Who do we call when we need to be protected from the police? Our community is sickened by the events that happened in Farmington last night. Brian was a good man having the worst day of his life. Brian was a threat to himself (and a garbage can). When people are suicidal they need love not torture. We watched as the swat team tortured him. They tear gassed him. They threw percussion grenades and shot him with pepper balls and we could hear him screaming. What did they expect him to do? Forced suicide is wrong -UPDATE - turns out he was shot by the police, not himself. He needed support not torture. If a man is on a tall building about to jump and harm himself does it help if the cops throw things at him? Does it help if they tear gas him and throw percussion grenades at him? What about the pepper balls? Those are torture. This looks as if it was so poorly handled. Really, who do we call when we need protection from the police?
Many reports on this have been sensational and full of misinformation. We plan on updating this with more real stories from the people who were there.
16 comments:
Brian Wood was my first best friend in kindergarten, I have know him most of my life. Brian was one of the nicest, kindness person I had the privilege of knowing. I will always have these great memories of him and the times we spent together. This tragedy has devastated their family and friends and I can only hope his son will be ok.
Such a tragedy. My heart and prayers go out to his friends and family.
If he wanted help he could have put the gun down and gotten out of the truck. He would have gotten plenty of help. Don't try to absolve him of his actions, the actions that led to HIM blockading himself in his truck and that led to his demise. Yes its sad, but I would feel much worse if he had taken some one else with him.
we call internal affairs
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The internal affairs (United States terminology) division of a law enforcement agency investigates incidents and plausible suspicions of lawbreaking and professional misconduct attributed to officers on the force. In different systems, internal affairs can go by another name such as "professional standards," "inspectorate general", Office of Professional Responsibility or similar.
Several police departments in the USA have been compelled to institute civilian review or investigation of police misconduct complaints in response to community perception that internal affairs investigations are biased in favor of police officers. For example, San Francisco, California, has its Office of Citizen Complaints, created by voter initiative in 1983, in which civilians who have never been members of the San Francisco Police Department investigate complaints of police misconduct filed against members of the San Francisco Police Department. Washington, DC, has a similar office, created in 1999, known as the Office of Police Complaints [1].
Due to the sensitive nature of this responsibility, in many departments, officers working internal affairs are not in a detective command, but report directly to the agency's chief, or to a board of civilian police commissioners.
Internal Affairs investigators are bound by stringent rules when conducting their investigations. In California, the Peace Officers Bill of Rights (POBR) is a mandated set of rules found in the Government Code.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_affairs_(law_enforcement)
glb
the reason he blockaded hiself in his truck is he feared for his life
he was afraid he would be beaten down like a dog or killed
his fears were correct
the reason he blockaded hiself in his truck is he feared for his life
he was afraid he would be beaten down like a dog or killed
his fears were correct
a scared and caged animal will always defend itself
its brain's own fault that he ended up that way you dont lock yourself in a truck with a gun pointing at police and firing it in a trash can thats just stupid right there police gave him enough verbal warnings to surrender then they use of non lethal force flash bang pepper balls and tear gas its not like the police arrived on the scene and straight up use deadly force the stand off lasted for 12 hours police have to take steps and make sure the situation calls for the use of deadly force so no i dont feel it was a forced suicide was murder it was just suicide for brain the he committed himself and for jame's comment brain didnt fear for his life if he would have thrown the gun and all weapons he had out the window and had his hands in the air to show the police he was not a threat anymore he would be still alive right now yes its sad but everyone has choices and brain choose to go that way.
It's not law enforcement's fault. Police get killed at simple traffic stops so staging a 2nd standoff Brian was taking his life into his own hands.
As far as his fear that he'd be beaten so badly, was he beaten after he did this last time? I see no mention of police abuse.
It's hard for friends or family, but there are predictable consequences for some actions and I'd bet Brian knew during those TWELVE HOURS that death was one of the possible results as the number of officers continued to swell.
We all know we can't do what Brian did, sit in a sea of cops with a gun. He could have got shot if he sneezed.
It was mighty big of the fire department to still send him into the public as a public servant after the first standoff in light of the times, and I wonder what they had in place to gauge his mental health along the way.
