Expert: Sandpoint shooting avoidable

As an experienced police crisis and hostage negotiator for a large metropolitan police department, retired, and 16 years as an expert witness in this field it is my opinion that the shooting death of Jeanette Riley by the Sandpoint Police Department was unnecessary and avoidable.

Jeanette Riley, a pregnant 35-year-old, was taken to Bonner General Hospital by her husband, Shane Riley. Mr. Riley told the hospital staff that Jeanette "was out in the car," had a knife and was behaving erratically. The hospital called 911; three officers from Sandpoint Police Department responded and within 11 seconds of their arrival shot Jeanette Riley to death.

Officer Valenzuela responded to this common police call carrying a two-handed assault rifle, thereby locking himself into using deadly force. Officer Valenzuela would never discard this assault rifle or carry it in one hand, therefore he was physically prohibiting himself from using any other less lethal means available to him such as a baton, OC spray or taser. The fact that Officer Valenzuela was even carrying an assault rifle in the city of Sandpoint begs for an inquiry of the officer, his supervisor and the leader of this department. The need for a .223 caliber, high powered military combat weapon is very irregular for a patrolman on a municipal police department. By arming himself with an AR15 rifle he has established a mindset of "a special and very dangerous situation" and then acts and reacts to his own personal perception of the danger involved. Handling a police call with a 5-foot tall, 100-pound female with a knife does not meet this high level of escalation, particularly in 11 seconds.

One of the first responsibilities of the police when responding to an emotionally disturbed person call is to calm and de-escalate the situation. The opposite was performed by Officer Valenzuela with an AR15 rifle and Officer Ziegler with a .40 caliber Glock pistol. By the two officers escalating immediately to deadly force, no consideration or opportunity was ever given to handle this call with proven non-deadly methods.

A professional police response would more closely follow the following criteria:

* Contain the incident to prevent it from spreading and involving more innocent people. When confronting an emotionally disturbed person do not get too close as you will most likely raise their anxiety level and "hype" the situation.

* Control the incident from spreading and cut off outside interference including control of on scene officers. Police movement, armament, noise and confusion will only heighten the anxiety levels of all concerned.

* Confirm with reliable sources what you are actually confronting, in this case the husband.

* Calm is an absolute necessity at a crisis incident. The police must take charge of an incident with the intent to calm things down so they may correctly assess happenings, the emotionally disturbed person, surroundings and themselves.

* Communication was never given a chance at this tragic event. The use of nonconfrontational tactics, using time, stalling, talking, doing nothing are all part of using the people and resources available.

Crisis incidents are successfully handled, incidents much more complex, violent and serious than this incident. They are successfully resolved by Containing, Controlling, Confirming, Calming, Communicating and Commanding in a professional manner.

The alternatives to deadly force were there. Do not confront, calm, talking softly, surrounding, distracting, OC pepper spray, taser, distract, immobilize and baton all were less than lethal alternatives. One final observation - what is a police officer in a city environment doing carrying an AR15 assault rifle to a routine type police call that required some skills other than shooting? Did the officers even consider the possible harm to Sandpoint residents in the hospital or 10 blocks away sleeping in their bed? Shouldering an AR15 to an emotionally disturbed person call is not only reckless but should be banned under almost all circumstances, especially incidents of this nature.

In summary, Officers Valenzuela and Ziegler had no plan for resolving this matter other than immediate lethal force by shooting Jeanette Riley to death. These officers were out of control, either ignoring their training or were never trained in successfully handling an emotionally disturbed person. Well-trained and experienced police officers nationwide cringe and shake their heads when hearing what happened in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Peter A. Reedy is a resident of St. Maries.