Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 | 9:35 a.m.
Metro Police have identified two officers, a sergeant and lieutenant involved in the fatal shooting of Stanley Gibson, a 43-year-old Gulf War veteran, early Monday morning.
Officer Jesus Arevalo, officer Malik Grego-Smith, Sgt. Michael Hnatuick and Lt. David Dockendorf were involved in the shooting, which happened near Smoke Ranch Road and Rainbow Boulevard, police said.
Police have not said how many officers actually fired their weapons.
Gibson was shot after police initially responded to a report about 11:30 p.m. Sunday of a man trying to get into a unit at the Alondra Condos, 2451 N. Rainbow Blvd.
Police said the man had fled by the time officers arrived, but the caller gave a description of him and his vehicle.
He returned shortly about 1 a.m. and was shot after his car was blocked in by at least two unoccupied Metro patrol cars, police said. He was not armed, police said.
Police have not said what prompted the shooting.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie conducted a press briefing Monday afternoon, and said “tough questions” would be asked about what happened. Gibson was a Gulf War veteran.
Police said Arevalo, 34, has worked at the department since February 2002; Grego-Smith, 31, since August 2008; Hnatuick, 45, since September 1988; and Dockendorf, 40, since July 1998.
Arevalo, Grego-Smith and Hnatuick are assigned to the Northwest Area Command patrol division. Dockendorf is with the Bolden Area Command patrol division.
An 'accidental' shooting of a mentally ill vet...
Going to be a tough row to hoe for Metro on this one.
Somebody got some 'splaining to do!
The Veterans groups are going to fry metro on this one...The whole law enforcement is so hard/split second decision excuse is just not going to fly on this one.
Commence asinine comments filled with quarter fact and three quarter opinion...
How many veterans have terrorists killed compared to cops this year?
So if you serve your country, you get gunned down in the street, your grave mislabeled, and your remains dumped in a landfill.
The future looks bright for this country...
Sad when people don't call it for what it is.
Bottom line - Metro blocked the guy in - the guy wanted to move from being blocked so he rammed his car into one of the Metro cars blocking him. This justified Metro's killing.
What I don't understand is how these guys can live with themselves knowing they are unjustly killing people.
These guys know what they are doing. They know this guy didn't pose a threat. Any reasonable person knows that instigating/provoking someone is NOT the way to handle a problem.
Here, the guy was provoked by Metro - they then used this provocation to justify their killing this guy.
The call was about suspicious activity - someone maybe? trying to break in to a home (how many people have never locked themselves out of their house?) - this wasn't a call about someone in danger. This wasn't a call by someone in a home reporting an invasion of their home.
So why the killing?
These officers know what they did. They know in their heart whether they were justified in killing this man - and I'm not talking about a guide book telling you - I'm talking about reality - I'm talking about facts - most competent human beings know right from wrong. And these cops know in their heart if they were right or wrong in killing this guy.
Well, you Metro officers have to carry that burden for the rest of you life.
If you want somebody killed in this town, all you gotta do is piss them off wait till they come to your residence and call metro, they do the rest.
Watched the videos they are showing on the local news of this shooting and I am disturbed by what I see. The man's car is clearly blocked in and not moving. He had been stuck for almost 30 minutes. You see the metro officer get into a stance and execute this individual for not complying.
The officers outnumbered this man and could have easily swarmed the vehicle, broke his window and ragged the deranged man out. They could have punctured his tires and made sure that if he did get out he wasn't going far.
The federal government need to step in now and investigate this renegade police force that seems to be executing citizens at an alarming rate. They also seem to constantly get away with it and its frightening!
If this sort of thing was happening in a state like NY you better believe that people like Al Sharpton would be marching and shutting the city down. Here it's out of the media spotlight in days and it's like it never happened!
People need to demand an end to this now!
richr, add in a little mental illness, a criminal background, failure to obey the law and police command, etc...
Lets get the videos up on youtube and out to the Public! Also get this thing on to national news!
If you're one of those cops and have NO information about that person's background, med history and do not know if the subject is armed or not, what do you do?
All you have to go on is, there is a subject who is unresponsive to tireless commands, is using a vehicle in an agressive manner and you have to make a decision. What's it going to be?
If you think it is easy to be a cop, go sign up at the academy today and find out for yourselves.
I wouldn't want the job of a police officer, and I wouldn't presume to make assumptions about their actions on duty unless I was there. Reminds me of a song: "Try walking in my shoes..."
