TheAgitator.com
One to Watch
Monday, August 28th, 2006A police shooting in Nebraska:
A Richardson County Sheriff’s deputy has claimed he accidentally shot a Falls City woman during a suspected drug deal between the woman and a nursing home resident earlier this month, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Monday.Ann Marx, a former employee at the nursing home, Victory Village Retirement Home, died from a single gunshot above her left eye in the Aug. 13 incident.
[...]
Officials have been tight-lipped about the investigation, and Bruning’s disclosures Monday were in defiance of a gag order imposed by Richardson County District Judge Daniel Bryan.
Bruning said Monday he was mystified by the order, especially since a grand jury has yet to be convened in the shooting.
[...]
Deputies, acting on the confidential informant’s tip, staked out the nursing home, Bruning said. At some point that evening, Marx pulled up in her vehicle and was being approached by the resident.
Landis, who had been hiding in nearby bushes, received a transmission from another deputy to, “Go, go, go,” and he approached the vehicle on the driver’s side with his gun drawn.
Bruning said Landis’ weapon discharged after Marx tried to drive off.
Three observations worth keeping in mind while we wait for more details:
1) Note the gag order. Why is that necessary? Anything to do with the fact that the case involves a police officer?
2) We have a 51-year-old woman allegedly buying painkillers from a nursing home patient. Were the tactics the police used really appropriate, given the suspects? Was it necessary to spring from the bushes with guns drawn?
3) Seems like a stretch that the officer’s gun would accidentally go off and score a direct hit on the suspect as she was driving away. Particularly if police procedure here is, as it is in most of the country, for the officer to keep finger off the trigger unless he intends to shoot.
