Story #2

Sometimes adaptability and thinking on your feet are as important as training when dealing with unusual lwa enforcement situations.

One morning I was called to the scene of a standoff between officers and an ADW (assault with a deadly weapon) suspect. The suspect was on the roof of the family garage in the backyard of the residence. He was holding a shovel and swinging it at officers who tried to get too close.

The suspect had beat up his brother a few hours earlier and was now cornered (so to speak) by the police.

So, we couldn't really shoot him because he was trapped and couldn't get away. We couldn't get close enough to use pepper spray or a taser. What to do?

One of the officers at the location noticed a garden hose and wondered if we couldn't just hose the suspect down from afar. It was a pretty cold morning for southern California and soaking the suspect actually seemed like a sound idea. So we hosed him down and about two minutes later (or sooner) he agreed to throw down his shovel and surrender.