Execute them like the criminals they are.
I normally side on the police but this one might be a tough one. Granted, the police have no idea of his medical condition...but it sounds like he was pinned in and the cops were on the side of the car. Unless he's reaching for gun, I'm not sure protocol is shoot to kill if he's just trying to get away. If he's aiming the car at them, then I would assume shoot to kill is in order....this sounds like a communication foul up.
Stop, police! what do you not understand? Someone who serves military should have had that training.. So there is probably more to this headline than we know.
I don't see any justification from the cell phone video that has been on numerous news channels. Seems like they fired because they feared for the safety of their empty vehicles . Were any of them actually in the their cruisers? If not, then someone has some explaining to do.
Grayback4life:
There is a reason why you go through training - to avoid the gut reaction to be trigger happy and kill people.
No one is saying an officer cannot use deadly force when it is reasonable.
Here, the cops are the ones that created the dangerous circumstances. They are the ones that blocked the guy's car - they are the ones that laid out the end result.
Put things in perspective. This call was about witnessing someone trying to go into a house not through the door. Nothing else - nothing about a gun, a weapon, threats, etc.
So the guy shows up again - cops confront him - block his car - he wants to get out and they kill him because he "rammed a police car."
We all know protection of property alone does not justify deadly force. However, police departments around the country have been trying to use whatever loopholes to justify killing people.
Here, they will claim the shooting was not because of damage to the vehicle, but instead because the officers felt threatened. That is total BS!
But you know what? A criminal mind is a criminal mind. They know it. They are the ones that have to live with it every day - carry the burden that they KNOW THEY KNOW! they killed an innocent person.
You can carry that burden and we'll be here advocating for the prosecution of such a criminal.
Your colleagues, boss, others will try to convince you that you did the right thing - but you know you didn't do the right thing. You know you pulled the trigger with malice - with disregard to the person you killed. And you have to live with that for the rest of your life. So be it.
How do you know what cops feel and don't, or what they'll feel later? Obviously you haven't a clue as to what police work is about.
So let me ask you, if police give YOU a command will you comply or burn rubber and catch a few slugs? Because they don't know if you're strapped or not. They don't know if you're deranged or not. When police give commands, it's not a time for discussion or insubordination unless you want to gamble with your life.
"Bob_Realist", your words, disgusted me. What an absurd comment to make. The "mental health" of an individual is a term that law enforcement officers have yet to accept as a valid precondition to a dispute or situation arising with officers.
As a retired peace officer, and certified training instructor, I received a lot of resistance from both management and students in teaching methods of effectively dealing with those suffering from debilitating forms of mental health diseases.
Sometimes, deadly force must be utilized against these patients, as in the case of the IHOP shootings that took place some months ago in northern Nevada. This case of Mr. Gibson certainly was nowhere near the circumstances of the IHOP shootings.
I offer you an example at a time some years ago when I was an active duty peace officer. I approached a young suspect entering an extremely high security off-limits area. The individual was approximately 23 years old. As I got close to him, I realized he was in a daze of sorts and I determined that he had no real intents to do harm. I began questioning him in a very soft tone of voice. Within a couple of minutes I had more than sufficient cause that this young man had some severe mental health issues. He had informed me that he had voices in his head. I then asked this young man, "What am I going to tell your parents when I call them and tell them about this situation?" The young man broke down, and began to cry. I put my arm around his shoulder, and said, "Come on son, lets go back." There was no incident until a backup team of officers arrived. Slamming handcuffs on this individual and shoving him around, I stepped in between them and informed the officers the following, "I'm going to check this kid everyday. If he has one mark on him we are going to have a serious problem." The officers on-scene looked at me with contempt.
Most mental health patients who are behind schedule on their medication do react, of course, irrationally, but in differing ways. Of primary importance is for officers to take every possible step in identifying whether a suspect has mental health issues before taking actions that are of utilizing use of force, if the time and situation allows any type of practicality in accomplishing this. It is a known fact that the majority of mental health patients, once back on their medication, have little, or no recollection of the previous incident.
In my experiences as a peace officer, every mental health patient that has recalled an incident, has apologized and expressed remorse for an incident in which, the absolute fact is, the mental health patient had no control over. You can be assured if Mr. Gibson would have been afforded this opportunity, once back on his medication, he would have been one of those who would have apologized and expressed remorse. But, tragically, we'll never know for sure, will we? Does this satisfy you? I would hope not.
