Denver sheriff failed to investigate misconduct claims, monitor says

 By Sadie Gurman
The Denver Post

The Denver Sheriff's Department failed to investigate dozens of serious allegations of deputy misconduct over the past 2½ years, including inmates' claims that deputies choked them, sexually harassed them and used racial and ethnic slurs.

That finding came in the latest report from the city's independent monitor, Nicholas Mitchell, who cited sweeping problems with the way the department investigates jail inmate grievances.
The monitor didn't say which, if any, of the allegations were true, only that each was serious enough to warrant an internal affairs probe under sheriff's department policies. The department's approximately 730 deputies are primarily responsible for overseeing Denver's jails and transporting inmates.

The report, released on Tuesday, did not mention whether any deputies had been disciplined, and a department spokesman said he did not know.

"Internal affairs units have the specialized expertise and independence required to investigate allegations of serious officer misconduct, such as alleged excessive force or sexual misconduct," Mitchell told The Denver Post. "This is a very well-established national best practice."
Of 861 inmate complaints filed between January 2011 and June 30, 2013, 54 were "serious grievances" that included allegations of excessive force, sexual misconduct and bias, Mitchell wrote.
But the department's internal affairs bureau investigated just nine of those cases. Inmate grievances triggered just three of those investigations. The other six investigations launched only after inmates filed separate complaints with internal affairs or other agencies, such as Mitchell's office.
Yet his report said the sheriff's department also failed to routinely notify the monitor's office of misconduct complaints per city ordinance. It said some deputies reported being told they could not refer grievances to internal affairs without first notifying their supervisors.

Of the cases that went uninvestigated, 31 were allegations of inappropriate force, 11 involved allegations of sexual misconduct, and 14 were allegations of bias. Inmates accused deputies of inappropriately striking them, choking them, slamming them into walls or doors, stunning them with Tasers or throwing them to the ground.

Racial, ethnic slurs
Other inmates said deputies made racial or ethnic slurs or insulted them about their sexual orientation. Still others said deputies inappropriately touched them, threatened them with violence and denied them access to medical care.

The report didn't discuss the specifics of the allegations because Director of Corrections Gary Wilson has since ordered internal affairs investigations into 47 of them.

Jail supervisors looked into some of the cases, sometimes gathering written statements from officers or inmates or studying surveillance. But other complaints were not investigated at all, Mitchell wrote.
"We will consider his recommendations as well as conduct a second investigation through our Internal Affairs Unit of the less than 1 percent of grievances he has highlighted in his report," Wilson wrote in an e-mailed statement to The Denver Post.

Maj. Frank Gale, a sheriff's spokesman, would not elaborate on how the department would investigate the grievances, some of which are more than two years old, except to say that "the process of investigating allegations is always the same," and usually involves a review of surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses.

Gale also noted that the department's policies were recently praised by a national auditing group.
Mitchell also found that a small group of deputies account for a disproportionate number of inmate grievances, something he said officials should have spotted if they had better ways to analyze patterns in inmate complaints.

Of 788 grievances dealing with deputy conduct, 125 were filed against just four deputies, whom the report doesn't name.

"Put another way, four deputies out of a force of over 700 accounted for almost 16 percent of the total number of grievances about officer conduct during a 2½-year period," Mitchell wrote. "We believe that this pattern should have triggered a supervisory response that could have included meetings with the deputies, attempts to identify the reasons for the continued complaints against them and other supervisory forms of intervention, if appropriate."

Deputies not ID'd
Better analysis of the complaints can also help jail officials spot inmates who abuse the system, Mitchell said, noting that six inmates accounted for 50 of the 788 conduct grievances.
Gale said he did not know the identities of any of the deputies named in grievances.

"If these officers are specifically being labeled as performing acts of misconduct, that's going to be reviewed as well," he said. "It could be that these officers were assigned in places that dealt with inmates that had a higher security classification and are prone to resist order and direction."

Mitchell noted at least 10 unrelated incidents that resulted in "significant discipline" against deputies. One was fired for using excessive force, failing to report it and later lying about it; another was fired for lying in reports and to internal affairs investigators about an inmate's actions in a use-of-force case; and another was fired for allowing two inmates to dump water and spray chemicals on a third who was in a locked shower cell, among other cases.

Leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 27, which represents Denver sheriff's deputies, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman

Texas Police Officer Accused of Raping Woman During Traffic Stop

Texas Police Officer Accused of Raping Woman During Traffic Stop

San Antonio Police Have Put Officer Jackie Neal on Leave

By BEN GITTLESON

Nov. 26, 2013—

A San Antonio, Texas, police officer who was arrested for allegedly raping a 19-year-old woman he pulled over for a traffic stop was placed on administrative leave, police told ABC News.
Officer Jackie Neal, 40, is being investigated in connection with the sexual assault of the woman in San Antonio last week, San Antonio Police Department spokesman Roger Zuniga said Monday.
Neal, who lives in San Antonio, is accused of assaulting the teen while he was on duty, in full uniform and in a marked patrol car, Zuniga told ABC News.
"This conduct is unthinkable and I'm absolutely outraged," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said in a statement provided to ABC News. "Once we became aware of the allegation, we took prompt action."
Neal, an 11-year veteran of the police force, allegedly stopped the victim Friday morning, searched her vehicle, handcuffed her and touched her on her breasts over her shirt, police said. He then had nonconsensual sex with the woman, according to a police report.
Neal was arrested after a traffic stop at about 2 a.m. Saturday morning, police said. An emergency protective order was filed against Neal to protect the victim and her child, according to the report.
A voicemail left at a number listed for Neal was not immediately returned.
Zuniga did not respond to a question about whether Neal, who is assigned to an overnight shift, is still receiving pay while on leave. He referred questions about whether there were any previous complaints against Neal to San Antonio's Firefighters' and Police Officers' Civil Service Commission, which did not reply to a request for comment.
The Bexar County District Attorney's Office referred questions about the case to the San Antonio Police Department.
"A high standard of conduct is a priority of the S.A.P.D." McManus said, referring to the police department. "I praise the victim for having the courage to come forward and having the confidence in the S.A.P.D. to handle the case effectively."

Copyright © 2013 ABC News Internet Ventures

Sister of woman shot by West Valley police says officers should be criminally charged

By Benjamin Wood, Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Aug. 11 2013 7:44 p.m. MDT

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Thursday that his office had concluded that the shooting death of Danielle Willard by two West Valley City police officers was not legally justified. County prosecutors are now investigating whether to bring criminal charges against the officers.

Danielle Willard was shot inside her car at the Lexington Park Apartments on Nov. 2, 2012. She was 21.

The two officers, Shaun Cowley and Kevin Salmon, claim that they witnessed what they believed to be a drug deal and were moved to use deadly force after Danielle Willard backed toward Cowley with her car.

But after a nine-month investigation into the incident, including review of more than 3,800 pages of reports and interviews, the District Attorney's office reported that the officers' statements were inconsistent with the evidence and their lives were not in imminent danger.

"Ms. Willard's reversing vehicle was not traveling at detective Cowley and did not present any threat to either detective," Gill's report states. "Accordingly, detective Cowley and detective Salmon's contention that they believed Ms. Willard was going to reverse over detective Cowley was not reasonable."

Kayleen Willard said that her sister, who had struggled with drug addiction in the past, had been working to put her life together before the shooting and had made signficant progress.

She said she did not know why her sister was at the Lexington Park Apartments that night.

"When I saw her last, she was back to the way she was before," Kayleen Willard said. "She was bubbly and energetic and so excited that she was sober."

Since the shooting, Willard's family has maintained that the woman's death was not legally justified and in June Willard's mother, Melissa Kennedy, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against West Valley City and 14 police officers in federal court.

The case gained further notoriety after evidence from a separate drug case was found in the trunk of Cowley's car, which led to a departmental investigation, the disbanding of the Neighborhood Narcotics Unit, the dismissal of 124 state and federal cases investigated by West Valley Police and an addition seven officers from the former drug unit being placed on paid administrative leave.

Kayleen Willard said the report by the County District Attorney's Office provides some vindication for the family. She said by shedding light on corruption in law enforcement her sister's death was not in vain and hopefully will lead to justice for other families.

"This can’t just be pushed to the side. This needs to be out so everybody knows what had happened," she said. "I feel like it’s a huge, huge loss and I feel like a piece of my heart has been always gone and I’m always constantly thinking about it, but I do believe this is a stepping stone in the right direction."

Both Cowley and Salmon remain on paid administrative leave, as do the seven former drug unit officers. On Thursday, Cowley's attorney Lindsay Jarvis said she disagrees with the County District Attorney's report and would fight any criminal charges brought against her client.

"I have the same 3,811 pages on my computer here," she said. "I don't understand this. My investigator doesn't understand this. The experts are on our side. The experts believe exactly what we say happened is what happened."

Contributing: Sandra Yi

Email: benwood@deseretnews.com

Twitter: bjaminwood

Review finds 75 Cleveland police officers violated department rules in deadly chase last fall

Published August 02, 2013

| Associated Press

CLEVELAND –  A review of a deadly police chase in Cleveland last fall has found that 75 patrol officers violated orders and police department rules, city officials said Friday. Nineteen officers face disciplinary hearings.

In the November chase, a fleeing driver and passenger were killed when officers fired 137 shots at them. The 23-minute pursuit involved five dozen cruisers and wove through residential neighborhood before ending in gunfire.

Police Chief Michael McGrath said at a news conference Friday that the violations ranged from insubordination to failure to obtain permission to leave the city. By way of example, he said, an officer might have been driving 100 mph on a side street and was told to stop, but didn't.

Some officers were cited for multiple violations, he said, but none of the violations was so serious they warranted termination. Punishments could range from a written reprimand to a suspension. Multiple offenders were referred to the public safety director for hearings because their punishment could go beyond a 10-day suspension.

City officials say one of the 75 offending officers has since left for Cleveland's fire department but still faces disciplinary action.

Police previously announced punishments for 12 supervisors stemming from the chase. One sergeant was fired. A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants were suspended.

Also, a county grand jury is investigating possible criminal wrongdoing among the 13 officers who fired their weapons as the chase ended in a school parking lot in East Cleveland.

The nighttime chase began when an officer thought he heard a gunshot from a car speeding by the police and courts complex in downtown Cleveland. A parking lot attendant thought it might have been a car backfire, a theory endorsed by the driver's family.

The officer jumped into his patrol car and radioed for help. The chase went through crowded residential neighborhoods, headed onto busy Interstate 90, and eventually into East Cleveland.

Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times. No weapon or shell casings were found in the fleeing car.

Police say they don't know why Russell didn't stop. Russell had a criminal record including convictions for receiving stolen property and robbery. Williams had convictions for drug-related charges and attempted abduction.

The union has said the shootings were justified because the driver tried to ram an officer.

Of the 277 officers working that night, at least 104 were involved in the pursuit in some capacity, McGrath said Friday. Not all were there for the duration of the chase. Officers dropped off, others left at the instructions of their supervisor and some just blocked intersections.

McGrath called the shootings a "tragedy" for the victims and their families, the community, and the officers and their families. He said it was the job of the mayor, public safety director and himself to get the facts.

"And if we made mistakes or if we have policies that need to be fixed, we'll do that," he said.

Subway Stabbing Victim Can't Sue NYPD For Failing To Save Him

A man who was brutally stabbed by Brooklyn subway slasher Maksim Gelman two years ago had his negligence case against the city dismissed in court yesterday, despite the fact that two transit officers had locked themselves in a motorman's car only a few feet from him at the time of the attack.

Gelman stabbed Joseph Lozito in the face, neck, hands and head on an uptown 3 train in February 2011, after fatally stabbing four people and injuring three others in a 28-hour period. Lozito, a father of two and an avid martial arts fan, was able to tackle Gelman and hold him down, and Gelman was eventually arrested by the transit officers. Lozito sued the city, arguing that the police officers had locked themselves in the conductor's car and failed to come to his aid in time.

The city, meanwhile, claimed that the NYPD had no "special duty" to intervene at the time, and that they were in the motorman's car because they believed Gelman had a gun. And Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan has sided with the city, noting that there was no evidence the cops were aware Lozito was in danger at the time.

Chan did however, note the heroism of Lozito's actions: "The dismissal of this lawsuit does not lessen Mr. Lozito’s bravery or the pain of his injuries," she wrote in her decision yesterday. "Mr. Lozito heroically maneuvered the knife away from Gelman and subdued him on the subway floor." Gelman was sentenced to 200 years in prison in January 2012; he was sentenced to an additional 25 years for Lozito's stabbing the following month.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Rebecca Fishbein in News on Jul 26, 2013 11:58 AM (from the Gothamist.com)

Florida sheriff's deputies shoot unarmed black man in his own driveway

The two deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Another day in Florida.

