Thursday, January 7, 2010

What do you say to police if you just acted in self defense?

I got my wife a conceiled carry purse for Christmas and we went out to the desert to give her some practice on how to carry it when leaving a store and walking to her car. We then practiced drawing and firing.

She asked me what she should tell the cops if there was a shooting and I got sorta stumped. You would think to tell the truth, but then you think about the guy who told the truth so much that his story was used against him and put him in jail.

So, I defered the question to my best friend, who is a cop, since he was standing next to me.

He said to tell the cops what happened. They need to know what to look for and if you just say you want a lawyer the cop is going to think you are guilty of something.

I would like to hear what you think and I would like to have the cops add to this. What should be told, what shouldn't be told, at what point should you lawyer up?

1 comment:

MediumX said...

This is a tough one to answer because it depends on so many things. I would defiantly tell the officer what happened, because the more time that goes on the more faint the memories are. Especially in a high stress situation like that.

Another big thing in my book is making sure you notice the witnesses around. One witness can make a huge difference.

Also never say I was trying to kill him, or I was trying to wound him......ALWAYS - I was shooting to stop the threat. I personally don't want to shoot someone, let alone kill them. But if I need to stop a threat from hurting me or someone else then I will do that. If you say I only tried to wound him then that treat wasn't great enough, maybe he was only gunna wound you and your life wasn't in jeopardy. If you say I tried to kill him, that sounds a little malicious. Please remember this is just what to say so if you have to make an appearance in the skewed system that is our courts you look the best you can.

One last thing it would probably be best if you were not holding the gun when the officer arrived, so maybe when you very first see the officer you set the firearm either down on the ground or back in your holster. I bet a cop responding to a shots fired call doesn't want to drive up to a panicked person holding a gun. but remember if a threat is present don't let your guard down.

If any of the officers that read this blog disagree, by all means correct me. I have never had to be in this type of situation before but this would be my instinct.

also, try to load your ccw piece with a self defense round. NEVER hand loaded rounds of any kind. I could see and apposing lawyer saying how viscous those hand loaded rounds were and that guy just wanted to do the most damage as possible. But if you use a self defense round there really isn't much to say about it.