5 year old shot and killed by cop

[Sharon]

The first shot was so loud it made the hair stand straight up on Jack Tracy's arm. The bullet hit the water just a few feet in front of the boat dock where he was standing.

Instinctively, he pulled his 5-year-old grandson, Austin Haley, close to his left side and began yelling that there were people down by the pond.

Then came the second shot, and the unforgettable thump of a 9 mm bullet penetrating a young boy's skull.

"Then two officers came out of the brush over there,” he said. "They didn't tell us they were the ones who had been shooting or that they had shot him. They didn't admit a doggone thing.”

Much later, Tracy said, he found out one of the officers had fired two shots in the Crest Lane neighborhood, trying to kill a snake that had become lodged in a birdhouse on the back porch of a house just up the hill from Tracy's pond.

http://newsok.com/article/3098884

 

[missperky]

 

[rack'm]

I have to register to read.

What kind of snake was it?

Terrible tragedy, regardless.

NOBLE — The first shot was so loud it made the hair stand straight up on Jack Tracy's arm. The bullet hit the water just a few feet in front of the boat dock where he was standing.


Instinctively, he pulled his 5-year-old grandson, Austin Haley, close to his left side and began yelling that there were people down by the pond.

Then came the second shot, and the unforgettable thump of a 9 mm bullet penetrating a young boy's skull.

"It went right through the back of his head and came out the front,” Tracy said. "He was just bleeding severely and I knew, right then, he was most likely dead, right there.”

Tracy thought he and his grandson were under attack by someone trying to kill them both, so he threw the boy into the back of a 4-wheeler and drove to his daughter's house about 200 yards away.

"Then two officers came out of the brush over there,” he said. "They didn't tell us they were the ones who had been shooting or that they had shot him. They didn't admit a doggone thing.”

Much later, Tracy said, he found out one of the officers had fired two shots in the Crest Lane neighborhood, trying to kill a snake that had become lodged in a birdhouse on the back porch of a house just up the hill from Tracy's pond.

‘I just feel really bad'
Police had gotten a call of a snake complaint from a woman on Crest Lane, whose 16-year-old daughter saw the snake hanging about 3 feet of its body outside a neighbor's bird house.

The woman, who would not identify herself, told The Oklahoman she called the police station to see if animal control could respond and take care of the snake, which she believed to be a diamondback rattlesnake.

She was told that the city, which lost its only animal control officer recently, would send a police officer over to help.

"This was just a freak and tragic accident,” the woman said, "and I just feel really bad for everyone involved.”

Other neighbors weren't as sympathetic.

Crest Lane resident Kara Johnson said there was no excuse for shooting a gun at a snake in a residential area.

"It's a shame that someone had to lose their 5-year-old child over a snake,” Johnson said. "And that's their only child. They'll never get their kid back.”

Neighbor G.W. Henderson said his wife heard a woman screaming within minutes of the shots.

"She was shouting ‘You shot my boy! You shot my boy!'” Henderson said.

Second shot hit snake
City Manager Bob Wade said rumors of overeager Noble officers are inaccurate. "I was told that they tried several ways to get the snake down, but it was still hissing at them and firmly lodged,” Wade said. "What I was told is that the owner of the home either suggested or agreed that they should go ahead and shoot the snake, and then everything happened from there.”

Wade refused to identify the officer suspected of firing the shots but said the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents were told that officers decided to shoot the animal after being told there was a field behind them, said Jessica Brown, bureau spokeswoman.

"The first shot grazed the snake, and the second killed it,” Brown said.

Wade said he is 90 percent sure that the same bullet that killed the snake also killed Austin, but due to the trajectory of the shot and the fact that Austin and his grandfather were downhill, investigators have to be 100 percent certain.

"This is so bizarre it has to be fully investigated. ... We're pretty sure circumstantially that it is the bullet from the police officer's gun, but it might be a bullet from someone else,” Wade said.

Tracy has little doubt about what happened.

"I was standing right beside him when they shot him in the head,” he said. "There just wasn't anything I could do for this baby. He was dead. And he was just the finest Christian boy. His mother just bought him a Bible not a week before this — he wanted one that was camouflage because he was in the Lord's army.'”

Tracy said that when he saw the news reports and heard the police chief saying it was an "unfortunate accident,” the remark seemed too trivial and dismissive.

. "I'm not saying the cop shot him on purpose,” Tracy said. "It was an accident. But let me tell you — if I had a kid and put him in this car and didn't put him in a car seat and he got killed on the way to town, they'd charge me with murder ... and what this cop did is a lot worse than that. ... There was no reason for him to kill my grandson.”