Two Escambia County sheriff deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave after they opened fire early Sunday morning and shot an unarmed black man in his own driveway.

Roy Middleton, 60, had gone to find cigarettes in his mother’s white Lincoln Town Car, which was parked in the driveway of the man’s home in a quiet neighborhood in the town of Warrington.

A neighbor, who apparently didn’t recognize Middleton, called 911 to report a possible robbery, and police arrived at the scene at approximately 2:40 a.m.

Their guns drawn, deputies Jeremiah Meeks and Matthew White told Middleton to put his hands where the officers could see them.

Middleton told the Pensacola News Journal that he initially believed that the voices were from a neighbor who was playing a joke on him. When he got out of the car, however, the deputies began shooting.

“It was like a firing squad,” Middleton told PNJ from his bed at Baptist Hospital. “Bullets were flying everywhere.”

Middleton’s mother, Ceola Walker, 77, was sleeping inside the home at the time of the incident,

"He was just coming home like he usually does. I don’t understand why they had to use so much force under the situation," Walker told Fox 10 News. "I don’t understand how they could fire so many shots at him. He wasn’t resisting or anything and he was at his own house.”

Walker said she later found 17 shell casings, and her Lincoln peppered with bullet holes.

Neighbors and relatives describe Middleton as mild-mannered and law abiding, and a teenage girl who witnessed the shooting said she did not see the 60-year-old provoke the incident.

“He wasn’t belligerent or anything,” the girl told PNJ.

 Middleton is still trying to figure out why the confrontation happened in the first place.

“Even if they thought the car was stolen, all they had to do was run the license plate,” Middleton said. “They would have seen that that car belonged there.”

Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, and amid growing criticism, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan held a press conference Monday. According to Morgan, the two deputies said that Middleton “made a lunging motion” out of the car causing them to “fear for their safety.”

Middleton, Morgan said, “had a metallic object in his hand.” That object turned out to be a flashlight attached to Middleton’s key chain.

The bones in Middleton’s leg are shattered and he will require the implantation of a steel rod in order to walk, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Like her son, Middleton’s mother is still struggling to come to terms with what happened.

“He’s my only son and for that to happen was just devastating. We know it wasn’t anyone but God that saved him,” Walker told Fox 10.

DKnowles@nydailynews.com

Daniel Chong, Student Left In DEA Cell, To Get $4 Million From US In Settlement

The Associated Press  |  By ELLIOT SPAGAT and ALICIA A. CALDWELL Posted: 07/30/2013 3:56 pm EDT  |  Updated: 07/31/2013 11:58 am EDT

SAN DIEGO -- A 25-year old college student has reached a $4.1 million settlement with the federal government after he was abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration cell for more than four days without food or water, his attorneys said Tuesday.

The DEA introduced national detention standards as a result of the ordeal involving Daniel Chong, including daily inspections and a requirement for cameras in cells, said Julia Yoo, one of his lawyers.

Chong said he drank his own urine to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his arm.

It remained unclear how the situation occurred, and no one has been disciplined, said Eugene Iredale, another attorney for Chong. The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating.

"It sounded like it was an accident – a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said.

Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work on a task force. The officer told Chong he would not be charged and said, "Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute," Iredale said.

The door to the 5-by-10-foot cell did not reopen for 4 1/2 days.

Justice Department spokeswoman Allison Price confirmed the settlement was reached for $4.1 million but declined to answer other questions. The DEA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Detective Gary Hassen, a San Diego police spokesman, referred questions to the DEA.

Since attorney fees are capped at 20 percent of damages and the settlement payment is tax-free, Chong will collect at least $3.2 million, Iredale said. Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, San Diego, said he planned to buy his parents a house.

Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student when he was at a friend's house where the DEA found 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. Iredale acknowledged Chong was there to consume marijuana.

Chong and eight other people were taken into custody, but authorities decided against pursuing charges against him after questioning.

Chong said he began to hallucinate on the third day in the cell. He urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also stacked a blanket, his pants and shoes on a bench and tried to reach an overhead fire sprinkler, futilely swatting at it with his cuffed hands to set it off.

