I’m going to wait till more is known before saying more. But here is yet another — I won’t say “common” but I will say “too common” — shootings that perhaps should but won’t become big national news. There probably won’t be protests. There won’t be unrest.
But did police really break into the house of Jack Jacquez and shoot him? I don’t know what happened, but I do know there’s a lot here that doesn’t sound good.
What the hell. The Rocky Ford Police didn't even provide a reason for why the officer would have been making contact w/ the deceased! No discussion of 911 calls or radio traffic. They haven't even started talking about "furtive gestures," reaching into waist bands and the desire to go home to their families at EOW. When will these agencies learn that clamming up just makes a police-involved incident look worse?
Just googled this – tiny, tiny place – town of a litle over 4000 people in a county of less than 20000, about 45 minutes from Pueblo, 1.5 hours from Colorado Springs, farther still from Denver.
So probably a tiny agency with no public affairs guygirl, possibly hasn't had an OIS in forever, never deals with high profile events, limited attorney support, etc etc. Things to consider as the info rolls out (or not). Silence or lack of "polish", at least at first, might not mean the same things as they would in Baltimore, Chicago, NYC et al.
Also note that they started referring everything to the DA's office very quickly.
If you aren't reasonably confident in your ability to handle the media early on, it could be better to wait. Sheriff Terrell of Habersham County, GA looked like a buffoon going on camera too soon after his SWATSRTwhatever blew up the toddler's face with a flashbang. Of course, I suspect Terrell is, in fact, a buffoon, but the point remains. Discretion with the media may be the better part of valor in cases where you know you have limited capacity andor experience.
I'm pretty tough on cops when I think they really screw up, but the one may take time to figure out.
That said – the lack of at least a bare bones description of the reason for the contact is a red flag. Dave-IL is right – say "something", event if it's a bare bones written statement.
The "until the investigation is concluded" thing probably isn't going to go over well.
denverpost.com/news/ci_26940210/rocky-ford-officer-arrested-october-shooting-death
The cop in this was arrested Friday. Charge of second degree murder, held on a million dollar bond. Warrant is still sealed.
Thanks for the update.