AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s attorney general has decided two state police troopers were justified when they shot men in two separate instances over the summer.
Michael McKay, 24, fatally shot himself at his home on Buck Lane in Hermon after state police Trooper Gregory Roy, who also is a member of the tactical team, fired a bullet that struck McKay in the leg on the night of July 1.
In an Aug. 14 shooting, state police Trooper Christopher Hashey shot and wounded Warren Dome, 54, when Dome came after the trooper with a knife in the driveway to Dome’s Edinburg home, according to police.
At the times the two troopers fired their weapons, it was reasonable for them to believe that their lives or the lives of fellow officers were in danger and their decisions to use deadly force to stop the threats were justified, Attorney General William J. Schneider said in two separate reports released Monday afternoon.
The state medical examiner determined McKay died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The examiner also found McKay’s blood-alcohol content at the time of his death was 0.24 percent.
McKay had met with his estranged wife on July 1 to discuss divorce proceedings, according to police. He purchased a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun with a laser sight and a box of ammunition in Orrington later that afternoon, according to one of Schneider’s reports.
He then drove to a home in Kenduskeag, where he believed his wife was staying, and pointed his gun at a man at the residence. The two men struggled, and the resident eventually pushed McKay out the door and told him he was going to call police.
As he left the Kenduskeag residence, McKay fired three shots at his wife’s empty vehicle, which was parked outside, according to the report. He later called his wife’s cellphone 30 times. He left two messages, the last one saying, “The troopers are here to get me, but they’re not gonna take me,” according to Schneider.
A standoff with police started later that evening after McKay returned to his home in Hermon. Police watched McKay brandish the handgun and saw the laser sight pointing out the window.
A negotiator spoke with McKay, who refused to come out of the residence.
Members of the Maine State Police Tactical Team were deployed around the home when McKay finally did come outside. McKay fired two shots in the direction of tactical team members, and Roy returned fire, hitting McKay in the leg, according to the attorney general’s report.
McKay fell backward into the home and seconds later police heard a single shot from inside. They found McKay dead when they entered the home.
Prior to the other police-involved shooting in Edinburg, a caller, later identified as Warren Dome, called 911 and asked the dispatcher to send units to 682 Edinburg Road, adding that he didn’t “want to go on anymore,” according the Schneider.
He told the dispatcher to “send the militia,” and that he was “not going to go down easy,” according to the report.
Trooper Christopher Hashey was dispatched to the scene after being informed that the caller might be suicidal. Hashey picked up Penobscot County sheriff’s Deputy Raymond Goodspeed, and the two drove past Dome’s home around 6 p.m. Aug. 14. They hoped to tactically approach the building but had to abandon their plan when they saw a man and woman approaching the entrance and had to stop them, according to Schneider.
The couple knew Dome, and said they had extinguished a small fire near the entrance to the driveway and were on their way to speak with Dome. Hashey and Goodspeed told the pair to leave.
As the couple got into their vehicle, Dome “emerged from behind the house with a large knife in his hand,” according to Schneider. Dome moved toward Hashey “while displaying the knife in a threatening manner.”
Hashey walked backwards down the driveway while he and Goodspeed shouted for Dome to stop and drop the knife. Dome continued to advance on Hashey, who had backed into the road. Continuing to ignore commands to stop, Dome closed to within 10 feet of Hashey, who fired two rounds, both of which struck Dome.
Hashey and Goodspeed gave Dome first aid until emergency medical services arrived and took Dome to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor by helicopter.
Yup. No surprises there! Why bother with formalities. A police officer has never been accused of a bad shoot in Maine.
Maybe the officers are well trained at assessing a situation and reacting with the appropriate level of force, did you ever think of that? I have yet, to the best of my memory, read an article where deadly force was used by a law enforcement officer in the State of Maine that I thought the use of that force was questionable. Tell me what about the two cases in this article or any other for that matter that makes you think the use of deadly force was not justified.
“I have yet, to the best of my memory, read an article where deadly force was used by a law enforcement officer in the State of Maine that I thought the use of that force was questionable.”
I remember Katherine Hegarty; asleep in her home in the woods when she was killed by LE. You don’t remember her?
Well, maybe you remember the elder gentleman in the wheelchair in Portland who picked up a butter knife and was killed by LE.
Oh, what about the kid in Lincolnville (?) who ran away from a simple traffic stop, into the woods, was chased by the cop, (against the rules) and killed by him. Remember him?
I am not saying that there aren’t cases of LE needing to use lethal force in the state of Maine. But there have been more than a few cases that simply do not pass the smell test. Either your memory is bad, you don’t actually read the articles or you have some kind of problem with comprehension. There are people in Maine who have been murdered by Law Enforcement.
What about the veteran popped down at Togus.
The one who was armed and pointed the gun at officers just before he was shot.
That’s the one. the guy who was out in the open and who they didn’t even try to talk down.
Did you miss the part where he was mentally ill due to his service for the rest of us? What about that? Did we owe him a bit of effort?
From CBS News.
“Jim Doherty, a spokesperson for the hospital, told CBS affiliate WABI that staff were outside the center when they heard shots fired. A Togus police officer and two game wardens then responded. Mills says they ordered the man to drop his weapon.”
He refused and turned towards them with the rifle leveled at the officers, they fired in defense of themselves.
By the way, he was in the woods near the VA Hospital, not out in the open.
If a cop is shot by a mentalliy ill person, is it any less fatal?
The veterns healthcare system failed this man and that in the end triggered this situation.
