would all be better off. I cant honestly comprehend the thought process someone has to go through to believe its better to kill someone instead of going to jail for a domestic. It is unfathomable. I don't want to kill anyone, that's someone's son, grandson, brother, cousin, husband, Dad, etc. Unfortunately most dirtbags couldn't care less.
I hate domestics, and this is why.
Averageman
01-16-15, 09:44
I got real nervous for the Cop when the door opened and there was a lot of movement in and out between rooms.
Honestly I would have felt a lot better for the guy had he called for back-up right then.
This really sickens me and I'm sure the small town Cops like this can end up lulled in to a feeling of safety as they know most everyone in town.
This though is a prime example of how dirtbags come in all sizes shapes and colors.
Sounds pretty reasonable.
I couldn't care less about weed. Weed can be destroyed (depending on the amount...not if you've got a LB'er in the trunk) if you're just honest and cough it up. But if I have to search everyone, the vehicle, all for a bag o' weed and a pipe, someone's taking the fall (ticket or jail if you're running for the Sinaloa of Gulf Coast homies).
A pat down does not mean you're under arrest, just as being detained doesn't mean you're arrested. However, freaking out during either of those processes will probably lead to being arrested.
If everyone, including Police, were calm, reasonable, and used common sense, we would all be better off. I cant honestly comprehend the thought process someone has to go through to believe its better to kill someone instead of going to jail for a domestic. It is unfathomable. I don't want to kill anyone, that's someone's son, grandson, brother, cousin, husband, Dad, etc. Unfortunately most dirtbags couldn't care less.
I hate domestics, and this is why.
Speaking of people just wildin out have you seen this one?
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2038778-155/slcpd-detectives-reviewing-cops-body-cam
Speaking of people just wildin out have you seen this one?
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2038778-155/slcpd-detectives-reviewing-cops-body-cam
Wow. I would say a reasonable person would find someone leering into vehicles and asking about snow removal when the sidewalks are clear to be.......suspicious. Guy went nuts, guy got shot.
.........................
Should the officer have backed off and waited for a second unit, and at that time re-engaged the subject? Would you have done anything differently?
Hindsight is always 20/20. I don't know, they guy seemed fairly calm during most of the interaction. It was only a suspicious circumstance, so its doubtful anyone would "wait for a second unit" to contact the guy. He did such a 180 in behavior I don't think the Officer had a chance to "back off", also with that 180 in behavior, you've got to be asking yourself "why is this guy freaking out over giving me his name???....Warrant?" At that point he needs to be detained, which is what the Officer tried to do.
I probably would've had him step off the porch, away from his shovel, to speak with him....but again hindsight is 20/20.
Its always easier to look back on a situation and say what would have been better. Every officer goes in to every situation differently depending on their perception of the situation. Also things that are picked up on camera are not always seen by the officer. especially body cams as it doesnt take into account where the officers head is orientated at the time.
A good example. Tonight there were 5 of us eating dinner. The discussion turned to one of our recent shootings where an officer shot a mentally unstable woman who charged him swinging a hammer. They were there to take her for an evaluation and she opened her apartment door and just charged with the hammer. One of the officers at the table stated he does not feel a woman armed with a hammer to be a deadly threat and that he would utilize hand techniques or a taser instead. One of the other officers relayed a story from one of his academy partners. This officers first day on FTO they responded to a call where a lady was armed with a screw driver. The rookie and his FTO decided to use a taser and when that failed on the charging woman the FTO got stabbed in the head. Luckily he was not killed. The original officer again said that he did not feel a woman with a screw driver was a deadly threat and that a male officer should have no problem disarming a female with a non blade hand held weapon.
Hopefully he is never hurt by a woman with a weapon that he tries to disarm by hand. But that just goes to show you how different perception of scenarios can lead to people getting themselves into bad situations.
Eurodriver
01-18-15, 08:55
Hindsight is always 20/20. I don't know, they guy seemed fairly calm during most of the interaction. It was only a suspicious circumstance, so its doubtful anyone would "wait for a second unit" to contact the guy. He did such a 180 in behavior I don't think the Officer had a chance to "back off", also with that 180 in behavior, you've got to be asking yourself "why is this guy freaking out over giving me his name???....Warrant?" At that point he needs to be detained, which is what the Officer tried to do.
I probably would've had him step off the porch, away from his shovel, to speak with him....but again hindsight is 20/20.
I did find it odd that the officer let him hold the shovel during that encounter.
I've never seen snow, but aren't those things plastic? Maybe he didn't think it was going to be a problem? I don't know.
Eurodriver
01-18-15, 08:57
...and why does the media call the guy who attacked a police officer with a shovel and subsequently got shot during the attack a "victim"?
Oh God, I can't even read this article
"It doesn't make sense to any of us," Osburn said. "What does make sense is the pattern of police brutality. What does make sense is the reaction to minor calls with brutal, lethal force. Even if the officer were threatened with a shovel, why don't our officers know how to disable something like that? Why don't they have the skills taught in any common self-defense course that a woman takes to feel safe in the world?"
Son of a bitch. You've got a guy assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon on video, and someone still manages to utter the phrase "police brutality".
ramairthree
01-18-15, 09:12
Too many movies.
People see little chicks clearing roomfuls of men with their kung fu moves and guys taking out guns, knives, etc.
They honestly think it is practical to shoot a gun out of someone's hand, kick a knife away, etc.
They have also probably never done a lot of real fighting/training.
Its always easier to look back on a situation and say what would have been better. Every officer goes in to every situation differently depending on their perception of the situation. Also things that are picked up on camera are not always seen by the officer. especially body cams as it doesnt take into account where the officers head is orientated at the time.
A good example. Tonight there were 5 of us eating dinner. The discussion turned to one of our recent shootings where an officer shot a mentally unstable woman who charged him swinging a hammer. They were there to take her for an evaluation and she opened her apartment door and just charged with the hammer. One of the officers at the table stated he does not feel a woman armed with a hammer to be a deadly threat and that he would utilize hand techniques or a taser instead. One of the other officers relayed a story from one of his academy partners. This officers first day on FTO they responded to a call where a lady was armed with a screw driver. The rookie and his FTO decided to use a taser and when that failed on the charging woman the FTO got stabbed in the head. Luckily he was not killed. The original officer again said that he did not feel a woman with a screw driver was a deadly threat and that a male officer should have no problem disarming a female with a non blade hand held weapon.
Hopefully he is never hurt by a woman with a weapon that he tries to disarm by hand. But that just goes to show you how different perception of scenarios can lead to people getting themselves into bad situations.
Does he feel the same way with a female pointing a Taser at him? After taking the ride in Taser Instructor class I know what I'm doing in that situation. I was as useful as a pile of dogpoo for the 5 second ride.
Dan
I have and will continue to handle DV calls alone, due to geography and staffing.
I can, have and will cuff every swinging d!ck on scene until I get a warm and fuzzy. They can come off just as fast. I will explain why and most folks get it.
Not immediately complying with orders to show hands gets an immediate and forceful response from me. There's no other remedy when going it alone.
Participants can be expected to be told what to do, not asked. I will be firm and professional, and I will control every aspect of the scene until I and I alone determine who the actors are and who is going to jail.
No one is permitted to move about the residence. No one is permitted into a vehicle or outbuilding.
I never park in front of a res. I move from cover to cover when approaching, although this is situational. I always listen before contacting.
Just some random thoughts.
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