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Originally Posted by mickeystoysz16
I think there is a question that has not been asked and that is a big concern. If law enforcement knew that he was a suspect in another homicide, why did the guys on the front line not have that kind of intel vs. just a minor warrant out of Jax. If I were a police officer I would definatly have a different approach when trying to aprrehend a murderer vs. a check bouncer. Maybe the officers would have approached the vehicle with weapons drawn until he was in cuffs and could not resist at least giving them a chance as they tried to detain and search Morris? What is the TPD training and proceedure in approaching a suspect in different threat levels? I don't know maybe I am completly out of line in the civilian world. Please keep in mind I have a different training in the method of search and detaining POW's, but I ccertainly believe the basics are the same when it comes to the officers' safety.
I see this as a leadership failure that cost two good men their lives.
Police Chief Castor and Mayor Iroio I believe you have some questions to answer like why did Officer Kopac and Officer Curtis not know who this man was when they made the stop?
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Most likely a lack of communication. I don't know the details of the stop, but it obviously wasn't a felony stop or this would not have happened. Most likely it was a "routine" traffic stop, probably for a traffic violation. In which case the officer would make contact with the person(s) and run them for local checks. If there was a warrant from another agency it would not show up on a local check. NCIC would show it, but unless they felt they had a reason to run him NCIC they don't. Maybe more details will be released and we can get a better idea of what really happened. Generally I observe the subject's demeanor on a traffic stop to see if they are agitated, nervous, etc. That sets the tone for my level of response, as it should. But, not having been there I can only speculate on what went wrong. But I wouldn't be too quick to condemn the agency until more is known. It's a tragedy that should not have happened, but there are many variables that likely contributed to this disaster. Pray that we all can learn from it and not fall to complacency.