Flashover

by T. Alan Codder

  “I’m sorry, chief. I screwed up.”

  “I don’t want to hear that out of your mouth again,” Sean said firmly. “Not until we have all the facts. If you fucked up, I’ll tell you, but until then, you keep that shit to yourself, got it?”

  Fish swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Sean softened. “We’ll get through it. Just hang in there.” He turned to Chips. “Get him out of here, and remember, ‘No comment.’”

  As Chips led Fish to his cruiser, Sean first secured Fish’s weapon in his car and then approached Hags’ faded and peeling first generation Ford Taurus.

  “What’ve you got?”

  Caswell held up a bag with the pistol in it. “Found it in the glove box.” He held up another bag with several smaller bags inside, and a third with a syringe. “Found these in the center console.”

  Sean looked inside the car. The back seat was littered with empty fast food containers, a porn magazine, and a pair of women’s panties. He shook his head as he stepped back.

  “Let’s wrap this up,” he said softly. “I’m going to pull the dash cam footage from Fish’s car then go check on this asshole and see if he lived. Can you two take care of getting Fish’s cruiser and this piece of shit back to the station?”

  Donner nodded. “You got it. How’s he doing?”

  “Shook up.”

  Caswell nodded. “Yeah. I would be to, but shit, Sean, I would have done the same thing. He’s got a new baby girl at home to think about.”

  Sean nodded. “I agree, it sounds like a clean shoot, but let’s see what the video shows before we jump to any conclusions.”

  He looked around at the hard faces of the gathered crowd. Less than two weeks after the BPD had taken over patrolling and one of his officers had shot their neighbor. Never mind the stupid shit got out of the car against orders, and with something in his hand too. They wouldn’t see it that way. All they would see is a white cop shooting an unarmed black man.

  “Fuck,” he muttered as he turned away and walked to Fish’s cruiser.

  He killed the strobes to save the file and then opened the trunk and removed the memory card that held the dash cam footage. After removing the card he returned to his cruiser. He wanted to look at this right away so he would be ready for the shit storm when it hit.

  He arrived at the station and Claire watched him enter with wide eyes.

  “How’s Fish doing?” she asked when he stopped in her office.

  “Not good. He’s really shook up. I sent him home with Chips.”

  “Poor guy.”

  “Yeah. I’ve got the dash cam footage. I’ll be back in a few minutes to pull the radio traffic. Make sure you archive that.”

  “Already done.”

  “Okay, good. If anyone comes in here, as I told Fish and Chips, there are only two words I want to come out of your mouth… ‘No comment.’ Make sure that gets passed to all the other officers. Also, make sure everyone knows. Fish is probably going to need some support for a couple of days. See if someone can get over there in a few hours to give Chips a break.”

  “You got it.”

  He gave her a nod then walked to his office. He flipped on the lights and sat down at his desk, unpacked his computer, and inserted the small memory card as soon as it finished booting.

  The dash cam system in their cars was always on. It recorded a five-minute loop until the blues were switched on, then the five-minute rule was suspended and the camera recorded until the lights were switched off. The file was then saved and a new five-minute loop was started. Their 128gb cards could hold about ten hours of high resolution video before the card became full. When the card was at about seventy-five percent of capacity, the dash cam light changed from green to yellow to let the officer know it was time to erase some of the stored videos to make additional room.

  Bill Horton, the previous chief, allowed the officers to simply erase the videos unless there was something of interest or they thought they would need the video to prosecute a case. He was going to change that policy and have every stop downloaded to the server and filed. They had the disk space for it, and if they filled that up, he’d buy more. He wanted to keep the video for at least a year, just in case they needed it. He had a good group of officers and he didn’t want any of them falsely accused of inappropriate behavior.

  The files were organized by date and time, so it took him only an instant to find the video he wanted. He copied it to both his computer and the server for safe keeping, then began watching it.

  It started out as what appeared to be a routine traffic stop. Fish pulled in behind a car that was driving slow and weaving slightly, it’s brake lights flickering as the driver brake danced the car. The car pulled to the side and stopped and Sean heard the scrapes and bumps of Fish moving around in his car.

  Dispatch, I need a license check. North Carolina Plate, JSY 3418, Fish said, the video showing the back of the Taurus as it was illuminated by the cruiser’s headlamps and emergency strobes.

  Stand by, Fish, Claire’s voice responded. JSY 3418, 1990 Ford Taurus, blue in color, registered to Lexington Leroy Hags, black male, thirty-seven, 806 West Creek Drive, Tilley. Three priors on felony narcotics possession. No wants or warrants.

  Thanks, Claire. Exiting car at, err, 1022 Holiman in Tilley.

  There as a wash of white during the sounds of the door opening and Fish exiting the car, the interior lights reflecting off the windshield blinding the camera for a split second before it adjusted. The door shut and the screen blacked out, then washed out from the glare of the strobes, before the picture again appeared.

  Fish appeared on the left side of the frame. He was at the Taurus’s rear bumper when the driver’s door began to open. Fish immediately went to a shooter’s crouch. He couldn’t hear what Fish was saying, but he could tell he was yelling something at the driver, pointing frantically as the door continued to open.