I think if someone was pointing a gun at me I would only have seconds to react. If I was armed myself I would try and shoot first.
“That’s the one. the guy who was out in the open and who they didn’t even try to talk down.”
Did they armed person give the officers a chance to be talked down?
~~~~~
“Did you miss the part where he was mentally ill due to his service
for the rest of us?”
How were the Warden’s or the VA officer supposed to know of his mental illness?
~~~~~
“What about that? Did we owe him a bit of effort?”
Do we “own him a bit of effort?”
Yes, but how were the officers supposed to know that he was mentally ill? And did the armed person want the “effort” made?
Wow, you couldn’t have got most of those examples any more wrong.
Hegarty was awake and speaking to officers when they entered and she picked up a rifle. THis was after shooting at or in the direction of campers earlier in the say.
The wheelchair guy was in Brunswick and it wasn’t a butter knife.
The kid who ran into the woods was in Waloboro and attacked the officer in the woods and was shot in self defense as he tried to get the gun.
But don’t let facts get in your way.
I have read excerpts of the court case against the officers
involved in the Katherine Hegarty shooting; I would suggest that you do the same. The details provided within that document
tell me that she had already shot (many times) at or near innocent campers that she felt threatened by, due in part by an obvious mental illness. The police went to arrest her at her woods cabin (no warrant needed considering her actions) she refused to drop a weapon she had pointed at the officer(s). Case closed. I have tried to research the two other incidents that you cited and can’t find articles to reference. I do remember the shooting of the man in the wheelchair and agree that may have been questionable, but would like to read facts of the incident.
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=94-1473.01A
Mall cop weighs in again!!
I did find articles to reference the other two incidents.
From:
boston.com
September 29, 2007
“A lawyer for Waldoboro police officer Zachary Curtis said
Curtis was being choked by 18-year-old Gregori Jackson and feared for his life when he shot and killed Jackson after a traffic stop last weekend.”
“Police say Jackson, who lived in Whitefield with his
parents, got out of the car and confronted Curtis physically before running into the woods off Route 220. Curtis chased him, they struggled and the officer shot Jackson multiple times in the chest and head, according to initial reports.”
“Police officers are allowed to use deadly force, if
they reasonably believe it is necessary. That appears to be the case here”
Case closed.
From
Portland Press Herald
December 12, 2012
Article is referencing an incident from Nov. 6, 1997
I don’t know if this is the incident that you are referring
to.
“That afternoon, Brunswick dispatch took a call about a
domestic disturbance, a man who had been knocked from his wheelchair in a drunken fight.
When O’Leary and Sgt. Mark Phillips arrived, near the tail
end of their day shift, they were confronted by Richard Weymouth, 55, in the small kitchen in his apartment. He was confined to a wheelchair after a shooting left one of his legs amputated and the other paralyzed.
Weymouth was back in his wheelchair when they approached,
and as they got close, he pulled a butcher knife, with a foot-long pointed blade, from a sheath on his wheelchair.
Weymouth stabbed himself twice in the abdomen and Phillips
sprayed him with pepper spray. Undeterred, Weymouth advanced across the small room, refusing commands to drop the knife.
When he was a few feet away, O’Leary shot him three times.
He died just as rescue workers got him to the hospital.”
Case closed.
Are u kidding? How about the one a couple of years ago in south portland? I believe that is going to a civil trial. A suicidal man in and out of treatment was home when his family called the cops. Of course they arrived in all their tactical gear and. Immediately escalate the situation. Here is where it’s just too much. So the guy is walking down the driveway with a knife refuses to stop or does stop but doesn’t drop the knife (can’t remember) and the cops shoot him with a beanbag and bullets!!! Guess which object killed him??!! Cops investigating themselves is not a great idea.
You are using personal recollection to give an example, do some research and use the facts of the incident that you are using. Read the facts and I am sure if you understand the training that LEOs receive you may understand that a person with a knife within twenty feet is a serious threat to an officer and justifies deadly force.
It’s well known in south portland if u have a family member in south portland with mental illness just call the cops and they will permantly remove them. You do “research” and get back to me on the shooting the beanbag and gun at the same time Sherlock.
I did the research and agree that a less lethal method could have been used considering his history of Norton and the situation at that time. Deadly force would still be justified in the situation, but the bean bag ammo would have been sufficient and it seems like a lack of communication between the officers is to blame. In the end, by the letter of the law it was justifiable, but obviously not the best case scenario.
Every police department in the Country should have a local civilian review board which investigates fatal shootings. This shooting may have been, and probably was, justified, BUT when the government investigates its own agents, the smell test looks fixed.
Only looks fixed for those with some conspiracy theory bumping around in their head. How and who will pick the civilians for the review board?
You suppose that the government treats its paid agents the same as other folks? Now that is a conspiracy theory.
As to how we get to a civilian review board, I would suggest a vote.
You assume that those investigating are corrupt and would do anything to cover up for an officer involved in a shooting, you are wrong.
As far as electing people to a citizens review board, great idea, nothing more than more politics and a popularity contest for the candidates who probably would have no experience or knowledge of police training and protocols for deadly force situations.
Read these:
Tennessee vs. Garner
Graham v. Connor
Whatever you do do not shoot someone in the leg to stop them with their deadly knife. This country is nutz!
Officers are trained to shoot for center mass of a subject, largest area on the human body. Shooting to wound is for the movies and not a practical solution to a deadly force situation.
I think its time for a new attorney general. Not once have i seen a cop that was not justified in shooting.