NCJ Number
213240
Journal
Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 54-58
Date Published
February 2006
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes in detail the sequence of events in which three police officers of the Collinsville Police Department (Illinois) encountered a deranged man at close quarters who was bent on killing them with a kitchen knife.
Abstract
The incident occurred following a dispatch that included information on the stabbing of a woman by a family member. Two officers located a half-mile from the scene when the dispatch went out arrived at the address to find that two other officers had already arrived. A patrol officer was giving first aid to a young woman who had been stabbed, and a detective was attempting to get information from the victim on the location of the person who had stabbed her. Three officers followed a blood trail that led across the street as the officer giving first aid to the victim obtained more information from her. She gave him the address of the apartment where her brother had stabbed her. The officer yelled the information to the three officers following the blood trail. The officers approached the apartment through an outside deck. A sliding glass door was open slightly, with a curtain hiding the inside of the apartment. The lead officer flung the curtain aside to be confronted immediately at close quarters by a man wielding a knife. The article describes in detail the battle that ensued, resulting in the death of the attacker and the wounding of two of the officers. The article includes a series of questions for discussion regarding the decisionmaking and tactics used in this incident.