  As Lexington began exiting his car, Fish began to back up toward the cruiser, drawing his weapon while shouting. There was something black in Lexington’s hand as he reached out and up, and he was saying something. Fish had backed out of frame, but Sean heard the three sharp reports of Fish’s weapon. Lexington staggered back against the Taurus, then fell. Fish appeared again as he approached Hags, his weapon still on the downed man, before he holstered his side arm and dropped to the ground.

  Part of the scene was blocked by the hood of Fish’s car, but Sean could see enough to know Fish was talking into his shoulder radio while administering first aid.

  He watched as units began converging on the scene, the ambulance a few moments later. It was hard to watch, Fish leaning hard against his cruiser, his head low as he watched the paramedics work on the injured man while Chips talked to him.

  As far as Sean was concerned, it was suicide by cop, but the public wasn’t going to see it that way. The man had disobeyed several orders from Fish, and his officer had only a split second to determine if the object in Lexington’s hand was a weapon or something else. Likely the public wouldn’t understand that Fish had followed his training and all they were going to focus on was an unarmed black man gunned down by a white officer.

  He rummaged in his desk until he found his flash drive then walked to the dispatcher’s office.

  “Make me a copy of the traffic,” he ordered as he slid the flash drive into the dispatch computer.

  He waited while Claire copied the file, then returned to his office.

  He listened as Fish and Claire exchanged information about the man he’d stopped, then there was a long moment of silence.

  This is Fish! I need emergency medical and backup to my location! Fish’s frantic voice came over the radio. Man down with multiple gunshot wounds!

  He listened to the confused radio chatter as his officers rallied to help one of their own and Claire dispatched EMS.

  Fish! You okay?

  Is EMS on the way? he asked, his voice strained, ignoring the question.

 
; They’re rolling. Five minutes. Additional units on the way.

  Sean listened to the radio traffic but stopped when he heard Claire radio he was on his way to the scene.

  He was going to have to get ahead of this. He started by calling Rudy’s office. At almost four in the morning there wasn’t going to be anyone there, but he left a detailed voicemail for Rudy, telling him what happened. After he finished talking to Rudy’s voicemail, he looked up the city attorney’s number. Finding it, he called Rich Spangler and gave his voicemail the story as well.

  “I’m going to go check and see how this guy is doing,” Sean said as he stomped through the lobby.

  As he drove to Ellie Grey Memorial Hospital, he turned over in his mind how to approach this. State law prevented him from releasing the video to the public, but he wouldn’t mind stretching the law a little and showing it to a few select individuals to try to quell the looming uproar.

  He parked in the hospital parking lot nearest the emergency room and walked inside, stopping at the nurse’s desk.

  “A man was brought in here, Lexington Hags, a little while ago with gunshot wounds. What’s his condition?”

  “Are you a member of the family?”

  He flipped his badge open. “Official business.”

  “Just a moment officer. Let me get the doctor.”

  He hovered until a man dressed in pale green scrubs appeared.

  “I’m Doctor Prashant Deshmukh.”

  Sean shook the man’s hand. The doctor was young, perhaps thirty, and it was odd to hear the North Carolina drawl coming from a man that, based on his name and appearance, was probably of Indian decent.

  “I’m asking about the man who came in, maybe an hour ago, with gunshot wounds to the chest.”

  Deshmukh nodded. “We stabilized him as much as we could then medevacked him to WakeMed in Raleigh. He needs emergency surgery to remove the two bullets in his chest and care we can’t provide here. He was shot twice in the chest and once in the right shoulder,” he said, touching himself to indicate where the bullets entered. “He has a broken rib and clavicle, tears in the pleura, and a collapsed lung, not to mention a lot of force trauma to the surrounding tissue. Fortunately, the bullets missed his heart. The one in his shoulder passed through. He’s in bad shape, but he should live.”

  “That’s good news. Do you know if he was on something?”

  The doctor shook his head. “We didn’t check. We were a little busy trying to stop the bleeding into his chest. If he was, it’ll turn up in the tests at WakeMed. He was shot by a cop?”

  “I can’t comment on that,” Sean said.

  Deshmukh’s face tightened, but Sean wasn’t sure of the meaning. “Right. Unless he takes a turn for the worse, he should make it.”

  “Okay, thanks, doc.”

  Deshmukh nodded and turned away.

  Sean sighed in relief. Having Lexington live would help reduce the outrage. He left the emergency room and called Chips as he walked to his car.

  “Yeah, chief?”

  “How’s our boy?”

  “Hanging in there, but he’s hurting.”

  “Let him know I spoke to the doc at the hospital. They medevacked the guy to Raleigh but they think he’s probably going to make it. Also tell him I reviewed the dash cam video and it looks like a clean shoot to me.”

  “I’ll let him know. He’s really beating himself up and second guessing what he did.”

  “Tell him to stop it. There isn’t a cop alive who wouldn’t have done the same thing, not one who cares about his safety anyway.”

  “Was the guy on something?”

  “Don’t know yet. We’ll probably know that tomorrow.”

  “I’ll pass that along.”