 

[Pandora]

The officer's action clearly lacks common sense. :shakeshead:

 

[SLIM]

That poor little boy!

and his family

 

[kbeachcat123]

The police displayed an obvious lack of regard for anyone's safety. Why SHOOT a snakie? Gee, was the snake armed and dangerous? My prayers are with the family, and I hope they hit the jackpot with their (hopefully) impending lawsuit.

 

[tikipirate]

I swear that if I am ever elected to local office I will shove toothpicks between the eyelids of every cop and make them watch every episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show.'

Ya don't have to kill a snake. Push up a dead tree branch and they will curl around it. I once had a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake in my office in China Lake. A few of the locals coaxed the snake around a broom handle, took him (her?) outside, threw it into the back of a pickup, and drove said snake to a new home a few miles away. Lotsa fuss, but no muss.

If you really need to kill it, use the shotgun. I firmly believe that Sheriff Andy Taylor would have kept some Number 8 low brass in the glove compartment of his Ford Galaxie 500 squad car for just such a scenario.

 

[Pandora]

08-04-2007 11:00 PM It was an accident, you friggin' moron! quit your police bashing.

It was lack of common sense on the officers part. There is no way to even rationalize this incident otherwise, if I thought the officer was right in his action or could rationalize it as an accident, I would say so.

FYI, I come from a family of law enforcement so your police bashing accusation is baseless.

 

[ImnoMensa]

You have to know what's in the background when you fire your weapon. Bullets travel a long ways.

A very tragic accident everyone involved , will never forget.

 

[donbarzini]

The officer displayed an obvious lack of regard for anyone's safety. Why SHOOT a snakie? Gee, was the snake armed and dangerous? My prayers are with the family, and I hope they hit the jackpot with their (hopefully) impending lawsuit.

fixed

 

[CAPPY2609]

You have to know what's in the background when you fire your weapon. Bullets travel a long ways.

A very tragic accident everyone involved , will never forget.

People will forget, thats why accidental shootings and negligent discharges happen. Its in our nature to forget.

 

[Bay_Kat]

"This is so bizarre it has to be fully investigated," he said. "We're pretty sure circumstantially that it is the bullet from the police officer's gun, but it might be a bullet from someone else."

This was from the article I read. Unreal!

 

[AK-74me]

Know you target and what is beyond it.

Broke one of the critical rules and killed a little boy trying to shoot a freakin snake that probably didn't need to be killed anyway, even if it did' why shoot it? Get a damn shovel.

 

[Lugnut]

08-04-2007 11:00 PM It was an accident, you friggin' moron! quit your police bashing.

It was lack of common sense on the officers part. There is no way to even rationalize this incident otherwise, if I thought the officer was right in his action or could rationalize it as an accident, I would say so.

FYI, I come from a family of law enforcement so your police bashing accusation is baseless.

You got red for "bashing police" in a thread about an officer negligently discharging his firearm resulting in a childs death!?

And your comment was mild!

Damn, talk about mindless drones!

 

[tom88]

This is a horrible tragedy, and nothing could be said to make the boy whole again. I feel horrible for the boys family as well as the officer who made this horrible mistake. I am sure he didn't wake up that day, put his uniform on and hope to take the life of a five year old boy.

 

[NTER]

You got red for "bashing police" in a thread about an officer negligently discharging his firearm resulting in a childs death!?

And your comment was mild!

Damn, talk about mindless drones!

Which one is the mindless drone?
I say mistakes happen.
Their is one rule that I remember reading in an textbook for "School" and that rule is never fire your weapon unless you intend to kill. well they wanted to kill the snake, but they ended in killing an small boy, a child.
Their are idiots everywhere. And i'm probably one of them for writing this.

 

[AK-74me]

Which one is the mindless drone?
I say mistakes happen.
Their is one rule that I remember reading in an textbook for "School" and that rule is never fire your weapon unless you intend to kill. well they wanted to kill the snake, but they ended in killing an small boy, a child.
Their are idiots everywhere. And i'm probably one of them for writing this.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/hunter_education/homestudy/safety_first/4rules.phtml

Here are the 4 rules to gun safety.

He broke rule #4. That is all there is to it.

 

[Lugnut]

Which one is the mindless drone?
I say mistakes happen.
Their is one rule that I remember reading in an textbook for "School" and that rule is never fire your weapon unless you intend to kill. well they wanted to kill the snake, but they ended in killing an small boy, a child. Their are idiots everywhere. And i'm probably one of them for writing this.