I know it's hard, but Brian made his own man-choices. Blaming police for not letting his people woo him out of this again is denying Brian credit for how he orchestrated the end of his story.
The healing should have been intensely before this incident. The pastor said, "He just got into a dark place and didn't know how to get out."
I believe that's true. But sometime between his two standoffs would have been the time for healing. Not at that scene Brian choreographed.
Brian was defiant, armed, not cooperative, and started his entanglement with police by saying "Come get me." In my world, if you want to live, that's the wrong thing to say.
Maybe some of you are too close to see that there is a good chance that he had a goal
and he achieved it.
All of you are in my prayers. None of this can be easy. It's awful for everyone to lose the person they love, to lose him so violently, and seemingly so needlessly. Seemingly.
I am a Farmington resident and live very near the scene. Don't label this as the community being upset because that isn't true. I am sad that it ended the way it did...but the police needed to do their job and that is what they did. He was more then a threat to himself and they spent twelve hours trying to end it peacefully he chose it ending this way he could have put the gun down and ended it peacefully.
I keep reading that he got into his truck because he feared for his life that's not true he fired shots into a garbage can in front of his wife and child then HE CALLED 911 he didn't ask for help or say I made a mistake he said "COME AND GET ME" so I really don't think he was afraid at that time he had 12 hours to come out and get the hugs that the neighbors wanted to give to him where were the neighbors for the last 5 months since the last time cops were called to the house ahh that's right no cameras so they stayed home I feel sorry for his son and the rest of the family which I might also add the whole family does not feel that the cops were wrong just a few of them and after talking to them they feel a little different after thinking out the situation!
bigair,
You dont have a clue. First of all you said that Brians family had kids running all over, your an idiot. There were no kids there with the family. It looks like you are one of those guys that believe everything the police said.
They lied from the begining when the said Brian shot himself. I was there and had a view that others where not able to have. When they decided to attack Brian he was talking on the phone to the police peacefuly behind his truck. There were Swat members within 15 to 20 feet of him on both sides of him. They shot him with tazers at the same time the pepper bombs hit and they gased the hell out of him. He was wrapped in tazer wire and dropped to his knees screaming for them to stop. When he dropped to his knees he was shot in the back left side of his head (yes you heard me right he was shot in the head) There was only one shot. Any of you with half a brain can break down the sound from that night and you will find one shot and one shot only. For you fools that say he raped his wife and have no proof of that are just SICK. The only thing Brian is guilty of is shooting a garbage can and being depressed. All of you that want to judge his actions of not just surrendering, have you ever thought you might not know the whole story. YOU WILL SOON So before you cast judgement maybe you should think about it for a minute. There is experts in this field all over the Country Scratching their heads because they have not seen a situation of this kind handled like this before. For the people that are making a big deal on rather it was 300 officers or not, Who in the hell cares. Anyone that was there in there right mind will tell you there were way to many cops there.
I have the utmost repect for those people that work hard every day to protect us. Police officers put there life on the line every day for us. Thats why this PISSES ME OFF so bad. There was a war zone there that night on one side of the street and a DAMN pizza party on the other side of the street. There will be justice in the case and there is going to be several officers that will have to answer to this mess. As for Sadie Love I know you are saying things about there being a 2nd gun shot because your dad works for the city. Stop lying you sound like the Chief of police. You may not like these comments, but it is the truth so deal with it
Truth...shut up! You obviously weren't there or you would know there was more then one shot! I live up the street and heard it all. There was definitely more then one shot.
Brian Wood was probably a good man, no one questions that, his state of mind at the time showed differently though. He challenged the police, he shot at them several times when the police used non-lethal force. There is no excuse for Brian wood. I am sorry for his loss, and I am sorry for the officer that had to defend himself, and the community, and take a life away. No one understands how painful that is. Your pain is understandable, but your judgments are only an emotional reaction. If it were my dad, or brother, I would have been devastated, and would have wanted another way. But the fact remains that he shot at the police, and therefore was shooting into the neighborhood. If someone is terrorizing the neighborhood, it will not be tolerated, this is the United States of America for crying out loud. Your pain is noted, but your judgments are not justified. The man could have raised his hands in the air at any moment and given up, but he didn't. He wanted a show down. Cornered? OF COURSE! Would you want someone that is temporarily out of his mind to run around with a gun and who knows how much ammo? Look what happened to that Korean kid at trolley square, do you think he knew that would happen a week before? I doubt it, he probably had problems he was dealing with, and then enough was enough, and he lost it. But did they corner him? unfortunately not, because they didn't have time, and the worst happened! We are lucky SWAT came in and cornered him, we are grateful that SWAT was there to be shot at instead of civilians with no defense. I am sorry for Brian, but what happened had to be done, YOU WERE NOT BEING SHOT AT, PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES. The police handled it correctly and safely, and for that I am grateful they did. Brian's choices lead them to take action... you have no right to be angry at the police for protecting Brian's family and community and even trying to protect Brian. If you are going to be angry, get angry at Brian.
