Burns Chronicles No 16 Ambush Part 2 of 4

Officer #1 So, let's move on to Officer #1. Again, we have a transcribed interview {65-112}, conducted on January 31. Officer #1 was already at the roadblock. As they receive word, via radio, that LaVoy's truck had "run', they begin preparing for its arrival {85}.

I remember to the right OFFICER NO 3 falling in the snow, and I could see clearly OFFICER NO. 3 is making an aggressive move to try to get off of the roadway through the snow, and what I presumed would be to a safe area where there was some trees. So, even though there is no immediate danger, we have Officer #3 "falling in the snow." As the truck approaches, we get Officer #1's description of the event: As it rounded the corner, and I believe that there was no other option, it was going to run into the roadblock. I fired multiple rounds from an AR-15 rifle that is assigned to me, and I was aiming towards the -- what would be the driver area, and at the motor. * * * So I'm now on the left, and I watched the truck plow through that snow and push snow like you would push water if you ran a car into a lake, and I saw an officer in front of the truck, and I believed that the officer was ran over by the truck, and I felt that he was likely under that truck. As the truck comes to a stop, I immediately move -- I would say move quickly towards the truck, covering the truck, anticipating based off of those actions, such an aggressive action, I anticipated likely being shot at through those windows of that vehicle, and that's based off of all the intelligence reports and the fact that they are armed and now they are committed to the point of running over an officer.

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He has fired three shots, one hitting the left side of the truck, one into the engine compartment, and one into the right front of the hood. Those in the truck have been fired on, for the second time -- and, they haven't even drawn a weapon. Darn I wonder how that feels. But, I would much rather wonder than find out, as it begins to appear that the OSP has blood on its mind -- or, they honestly believe that a 0.223 can stop a truck, or, if they killed the driver, the truck would stop, instead of careening wildly around, possibly killing agents and those who remained alive inside of the truck.. He also believes that LaVoy had run over a fellow officer. On the contrary, by the aerial footage, LaVoy swerved to the left to avoid hitting the officer, possibly saving the life of a fellow officer of the two that killed LaVoy. Then, we have Officer #1's account of LaVoy exiting the truck {88}: I see the driver exiting the truck, and I am now perceiving that as the greatest threat at that point. * * * I'm out in the open. The footing isn't great. I'm walking on, you know, loose snow, but immediately as I'm in view of the driver, I am focused solely on the driver, and I'm covering him with my rifle. Now, Officer #1 provides and excuse, or incentive, by referring to the comments made by LaVoy {89}, however, those comments have no indication of a threat, nor is there any indication that LaVoy intended to draw a weapon. I remember the driver saying, "Just shoot me. You are going to have to shoot me." There could have been other words intermixed there, but that's what I recall. He's yelling in an angry-get-my-point-across loud voice, "Just shoot me." You are going to have to shoot me," and he's yelling at us. Officer #1 continues:

