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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 23, 2005 To shoot, or not to shoot? Making the decision to use lethal force against suspects is a difficult, split-second decision for law enforcement officers. Friday’s incident at 2080 Siskiyou Blvd. could have been the first time Ashland police officers fired on a suspect since a 1992 grocery store robbery on Ashland Street. “It came very close to the point where we thought we would use lethal force,” APD Sgt. Teresa Selby said, explaining the number of spectators in the area made it difficult to find a clear shot. “When the guy’s running around and that mobile, you have to have all of your ducks in a row. You don’t want somebody else to get hurt.” Oregon law allows police officers to use deadly force when it’s necessary to defend officers or civilians from serious injury or death. Individual police departments can restrict officers further. A year ago, a Jackson County grand jury deliberated for five minutes before finding Oregon State Police trooper Nick Neville justified when he shot a man who threatened to kill him at Valley of the Rogue State Park on March 26, 2004. Neville later won local and national honors for the way he handled the situation. But days after Christmas 1999, OSP troopers shot and killed a mentally ill man in front of OSP headquarters in Central Point. Cole Younger Smith, 25, was hit by more than a dozen bullets after a 90-minute standoff with police that began when he used an after-hours phone in the parking lot to tell the dispatcher he intended to kill someone. Family members said his pattern was to go to the police when he needed to be hospitalized. Officers were later cleared of any criminal charges in his death, but Younger Smith had suffered from depression since childhood and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Selby said APD officers didn’t refrain from firing on Binder just because they believe he may be mentally ill. “If it had come to the point where we needed to shoot him, we would have,” Selby said. “It’s sad and the fact that mental illness may be a part of it, that would have been all the more tragic.” — Jennifer Squires DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms Tatoos student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams