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Screwdriver vs. Gun. Guess Who Wins?
In the year's 9th officer involved shooting (OIS), a resident was shot at the Fair Oaks Manor, a residential treatment center in Highland Park for adults with mental and developmental disabilities. Before the LAPD arrived, staff members called 911 around 2 AM Sunday morning and reported 24-year-old Francisco Mondragon was threatening others with a screwdriver.
Police officer Ivan McMillan, 29, and his partner, confronted Mondragon as he stood on the porch of the board and care, holding a screwdriver. The officers tried to reason with Mondragon and convince him to drop the weapon. Mondragon turned and ran into the building, posing a potential threat to people inside. The officers followed Mondragon indoors, where he turned and charged Officer McMillan’s partner. Mondragon stabbed the screwdriver at the officer’s chest several times, Officer McMillan fired three times in defense of his partner, which stopped the attack. Mondragon later died at LA County USC Medical Center.
"The officers were confronted with any officer's worst nightmare, a hand-to-hand fight with an armed suspect," said LAPD spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vernon said in a press release this afternoon. "Thankfully, the officer's ballistic vest stopped the screwdriver from causing any serious injury, but it could have been much worse, as ballistic vests are not designed to protect against edged weapons." While neither officer was seriously injured, the officer's uniform shirt was torn in the attack.
Headlines for something like this could easily spun to be "Police shoot and kill the mentally ill." Questions arise like "why didn't they use a taser to subdue the man?"
Upon talking to Lt. Vernon this afternoon, he explained that "the situation can change at any given second -- the suspect dictates what happens." Upon arrival, the officers only knew what the 911 call said (and that basically said there was a man there with an intent to kill). In this situation, Mondragon went from combative aggressive to assaulting an officer within a split second. Grabbing a taser or another method of force in that amount of time was not applicable.
If Mondragon stayed on the porch, the officers might have had the option to use a taser or beanbag shotgun Lt. Vernon added.
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