I have known Brian since I was a kid. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Demolay, and remember Brian as a kind and warm hearted man with a great depth of spirit and Love of Life. I am saddened at his Loss and all my best wishes to his family.
I have to say that I do not envy the police and their Jobs of protecting the public and who at times have to make that split second decision to pull the trigger or otherwise end a situation with violent intervention. I am sure that those officers who have taken a life carry a load much heavier than Joe public can begin to understand.
I am not one of these nuts that has nothing better to do than add comments to blogs and or newspaper articles but I am compelled to do so now for the first time. I have read this blog, and read the news paper articles and read through all of the individual public comments. I am left wondering a couple of things.
1- What drove this man to the brink of suicide and to his emotional / mental breakdown that led to this? I read that Brian’s wife had been having a long term affair with a local police officer. Is this true? Did he find this out and realize that his life was about to dramatically change with the end of his 18 year marriage? I read that the officer that responded to the initial 911 call was the officer involved with affair. Is this true? If so can you imagine the effect that would have on the sanest person among us? I want to know what the root cause of this mans break down was and if this is true. I saw is wife in an interview. She had no bruises, no battered face, and no indication of being abused as some have reported. What was the cause?
2- I am just flat disgusted with mans inhumanity towards man. In general , and in this case in particular. I read the comments on the news article reporting Brian’s funeral. Well over three hundred. So much hatred on both sides. The man was not even in the ground yet and hateful nasty comments were flying both ways. It is disgusting to me as these comments in the end teardown the family and friends and teardown the police officers and their community.
It is my belief that one person can push another person to the brink of insanity and over that brink. Finding out that your wife has been carrying on an affair with a Police officer that you more than likely know through working as a fire fighter is one of them. Realizing that divorce is imminent and that you will soon be living in a one bedroom apartment with the only rights left being the right to pay money for child support while another man lives in your house and sleeps in your bed is one of them to I would think.
I think that there was possibly bad judgment on both sides. Brian’s judgment was gone due to what ever exchange of words took place between Brian and his wife. A sniper shot to the back of a mans head who has been tazed and blasted with concussion grenades and gas sounds like possible bad judgment as well. A pizza party in the middle of it sounds like another.
If the affair story is true then Liz will be able to collect that nice insurance payout, marry her cop lover and live happily ever after.
If the cops acted incorrectly I hope it is uncovered and treated as vigorously as any other Murder case. My hope for this is low as the police take care of the police first and the public second. I pray everyday that man kind will end its inhumanity towards each other and end this mindset that everything is disposable. A Marriage, and human Life, and on and on it goes. I pray for all involved.
THE TRUTH:
Please for my sake tell me, who are the Experts ALL OVER THE COUNTRY that are scratching their heads at this case, "because they have not seen a case like this handled in this way". There are hundreds of cases like this every year and quite a number of them end the EXACT SAME WAY! Watch the news outside of UTAH. You will see these kinds of Stand Off's everywhere. And everywhere, the police are FORCED to do something about it. As far as you saying you were RIGHT there...Are you saying you are a Police Officer? Are you saying you did not vacate your home as requested by Police for safety of those near by? If you know this information, then why HIDE behind it. Stand up and tell people. I am so and so, and I saw this first hand. Maybe the police need your knowledge of what you saw. If you know something that Police do not, I believe you have an obligation to come forward with that knowledge. Otherwise, you are just as guilty as Brian for what happened! If you want the TRUTH to prevail, come forward with your Information. DON'T hide behind it on this blog! Just a thought!!!
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