Scenarios show officers' life-and-death decisions

MASON – Gene Wriggelsworth thinks the public, and particularly the media, are a bit too quick when it come to judging the police.

So, the Ingham County sheriff invited several members of the media to experience on Monday a simulation of the types of situations officers can find themselves in.

The interactive scenarios were a glimpse into tests police officers use to decide whether force is needed and to what degree. The scenarios played out on a screen, and participants, playing the role of police officers, were given a simulated weapon and fired — or didn't fire — based on what was happening in front of them.

It was intended to be a serious exercise. The use of force by police is increasingly in the news as a national debate rages over the issue, ignited in part by the 2014 fatal shooting of a black teen by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo.

Three people have been killed by local police officers since December.

On Feb. 17, two Eaton County sheriff's deputies shot and killed Matthew Lundy, a 32-year-old convicted felon whose SUV was in a ditch along a snow-covered rural road. Officials said deputies observed a weapon. On Feb. 28, an Eaton County sheriff's sergeant shot and killed Deven Guilford, 17, during a struggle that happened after a traffic stop. The sergeant was also injured, officials said, but few details have been released.

Michigan State Police are investigating both incidents.

On Dec. 8, a Lansing Township police officer fatally shot 27-year-old Randy Minier Jr. following a traffic stop. Police Chief Kay Hoffman said Minier had "brandished a handgun."

The Ingham County Prosecutor's Office announced in early February that the officer was justified in using deadly force and wouldn't be criminally charged.

Split-second decisions

Addressing the group Monday, Wriggelsworth said, "This is going to give a pretty good feel of what's going through an officer's mind when you have to make a life and death decision."

And those decisions have to be quick.

"When they get out there and feel their life is threatened, they have to decide: Is this a person I use a TASER on? Is this a person I use OC gas (pepper spray) on? Is this a person I shoot?" he said. "You've got to do that, and do that quicker than you can blink an eye."

Deputy Patrick Hollern, a deputy assigned to the Training Division, could manipulate the scenarios' outcomes based on the participants' reactions.

In the simulations:

•Two people who appear to be drunk are arguing in a alley. One suddenly runs toward you, firing away. Too slow of a reaction gets you killed.

•There's a disturbance at a motel and an armed man suddenly appears. He eventually produces a badge, but reacting before that could leave a fellow officer dead.

•An intruder comes running at you with a brick. It turns out he's serious and plans to kill you. Perceiving it as a mere threat could be fatal.

•Several people cross your path as they run down a school hallway. Several shots are heard. Will you suddenly find yourself face to face with the gunman?

A State Journal reporter who participated in three scenarios was fatally shot by the drunk and beaten to death with a brick — but managed to hold off shooting the officer who eventually shows a badge at the motel. The school gunman was determined to have shot and killed an LSJ photographer who participated in that scenario.

Keeping tension high

The situations are stressful — by design. They're the same ones used to train officers.

"The scenarios range anything from and an active violence situation to a custody corrections situation," Hollern said. "It's a great decision-making tool."

One of the other participants hit a bad guy with multiple shots. Wriggelsworth said it was the right thing to do.

"People ask, 'Why did you shoot six times?'" Wriggelsworth said. "We train our officers to shoot until the threat is eliminated, and it doesn't matter if they're shooting at the officer or shooting at somebody else. That's just kind of how it works."

He noted that officers usually have to decide these things alone, and often find themselves doing it in remote parts of the county.

"It's a tough job," Wriggelsworth said.