We sure should be able save alot of Police training time from now on.
How long does it take to train someone to issue a command, if the command is obeyed, handcuff the suspect, or if the command is not obeyed, shoot the suspect repeatedly?
The Police are here to "SERVE AND PROTECT" not just you and I, but everyone. Veteran, Child, Mother, Dad etc. In this case the Veteran hadn't taken his medication, we all know that. The officers will never forget that night, nor will victims loved ones. This is a no win situation. Now, here comes the WHAT IF. If that individual had gotton away and hit, hurt, maimed, killed someone driving recklessly, then what? Yes! I want the Police to take care of the problem right there on the spot. I am truly sorry this shooting happened. Remember the Police did not start the confrontation, but was called to take control. Job Well Done.
I know police officers have a hard job and I wouldn't want to do it. However, at the same time, they are paid to protect and serve, not kill at will and get away with it.
The inquest, (which haven't happened in a while because they are afraid they might be found criminally responsible with the new stipulations), are a joke and and an insult to the public and the victims.
If it were you and I killing like that, we would be locked up for the rest of our lives, if not put on death row. If you want a license to kill, get a brown uniform, badge, and a bad attitude.
Metro needs a good cleaning and get the bad apples out so the good cops can do their job without a tarnished reputation. Those trigger happy cops are making it so bad on the good ones and I refuse to support it any longer.
We go to prison for murder, they get a pat on the back and sent back out to do it again.
I wonder if they did psychological exams how many would actually pass to actually be able to lawfully hold a badge any longer? Sometimes power can do horrible things to people and make them do even more horrible things.
12 shootings in 2011 - basically one a month. How horrible is that? Come on Vegas, I support police, but I don't support murder no matter who is pulling the trigger.
It's time for Metro to see, by example, a cop going to prison for killing someone that was unarmed and no real threat. It's time we stop making excuses as to why it's OK. Then maybe it would scare them into not pulling the trigger so fast if they know they have consequences to face.
"Aaronboy", respectfully, your final comment of, "Metro, job well done, I find repulsive.
As a retired peace officer, I am at the top of the list that supports law enforcement, that is when they have followed the absolute laws and rules governing the use of force.
Apparently, in this situation with Mr. Gibson the following are facts:
(1) Mr. Gibson's car was pinned in between two Metro police cruisers and could not possibly maneuver from within this grasp. Okay, job well done up to this point, Metro.
(2) Any civilians in the contained jurisdiction of this incident, were evacuated from such area. Okay, job well done up to this point, Metro.
(3) All police officers on-scene were out of their cruisers and repositioned within this perimeter to ensure their safety. Okay, job well done up to this point, Metro.
(4) Metro negotiated with Mr. Gibson for over a half hour with no peaceful ending or solution. Okay, job well done up to this point, Metro.
(5) It appears the on-scene Metro lieutenant and sergeant determined to flush Mr. Gibson out of his vehicle by employing the, "Least amount of force necessary to end the situation." To wit: use of bean bags and tear gas being shot into Mr. Gibson's vehicle. Okay, job well done up to this point, Metro.
(6) Now comes forth, "Mr. Street Cop Hero", who takes on his own, the use of deadly force against Mr. Gibson.
Tell me "Aaronboy", what purpose would the supervisors of Metro have in deploying bean bags and teargas be if they were in approval of "Mr. Street Cop Hero" deploying the use of deadly force against Mr. Gibson? Are you getting my point? Or do you think it is necessary to deploy non-lethal forms of force against a man who has already been shot and killed? And, your response is, "Aaronboy"?
From the video, there's alot of smoke coming from the car and it is possible that the victim raised his hand and pointed at the police. Really hard to see and maybe police thought he was pointing a weapon at them to shoot. Police probably assumed he was high on drugs. Really need more facts before you blame any one person for what happened.
But the VA is definity at fault for cutting off his meds. This is happening all the time as the
VA is facing law suites for giving pain medication too easily and people abusing the situation.
Since when is not having common sense grounds for capital punishment in this country? this still is the united states, right? An unarmed mentally ill man who refuses to exit his vehicle or comply and is not physically attacking officers with lethal force.. well, what excuse are we gonna hear this time for the 12th murdered las vegas resident at the hands of officers who are supposed to "Protect and serve"????????
The Feds need to step in. Enough is enough. 1 murder a month by police.