  “Claire is working on getting someone there to relieve you and to make sure someone will always be close for the next couple of days, but until we get organized, stay with him.”

  “You got it.”

  Sean ended the call and stood by his car. He was starting to feel the lack of sleep, but it would be dawn in less than an hour. No time to go home, and he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.

  He sat down in his car and stared at the brightly lit entrance to the emergency room. With a sigh, he started his car and turned for the station. He had some work to do, but he had an idea of how to handle the situation.

  Twenty-Four

  “How did this happen?” Rudy demanded.

  “You want to see?” Sean asked, forcing his voice to be pleasant.

  It was a little after nine in the morning and he was getting cranky from the lack of sleep and the headache that was coming on.

  “Watch the video and decide for yourself.”

  Rudy stepped around to stand behind the desk so he could watch over Sean’s shoulder. Sean started the video with the sound muted, and let it play until the man turned to face the officer. He stopped the video and minimized the player so Rudy couldn’t study the screen.

  “That’s it?” Rudy asked.

  “No, there’s more. But what would you do in this situation. You’ve seen what Fish saw. Could you tell what’s in the man’s hand? You have a split-second to decide if the man is a threat or not, a man who wasn’t following your verbal orders. So, what would you do?”

  Rudy nodded. “I understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s pretty clear the man wasn’t armed.”

  Sean pursed his lips as he gave his head a slight nod and started the video again. A moment later, the man who exited the car opened fire on the officer, the gunman’s weapon flashing and jumping in his hand as the officer fell. The man immediately turned and jumped back into his car. Sean stopped the video again but left it up, showing the car as it began to speed away.

  “Wait! What? I thought you said the man wasn’t armed!”

  “That’s not Fish’s video. I found this on the internet. But you see the problem? You thought you saw a wallet because I told you that was what was in his hand. But you couldn’t tell from the video, could you? See what can happen if you guess wrong or hesitate? It’s easy to stand here and judge after the fact when it’s not your life on the line.”

  “Let me see that again.”

  Sean wound it back and let it play, then stopped it in the same place as the first time, but this time he left the video up.

  “Okay, yeah, I can tell it’s a gun now. I thought it was a wallet before because that’s what I expected to see.”

  Sean said nothing and started the video again. After the car in the first video drove away, it jumped to another video. As before, when the man began to turn toward the officer and his hands became visible, he stopped the video and hid it from view.

  “I ask you again, what do you do?”

  “Is this the video?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Decision time, mayor. You’ve seen what could happen. What’s in the man’s hand?”

  Rudy licked his lips. “I don’t know.”

  “So, what do you do?” Sean waited about three heartbeats. “If it’s a gun, you’re already dead.”

  “This isn’t fair! I’m not trained for this.”

  “And my officers are?”

  “They should be!”

  “They are. They’re trained to react to a threat to protect their lives and the lives of those around them. Part of the training is to recognize threatening behavior and respond accordingly. The man in this video got out of his car against orders. Just like in the first video, there’s something in his hand. He was driving erratically as if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. What would you do?” Sean snapped his fingers five times in rapid succession. “Come on, mayor. This guy could have a gun in his hand! What do you do!”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Then you’re dead!” Sean paused and let the comment sink in. “I’ll tell you what you do. You react to eliminate the threat.”

  Sean started the video again, and they watched as Fish shot the man. He stopped the video. What happened after Fish knelt to giv
e aid didn’t matter.

  “You asked me how this could happen? Now you know.” He jabbed a finger at the screen. “That man brought this on himself by refusing to obey orders and exiting the car with something in his hand. I’m sorry he was shot, and Fish is absolutely gutted over it, but I stand behind Fish on this one-hundred percent.”

  Rudy sighed. “Yeah. I do too. But this is going to raise a hell of a stink. Hud has already called me. He said his phone has been ringing off the hook.”

  Sean nodded. “I expected that. That’s why I did this,” he said as he gestured at his computer. “This isn’t like the movies. There are real life and death decisions having to be made in the blink of an eye.”

  “Maybe we should release the video?”

  Sean shook his head. “I’d love to, but can’t. North Carolina passed a law last year that says we can’t do that.” He paused. “We could show it to the Tilley city council though.”

  Rudy nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that. The video you showed me, the one where the cop gets shot first, just like you showed it to me. That’s a real eye-opener. I’ll set it up.”

  “You do that,” Sean said, his voice flat. “I’m going to check on Fish and see what I can find out from WakeMed on this turkey. If he was on something, that’ll help explain why he wasn’t obeying orders.”

  Rudy stepped back in front of Sean’s desk. “I’ll arrange a meeting with Hud this afternoon. Tell… is it Fish?”

  “Officer Tom Fisher. We call him Fish.”

  “Tell Fish the city is behind him.”

  “I’ll pass that along, mayor. It’ll help. I’m going to place him on paid leave for a couple days, and then I may put him on administrative duties for a while. It all depends on how fast he recovers from this.”

  “Do what you think is right. Probably best he doesn’t go back to Tilley anyway. Not for a while.”

  Sean reached behind his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I think that’s safe to say.”