Off Duty Cop Stabbed

[Nanalo74]

An off-duty NYPD officer was stabbed while foiling an attempted robbery at a Dunkin Donuts. I'm posting the link to Fox News. Click on the video.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160923,00.html

They did catch the guy. Apparently he was robbing the store for gas money in order to go to court for a hearing on a weapons possession charge.

Vic www.combatartsusa.com

 

[MJS]

I give the officer alot of credit, though I question if he used the right methods in attempting to control the robber. Fortunately for him, his injuries were not as bad as they could have been.

Mike

 

[TonyM.]

That's tragic. Guy should'nt even been out IMO.

 

[arnisador]

I give the officer alot of credit, though I question if he used the right methods in attempting to control the robber.

I'm with you in giving him lots of credit for courage. As to his methods, it looks like he had little time to react. The guy jumped up and was waving the knife in the cashier's face--the cashier could've been badly hurt, or at the least the LEO must have feared this. He must've figured he needed to get the guy back away from the cashier quickly. I think the LEO did well reacting to that surprise and selflessly helping the cashier. I've no doubt there were better ways, but given the surpise and urgency, I say he used a reasonable method. I do wonder if he should've given chase, though, if he wasn't armed.

 

[MJS]

I'm with you in giving him lots of credit for courage. As to his methods, it looks like he had little time to react. The guy jumped up and was waving the knife in the cashier's face--the cashier could've been badly hurt, or at the least the LEO must have feared this. He must've figured he needed to get the guy back away from the cashier quickly. I think the LEO did well reacting to that surprise and selflessly helping the cashier. I've no doubt there were better ways, but given the surpise and urgency, I say he used a reasonable method. I do wonder if he should've given chase, though, if he wasn't armed.

I agree. Things unfolded quick and there was little time to react. As for his actions...I was thinking along the same lines of what you said in your last paragraph. Again, I realize that he had little time to react, but if he wasn't armed, all the more reason to take extra precaution. If the robber decided to continue to advance towards the cop, rather than running out the door, things could have been worse.

Again, I do give him props for being off duty and not thinking twice about giving aid to someone in need.

Mike

 

[Nanalo74]

I agree. Things unfolded quick and there was little time to react. As for his actions...I was thinking along the same lines of what you said in your last paragraph. Again, I realize that he had little time to react, but if he wasn't armed, all the more reason to take extra precaution. If the robber decided to continue to advance towards the cop, rather than running out the door, things could have been worse.

Again, I do give him props for being off duty and not thinking twice about giving aid to someone in need.

Mike

I discussed this with some LEOs I work with. Grabbing an armed assailant around the torso, thereby effectively occupying both your hands while leaving his free is never a good idea. Of course it's easy to "armchair quarterback" this situation since none of us were there, but I wonder how much time if any is given to training for such a scenario, i.e armed perp-unarmed LEO.

Vic www.combatartsusa.com

 

[still learning]

Hello, Thank-you for sharing the story. Lessons can come from anywhere, Hopefully we can learn something from this. ...............Aloha

 

[MJS]

I discussed this with some LEOs I work with. Grabbing an armed assailant around the torso, thereby effectively occupying both your hands while leaving his free is never a good idea. Of course it's easy to "armchair quarterback" this situation since none of us were there, but I wonder how much time if any is given to training for such a scenario, i.e armed perp-unarmed LEO.

Vic www.combatartsusa.com

I agree! The weapon is the immediate threat, therefore, the weapon arm should be controlled, if thats the route one wants to take.

Personally, considering he was probably unarmed, he should have gotten a solid description of the guy, DOT, a car he may have gotten into, called it in, etc. Better to be safe than sorry IMO.

Mike

 

[BaiKaiGuy]

Kudos for doing his job even while off-duty, but that was sloppy.

I'm finding it a bit difficult to be too critical, though. He did help the cashiers, we don't know what the gentleman with the knife might have done. But something in me just says "sloppy", maybe because I have a couple of police officers that train at my school...

Thankfully he wasn't injured too badly.

 

[BaktoBasics]

Top marks for that police officer. It shows this person had a deep sense of wanting to help despite the circumstances. That is a truly corageous person who will be sorely missed - we need more people like that.

Also, we all have the benefit of hindsight. In a situation such as that, rational thinking and training is probably the last thing on ones mind. That police officer did their sworn duty, they helped someone, they upheld law (albeit carelessly). Given that, that police officer is a hero in my book.

Very few of us on this forum would do the same. We would think rationally as the above posts indicate. Think of ourselves before others - rather than thinking of helping others first.

 

[arnisador]

He was surprised. He got the knife-wielder away from the potential victim. We all could do better after reviewing the tape, but I say he did fine. His job is to protect, not just to defend himself--that's always much riskier.

 

[redfang]

He should think about carrying off-duty, then it would have been a situation of BG bringing a knife to a gun fight. Unless he truly feared that the clerk was going to be seriously injured, even if he cooperated, then he might have been better off being a good witness.

 

[Nanalo74]

He should think about carrying off-duty, then it would have been a situation of BG bringing a knife to a gun fight. Unless he truly feared that the clerk was going to be seriously injured, even if he cooperated, then he might have been better off being a good witness.

All my LEO buddies carry off-duty and they all agreed that they would have drawn on the guy and ordered him to the ground. However, I still feel that LEOs especially need to be trained in dealing with an armed perp when they happen to be unarmed. Before my instructor, Sifu Barry Cuda made the trek to Vegas, many of his private students were on the job and they came to him to learn how to deal with the knife, and also how to use their batons as more than just a striking weapon.

This officer has been hailed as a hero and he should. Not taking that away from him. Anyone that dons the uniform and goes forth to protect our society deserves the utmost respect and honor. I just thought this would make for interesting conversation, which it has. I'm glad for that. Great posts all around. Incidentally, this officer survived and is home recuperating as we speak. Should be back on the street soon. We need guys like that battling bad guys.

Vic www.combatartsusa.com

 

[Tgace]

Not to armchair either, but there should have been something (can, bottle, heavy object) somewhere within reach to use as a weapon. Environmental weapons has always been a weak point in SD training IMHO.