Law Enforcement Training - The Use Of Force - 1993 Educational Documentary - Tueller Drill

Believe it or not, this is one of the training videos I had to watch while taking yearly retraining with the housing authority.  I think I saw it the first time in '94 or '95.  I'm pretty sure it was in '95 though as that was the first year were were allowed to carry OC Pepper spray instead of CS Mace, and the Instructor told us just to be safe spray them all with pepper spray.



This following video is one of the Tueller Drill videos we were also shown.



This video is why I do most of my handgun shooting drills at 7-10 yards.

The other video they showed us was of an attack where to officer approached a subject armed with a knife, and he stabbed one officer under and through his vest several times, the officers partner was finally able to shoot the knife wielding subject when he turned towards her and raised the knife.  The officer shot at the man 6 times with her revolver but only hit him twice and still got stabbed once in the upper arm and thigh.  The first officer survived but was medically retired.  The subject also survived being shot twice, once in the gut and once in the arm.  The female officer from my understanding requested to be transferred to a desk.

An individual amped up on adrenaline, drugs or who knows what, can take a lot of damage before they go down.  They can dish out a lot of damage as well.

DO NOT PLAY with a knife or sharp object wielding subject.  DO NOT let him/her get inside your safe perimeter.  And your safe perimeter is MINIMUM TWENTY ONE FEET.

The training I received specified if they have a knife/sharp weapon, if they come within 21 feet, PUT THEM DOWN With ANY means necessary.  The 3 times I ever dealt with a knife armed subject, twice we kept backing away from them and clearing civilians from the area until the P.D. arrived with a 12 gauge with beanbag rounds to put them down.

Except for the one particular case.  That was a young black man sitting on the ground with a kitchen knife.  Broad daylight, it's about 97 degrees with a heat index over 100.  I could see this young black kid was getting paler and paler, he was literally sweating so much he was soaked.  He was tripping on something that had him seeing demons and angels.  As long as he sat there, I just told the guys I was working with to clear the area and keep people back.  I had hood rats yelling at me to shoot him, I had other people yelling "He ain't hurtin no one"  I hollered at Kevin one of the guys I was working with to get a couple bottles of water from the cooler in our patrol unit and I yelled for them to call an ambulance.  I was a Medic in the army reserve and was also an EMT with the VFD.  I could tell the weather plus whatever drugs he was on was killing this kid, frying his brains.  Kevin brought me the water bottles and I just knelt about 10 feet away from this kid, who was sitting flat on his butt, leaning against the wall of the apartment building.  He had the knife held in an over hand grip like he was going to stab downwards with the knife.  But I knew he couldn't get up to attack me before I could draw on him necessary.  I offered him a bottle of water, he told me I might have poisoned it.  So I opened it up and took a drink, then capped it back up and rolled it to him.  He let go of the knife and grabbed the bottle, spilling most of it while he got the cap off and spilled the rest down his face and shirt.  He asked for the other bottle.  I told him he could have it if he tossed the knife away.  I told him I would even help him drink it so it wouldn't get wasted.  He looked at me, crouched down with my right hand on my .38, my thumb on the retention strap, he asked if I was going to shoot him.  I told him I'd rather not.  I'd prefer to see him go to the hospital for treatment s\as he looked like he was getting ready to fall over from heat stroke.  He laughed a little at that and got the last few dribbles of water out the first bottle.  He then asked me where I wanted him to throw the knife.  I pointed to street drain and said anywhere over there would be fine.  He picked the knife back up, then asked me, "If I throw this over there I can get more water?"  I promised him he would and I picked up the second bottle, and told him, that I would open it and help him drink it so try to get his temperature down and start getting him re-hydrated.  He tossed that knife about 6 feet to his left, my right, about 4 feet from where Kevin was with his .38 drawn on this kid.  Kevin recovered the knife and I moved up slowly, crouch walking, while keeping my holstered revolver on the outside of this kid.  My right hand maintaining the retention strap, my left had I had a bottle of cold water.  I opened the cap on the second bottle and the kids told me that I had to drink from it first, which I did, then I held it for him to get several good gulps from it.  That is when he finally just collapsed.

Heat Stroke had been working on him plus whatever drugs he was on.  I got him to lay down and soaked his shirt  with the rest of the water and I hollered at Kevin to get me 6 or more bottles from the unit.  And WHERE WAS THAT DAMN AMBULANCE I REQUESTED!?  I asked one of the older ladies who lived in the building if she had a towel I could use to try to get his temperature lowered.  It was Granny Etta who came out with one of her large dish towels already soaked, which I wrapped around his head to try to cool his brain,  another wet towel wrapped around his throat and yet another wet towel wrapped around his ribs.  I had to get his temperature down.  Right then the P.D. Arrived are were talking about just cuffing him and taking him to the station and processing him in.  I got chewed out by the Sergeant for insisting he NEEDED to go to the hospital or he would be dead in less than an hour.  That was when the ambulance crew finally arrived, and the crew listened to me for my handover report, the Sergeant jump in and was telling the EMT's to give him a quick check so he could be taken to the station and processed.  The Lead EMT who I had trained with not even 6 months prior told the sergeant that the "Perp" just became a patient suffering from heat stroke/dehydration and whatever pharmaceuticals he had ingested, inhaled or injected.  they loaded up the kid strapsX3 with wrist restraints, then they got out the big needles and push 50 cc's of saline through his femoral arteries.  Rob the EMT I knew gave me the shake of his head, that he didn't think the kids was going to make it.

As soon as the rig pulled out, the Sergeant "Had Words" with me.  I was told that if the law didn't REQUIRE there to be at least one EMT Trained Security Officer per shift, he'd have me fired.

The kid made it.  He thought he had scored some black tar, what he had actually gotten was tar mixed with pcp and lsd.  I spent the next 8 days on the midwatch and being on call when I wasn't at work, and got called in 5 or six times to cover stupid stuff.

But the folks living there remembered what I did to save that kid, when legally we could have just shot him and been fully within our rights and duty to do so.  But I didn't do that.  I talked him down and I helped him, and got him to medical care.  So he lived.  Until 4 months later when a Disciple shot him in the back of the head for not showing 'Spect.

I'm glad I got out of there alive and mostly in good mental shape.

But there are times, when I call myself a coward for running away.

But I had kids who I wanted to see grow up, I had dreams of moving back out to the country.

And I sure as hell couldn't trust those who were supposed to be my partners.

So I'm glad I got out of that back when my twin sons were born in 2001.

Do I miss it?  Sometimes.  Sometimes I miss actually making a difference in people lives.  I don't miss the backstabbing and working with other officers who are only a short step or two away from being the criminals we were going after.

I'm going to lay down now.  Writing this out has giving me a bad taste in my mouth.