The mindless drones are the people defending this police officers actions. You know the type

You have a phenominal lack of knowledge of firearms safety if that is the only rule you can remember.

 

[JohnnyReb]

This is a horrible tragedy, and nothing could be said to make the boy whole again. I feel horrible for the boys family as well as the officer who made this horrible mistake. I am sure he didn't wake up that day, put his uniform on and hope to take the life of a five year old boy.

That's something that will haunt all those involved.

 

[AK-74me]

Update

I copied and pasted the dad's response to all this that he posted this morning on another board.

I am Austin's Father. I hope that this messege gets to all of you, this is the first time I have posted here. I have been reading your post for several months now and I have wanted to let so many people know what we know. We have had to wait until the prelim trial was waived to let everyone know what is going on with the case. Of course you have heard we are not happy with the deal to put it mildly. When we took this case to the Cleveland County DA Greg Mashburn, he did not seem to think that any charges were waranted. But he thought that maybe some probationary period might be in order. So we did not agree from the get go. We immediately made it known that we wanted to see jail time happen. What we really wanted is to see a trial happen, but over the months we have found that the DA and his office seem to not want to go to trial for the reason that since he was so graciously given his office by the local FOP, he does not want to put away one of their finest. In other words, we do not think that he would put 100% of his efforts or his office efforts into a trial.
It seems like no one wants to address the fact and the stupidity of shooting a snake that was stuck in a bird house. Much less a non-poisonous snake. The snake in question being a black rat snake, by the way, at 2:30 the next morning was still stuck in the bird house and was removed by a Norman Animal control officer. The snake was never hit by a bullet, the stupid rookie missed twice. The second bullet hitting my son. These guys stepped over a shovel, a hoe and some hedge clippers to use a gun to try and hit the snake. They never used those garden tools. Michelle Key the first officer on the scene tried to use the handle of the hoe to no avail, and then when the boy cops showed up, it was time to show off. Officer Robert Shawn Richardson said and I quote from the OSBI report "I guess we'll have to shoot it" then the rookie Paul Bradley Rogers said "I'll do it, I just got out of CLEET training". I am appaulled at the next bit of information. The rookie said "Fire in the hole" before his first shot. This was a joke to them, they were showing off for the girl cop.
These guys were not interested in doing things right this night. If they would have, things would have been different. I was in my shop not more than 60 yards away with my sliding doors open with music up loud, my wife was mowing our front yard with a push mower the same distance away, her father had just picked up our boys to go fishing at the pond, they had been there 5 minutes when the first shot rang out, 6 seconds later the second shot came. My father in-law two months over a stroke he had, could bearly muster the strength to lift my 50lb 5 year old son plus keep my 2 year old in check while they climbed up the hill to get to the 4 wheeler. We did not know what had happened, until 2 minutes later when he drove up to my wife in our front yard, I heard my wife yell "What", I came running to find my son bleeding from the head, knowing his life was gone from the first look at his injury. I yelled, what happened, I then began running around yelling who shot my son. Finally I heard some people coming from behind some trees, they were wandering what had happened. There was one or two of the cops, plus some neighbors. They acted like they did not know what was going on, and we were to screwed up in our heads to even think it was cops that shot our son. We did not find this out until the Noble Police Chief Ben Daves came to the hospital to tell us. These cops stayed as far away from the carnage they created, they did not even see my son and the fatal injury they caused.
The neighbor that originally called the police about the snake, seems to be siding with the cops, they got to her some how. She won't even talk to us. Her 16 year old daughter got on the internet and fished up some photos of a rattlesnake and told the cops thats what the snake was. The birdhouse was not even in her back yard, it was her neighbors back yard, she needed to mind her own business and I would still have my son. This neighbor has been extremely stand offish to us. Not even allowing us to talk to her daughter about what happened, we know that both of them are witnesses, other neighbors of theirs saw them watching the cops as they performed their "duties". The whole mess has turned our lives upside down. My son Dalton relives this day everyday. I relive this day everyday. My wife relives this day everyday. The only way we have gotten through these days is God. We know that God has our son. We know that God did not take our son from us. We know that God did not cause this to happen. It was the cops, their pride and arrogance killed my son. The cop thinking he could hit a moving target killed my son, the sergeant cop who said lets shoot it killed my son. Anyone who sides with these cops and fails to see the neglegience in their actions is just as responsible for killing my