Chong said he accepted the possibility of death. He bit into his eyeglasses to break them and used a shard of glass to try to carve "Sorry Mom" onto his arm so he could leave something for her. He only managed to finish an "S."

Chong said he slid a shoelace under the door and screamed to get attention before five or six people found him covered in his feces in the cell at the DEA's San Diego headquarters.

"All I wanted was my sanity," Chong said. "I wasn't making any sense."

Chong was hospitalized for five days for dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated esophagus. He lost 15 pounds.

The DEA issued a rare public apology at the time.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, on Tuesday renewed his call for the DEA to explain the incident.

"How did this incident happen? Has there been any disciplinary action against the responsible employees? And has the agency taken major steps to prevent an incident like this from happening again?" he said.

___

Caldwell reported from Washington.

Affidavit: Police went to wrong house because of poor lighting

Posted Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2013

By Lee Williams

leewilliams@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — --Police officers responding to a burglary alarm call went to the wrong house because of poor lighting and fatally shot an armed homeowner, according to a search warrant affidavit released Wednesday.

Officers B.B. Hanlon and R.P. Hoeppner were dispatched to 409 Havenwood Lane at 12:51 a.m. May 28. But after arriving at 12:58 a.m., they “inadvertently began searching” across the street at 404 Havenwood, where 72-year-old Jerry Waller lived.

Officers “approached the west side of the house near the garage that is located on the southwest corner of the home with the knowledge that there was a possible burglary in progress. There is no lighting around the home and the officers had only the use of their flashlights,” according to the affidavit.

As the officers approached, they encountered Waller, who “was armed with a handgun standing near the corner of the home,” according to the affidavit.

The officers identified themselves and ordered Waller to drop the gun, but he pointed it at the officers, prompting Hoeppner to shoot Waller, according to the affidavit.

Waller was pronounced dead at 1:26 a.m. inside the garage.

Waller’s relatives have previously disputed the officers’ account, accusing police of “misrepresenting details of the incident.”

“My father never stepped outside of his garage,” son Chris Waller told the Star-Telegram the day after the shooting. “He was shot multiple times in the chest only a few steps away from the doorway to his kitchen.”

Chris Waller declined to comment Wednesday, saying he had not seen the affidavit.

Former Councilwoman Becky Haskin, who lives two doors down, said the entire neighborhood has been waiting for an answer from the city about what happened that night.

She said the question of why officers fired six times on a homeowner in his own garage remains unanswered.

“His wife said she heard yelling and then gunshots immediately following,” Haskin said. “I think they [the officers] got startled.”

Haskin said the Police Department’s silence likely involves fear of a lawsuit.

“I think the Police Department is just waiting to see how much they’re going to get hit by the Wallers’ attorneys,” Haskin said.

Police are investigating the shooting.

Police Chief Jeff Halstead said Wednesday that the two officers have returned to full-time duty, but he declined to comment further.

An autopsy on Waller has also been completed.

On Wednesday, however, the Tarrant County district attorney’s office sent a letter to the attorney general’s office, contending that the autopsy report should not be released to the Star-Telegram because of the pending investigation.

Staff writers Bill Hanna and Deanna Boyd contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

Lee Williams, 817-390-7840 Twitter: @leewatson

Lyons: Police raid felt like home invasion

By Tom Lyons
Published: Thursday, July 18, 2013 at 9:50 p.m.

After leaving her operating room scrub nurse duties at Sarasota's Doctors Hospital on Wednesday, Louise Goldsberry went to her Hidden Lake Village apartment.

Her boyfriend came over, and after dinner — about 8 p.m. — Goldsberry went to her kitchen sink to wash some dishes.

That's when her boyfriend, Craig Dorris — a manager for a security alarm company — heard her scream and saw her drop to the floor.

Goldsberry, 59, said she had looked up from the sink to see a man “wearing a hunting vest.”

He was aiming a gun at her face, with a red light pinpointing her.

“I screamed and screamed,” she said.

But she also scrambled across the floor to her bedroom and grabbed her gun, a five-shot .38-caliber revolver. Goldsberry has a concealed weapons permit and says the gun has made her feel safer living alone. But she felt anything but safe when she heard a man yelling to open the door.