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He had been reaching. He spins -- reaching, I mean kind of reaching in his waist band/shirt area. He spins, and this is all happening pretty fast. He kind of spins away from me. I remember viewing his back as I'm covering him. I remember a distinct kind of a sweeping motion with one arm, and the other arm diving into what believe, based off of prior videos and intelligence, would be what. I would call a shoulder rig, shoulder harnesses, and it was consistent with grabbing a firearm, which I knew could be drawn and fired with, you know, extremely fast, and the person that was exposed was OFFICER NO. 3, as he had turned slightly away from me and he was more facing OFFICER NO. 3, and had he drawn, OFFICER NO. 3 was in his path. And I think at that point his attention was away from me as he now kind of was moving, what I perceived as back away from me, and his attention was back directed towards OFFICER NO. 3. I could see OFFICER NO. 3 advancing, and I just knew that based off of what I was seeing, and the totality of all of the circumstances there, that I needed to take action to stop him from being a threat to OFFICER NO. 3, and at that point I fired two rounds, what I thought was striking him in the center of his back, and the driver falls to his knees. So, now, even though Officer #3, as we see in the aerial footage, doesn't seem concerned, and continues to approach LaVoy, with taser poised to inflict the "non-lethal". Officer #1 is, clearly, setting the stage for his subsequent actions. So, he stops LaVoy from being a "threat, by shooting him in the back, twice. Now, based upon Officer #2's initial statement, he fired because Officer #1 fired. So, we have Officer #3, who seemed to be nothing more than cautious. We have Officer #2, extremely agitated, creating apprehension that is not shown by Officer #3. And, we have Officer #1, who fires because Officer #2 has fired at the back of LaVoy Finicum. Or, as my father used to say, "If you want an excuse, any excuse is good enough." And, if we can throw in a fear for the life of another trained officer, that doesn't seem in fear of his life, well, we real have a justification, without justification -- but that is always good enough for the police state employees. So, we still have three people in LaVoy's truck. They were shot at during the first stop. They were shot at as the approached the roadblock. They were shot at the same time that LaVoy was being murdered. And, now, Officer #1 tells us {91}: So I, from there I transitioned background to the main element of officers that were behind the two vehicles in a wedge, and there was-discussion amongst officers that there is still clearly movement in the vehicle. There is still occupants in the vehicle. They are being now, diversions had started going off over the vehicle, multiple diversions to try to distract the people that were in the vehicle, and try to get them to comply with the verbal commands that I was hearing being yelled. The "diversions" were "nine bangers", explained later. Unknown to the occupants, who have just seen their friend murdered, they were not firing lethal rounds. The passengers, however, as is apparent in the Shawna Cox footage, are in fear for their lives -- way so more than any of the battle-geared officers. They are staying as low as they can possibly get, hoping to survive. But, the officers outside seem to think that any normal person would respond to the verbal commands, while listen ting to the fusillade being directed at them, windows breaking, and CS gas being sent into the front seat area. Who could possibly "comply", under those circumstances? But, here we have a demonstration of the arrogance of law enforcement, the disdain for the "them" in the "them or us" mentality, and the expectation of absolute and immediate obedience to their commands. In their efforts to force compliance, Officer #1 tells us {92}: There was discussion that more officers were coming down to that immediate scene, and that OFFICER NO. 7 was going to be showing up any moment with a multi launcher, and I knew the multi-launcher would have orange tips, meaning that they would contain OCCS chemical agents in them, and that they were going to deploy those rounds into the truck, as minutes had lapsed and the occupants in the truck were not complying with the commands. They were not exiting the truck within a reasonable amount of time whatsoever. There was no reason they couldn't have exited the truck and complied with the commands. Gas was deployed into the truck. There was still a period of time where they were not coming out There was discussion that we are not hearing coughing, and then it goes into the occupants ultimately exiting the truck and following commands. Now, we need a break -- perhaps we need to clarify some things {94}. So, let's revisit the shooting of the moving truck {101-102}. But, let's start with a leading question so that Officer #1 gets it right, this time. Q. And when you saw the white truck round the corner, I'm pretty sure you mentioned this, you saw it approaching your location. What was your perception of whether it was or was not yielding to the roadblock? A. It was clear to me, the speed the truck was traveling was I would say between 60 and 70 miles per hour, was traveling at a speed which I knew from my training and experience, it was -- had no intention to stop. There was no visibility of the front end dropping like brakes were being applied. There was just no variation of speed, other than maintaining that high speed directly at us. And when it became apparent to me based off my training and experience as a crash, you know, technician, and overall time as a police officer, I knew there was it had crossed the threshold of being able to stop prior to, and there was no indication that the driver was going to make any evasive maneuver or try to avoid hitting any of us, and with the locations of the officers, once I was put in the spot of trying to defend the officers and prevent that truck from running through that roadblock, that's when I felt that the use of force was my only option to try to prevent them from running into us. Now, let's make sure that we can justify shooting someone because he had hit the FBI agent that had jumped in front of him {103}. If he killed, or even injured, that agent, it would definitely establish a better framework for justification for murdering LaVoy. I was in a position to see one FBI agent or officer. I knew -- I did know it was an FBI officer, because I knew OFFICER NO. 3 had moved up into -- or moving towards the timber as he fell and was struggling to kind of get that way, and I -- so, yeah, I knew that that agent was in the path of that truck, and in the process of the truck plowing full speed around the FBI vehicles, it looked to me like he was hit by the truck, and I believed he was under it, and as I approached, I was looking for the agent to see what -I could do to cover him and provide any aid and identify where he was. But, we need to revisit shooting LaVoy -- have got to make it a stronger case {104-105}. Q. So with your experience, would you say that Finicum was complying with the commands? A. No. So let me elaborate on that. Finicum was moving away from the vehicle. Finicum was approaching me and looking at me. Finicum had more than ample opportunity to turn around and comply with the commands. Finicum actively reached in an area that I believed and had information that he was carrying a firearm. He did this more than once, and the second time as he's now avoiding back away from me, he is still not showing any signs of complying with our presence or our commands. He reaches clearly like he is reaching into, you know, the left side of his torso, where a weapon would be kept, and I know that through my training and experience, that had he pulled that weapon out and fired, or, had he pulled it out, I could not have reacted to stopping that threat to myself or to OFFICER NO. 3, and the decision to use force against Finicum was to prevent any injury to OFFICER NO. 3 or, myself. And I know that that motion to pull a gun out can happen faster than I can react to it, and I couldn't wait for the gun to be pointed at OFFICER NO. 3 or myself, that additionally, I know that a gun can be fired through a jacket right between arm and his torso, which would have been in line with where OFFICER NO. 3 was. Q. Okay. What was your perception of the distance between Finicum and OFFICER NO. 3? A. Roughly 15 feet. Now, let's take another break {109-110}, and then we can improve what the record will show. There is a couple things I'd like to add and clarify. At the point the vehicle's approaching, we had the group that was there, had set out spike strips. The spike strips were just in front of the vehicles, and I knew that that would have no effect on slowing down that pickup that was coming at us. I knew that that would not change the velocity of that vehicle and the impact it was going to have on coming into our scene. When I made the decision to fire at Finicum, and I'm covering, and I use that force, I believed that he was going to pull a gun and shoot OFFICER NO. 3, and in that moment with everything I was observing, the actions and verbal statements, everything that I had learned and been briefed on, I truly believed that he was going to shoot OFFICER NO. 3. Q. For clarification, also for you, too, right? For your safety as well? A. Yeah. I mean obviously he had seen where I was, He had engaged, made eye contact with me prior to that moment, and clearly I was exposed to him and whatever actions he was actively trying to take, and what would have continued to happen if I did not use deadly physical force at that moment. So, now, he realizes that shooting at the truck would serve no purpose, but, heck, I just wanted to shoot somebody. After all, I had to get up early and drive all of the way out here. And, I was sure that he was going to shoot Officer #3, it's just that Officer #3 didn't realize he was going to get shot -- if I didn't shoot first. Oh, can I use that, too? Yes, I feared for my own safety, as well.