This forum is not about hating cops, so don't send me any more email about how I hate cops. From our perspective it looks as if this situation was handled poorly. Brian was close friends with the Farmington Firefighters and Police. They helped him through other tough times. They are grieving too. Some of them have expressed their sadness, frustration and horror over this as well. I am not attacking them. This situation looks as if it was handled poorly and so far it has not been released who was in charge. Looks like a bad call by someone.
I am disturbed by the show of force. It looked excessive. I am disturbed by the Utah Highway Patrol officer to whom we commented, "I bet you get tired of this stuff." He replied, "No I love this stuff." I am disturbed by the Sniper running down the street licking his lips and grinning from ear to ear. I am disturbed by the huge pizza and cookie police party that happened just before it all ended. I am disturbed by the response the Farmington Police officer got when he was called into work early, arrived on the scene and told the UHP officers he was there to relieve them and they could go home . . . and they wouldn't leave. Were they staying for the pizza, the show or the overtime and hazard pay? It is possible it was something else. I am disturbed by 300 police officers to negotiate with one man. What were we negotiating? The police have made it clear that in this "negotiation" Brian had no demands.
Brian was a firefighter and he loved it. He loved the guys he worked with. He was an EMT and he loved saving lives and was an awesome father and member of the community.
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6 comments:
i wonder how much this is going to cost the tax payers
all the overtime, the cost of feeding them etc
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
This is a sad situation for all. I do not personally know anyone involved in this scenario. I would like to post my opinion based on the fact that my husband is a former police officer. I not only feel bad for Brian's friends and family, I also feel bad for the officer that had to be the one that fired the killing shot. That is not an easy thing to do. He has to live with the fact that he killed a living person. Brian doesn't have to live with the guilt of having killed someone, thanks to the efforts of the police. I don't doubt that Brian was a good person for most of his life. People change. Every day we are faced with decisions and the decisions we make shape who we are. Sometimes we make bad choices. We still have to suffer the consequences. I believe that since Brian was involved in public service, he knew the routine. He knew that if he held those guns and made threats that it would eventually end in his death. It's called police-assisted suicide and I'm sure the police were doing everything they could to avoid it. I think you are all lucky and should be counting your blessings that there is only one dead and that Brian didn't take out more individuals in his attempt to end his own life. Police officers put their lives at risk every single day that they go to work, to PROTECT AND SERVE people that they don't even know. Sometimes this requires them to make decisions in a split second with a gun barrel pointed in their face. I'd like to see how you would react in this situation. I think the best thing we can do for our community is to show our support for those who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect us in the best way they know how. I offer my condolences to the families of both victims, Brian and the officer who shot him.
ok, ow i don;t personal know ther people involved in this, but it seems that the people writing this blog as letting their feelings for Brian get in the way.
as i understand police procedure, when guns are involved and people have barricaded them selfs in anything, need it be a truck, a house or anything like that, and threatening suicide gives them the right to do just about anything to get the person out alive. in this state, suicide is a crime and if you threaten to do it then they will be consiquences. now, when you start shooting and pointing guns at the police that takes it all in a different direction.
now i am sorry that they lost a good friend to them, but protesting will not bring him back. remember him for what he was and leave it all alone. the police did nothing wrong in this and protesting them, after doing a good job, is just a slap in the face. how would you like it if someone did that to you at your job.
please just remember him for who he was and move on.
I wanted to say thanks for putting up your blog. I recently heard about the situation up in Farmington and to be honest with you at first I really didn't give it much thought. I am in a field where I deal with law enforcement on a daily basis because of my job. I have a bit of a positive bias towards police because of my involvement with them. That being said, I at first wanted to send you an e-mail berating you for hating the police and this and that. But, after reading your blog, seeing where you are truly coming from, and reading and re-reading the stories from the local news media (which I believe is strongly police friendly), I have started to side with your view on this whole thing. I deal with criminals day in and day out because of my job and I think there are some pretty bad people out there. There are people out there that deserve to be locked up for life and never step foot outside of a jail cell. Then, there are people that hit some rough patches in their lives and become suicidal. There is a vast difference between a criminal and someone with mental issues as far as I am concerned and circumstances like this highlight that fact tenfold. I have always heard the police I deal with talk about Crisis Intervention Teams for situations like this, when a person is almost suicidal or acting out of the ordinary. Where was that team in Farmington. I think if Mr. Wood was going to kill or harm himself or others he would have done that in the first few hours of the standoff. After the incident stretched to the twelfth hour, in my opinion, that was Mr. Wood saying, "Look, I'm having a rough time, leave me alone, I'm not going to kill myself, and I don't want to die". I think the police started itching in their jumpsuits around hour number twelve and wanted to go in with guns blazing and put and end to the situation...Well, their impatience sure ended the situation. Mr. Wood was no immediate harm or no immediate threat and they should have waited twelve more hours if they had to, but they didn't, and look what happened. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks for your honest blog, and I really wish people would see that you are not a cop hater, and actually take a real hard look at the incident and ask themselves, "Was a man dying really necessary in this case?". Thanks again.
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