He was claiming to be a police officer, but the man she had seen looked to her more like an armed thug. Her boyfriend, Dorris, was calmer, and yelled back that he wanted to see some ID.

But the man just demanded they open the door. The actual words, the couple say, were, “We're the f------ police; open the f------ door.”

Dorris said he moved away from the door, afraid bullets were about to rip through.

Goldsberry was terrified but thinking it just might really be the police. Except, she says she wondered, would police talk that way? She had never been arrested or even come close. She couldn't imagine why police would be there or want to come in. But even if they did, why would they act like that at her apartment? It didn't seem right.

Then, to the couple's horror — and as Goldsberry huddled in the hallway with gun in hand — the front door they had thought was locked pushed open. A man edged around the corner and pointed a gun and a fiercely bright light at them, and yelled even more.

“Drop the f------ gun or I'll f------ shoot you,” he shouted, then said it again and again, Goldsberry and Dorris say.

Goldsberry was screaming, but Dorris was the calmer one. He could see the armed man was holding a tactical shield for protection. Some zealous gun thug could have one, but, though it was hard to see much, Dorris decided this guy looked well enough equipped to be a cop on a serious felony raid.

Dorris remained frozen and kept his hands in sight. He saw more people outside, and decided it probably was a police action. But he started fearing that in this case that was not much better than a home invasion. With his freaked out girlfriend and the macho commando-style intruder aiming at each other and shouting, someone could be dead at any second.

Dorris told the man at the door he would come outside and talk to them. When he got permission and walked out slowly, hands up, he was amazed at what he saw as he was quickly grabbed and handcuffed.

The cop at the door, and some others, had words on their clothes identifying them as federal marshals, but there were numerous Sarasota Police officers, too, and others he couldn't identify, though his security company job involves work with police.

More than two dozen officers, maybe more than 30, were bustling around, many in tactical jackets.

It was like nothing he had ever seen.

“It was a Rambo movie,” Dorris said.

Soon Dorris yelled to his girlfriend that it was OK to drop the gun and come out, but Goldsberry was too afraid.

She had been yelling, “I'm an American citizen” and saying they had no right to do this. Their standoff continued several more minutes.

Then she set the gun down and walked out, shaking and crying, and also was quickly handcuffed.

They remained cuffed for close to half an hour as the apartment was searched for a wanted man who wasn't there, never had been, and who was totally unknown to them.

They were shown his picture.

Then they were released, the police left, and that was that.

The officer's story

Matt Wiggins was the man at the door.

He's with the U.S. Marshal's fugitive division.

I asked him what happened. He said they had a tip that a child-rape suspect was at the complex.

That suspect, Kyle Riley, was arrested several hours later in another part of Sarasota.

The tip was never about Goldsberry's apartment, specifically, Wiggins acknowledged. It was about the complex.

But when the people in Goldsberry's apartment didn't open up, that told Wiggins he had probably found the right door. No one at other units had reacted that way, he said.

Maybe none of them had a gun pointed at them through the kitchen window, I suggested. But Wiggins didn't think that was much excuse for the woman's behavior. He said he acted with restraint and didn't like having that gun aimed at him.

“I went above and beyond,” Wiggins said. “I have to go home at night.”

Goldsberry was at home, I said. She had a gun pointed at her, too, and she wasn't wearing body armor and behind a shield. She had no reason to expect police or think police would ever aim into her kitchen and cuss at her through her door to get in. It seemed crazy. She was panicked.

“We were clearly the police,” Wiggins insisted. “She can't say she didn't know.”

She does say so, actually.

“I couldn't see them. They had a big light in my eyes,” Goldsberry said the next day. And that man she saw aiming a gun through her window had nothing visible that said “cop,” in her mind.

“I was thinking, is this some kind of nutjob?”

No, just a well-trained officer who knows how to go after a man assumed to be a dangerous felon, but isn't so good at understanding a frightened woman confronted with an aggressive armed stranger coming after her in her own home.

“I feel bad for her,” Wiggins conceded, finally. “But at the same time, I had to reasonably believe the bad guy was in her house based on what they were doing.”

Goldsberry wasn't arrested or shot despite pointing a gun at a cop, so Wiggins said, “She sure shouldn't be going to the press.”

Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.

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