Roanoke County police expand availability of beanbag guns following shooting death of teen
The Roanoke Times | July 6, 2016
By Amy Friedenberger
A 24-year-old man stood in a driveway on a May afternoon with a machete held over his shoulder. “Kill me,” he yelled at two Roanoke County police officers.
He approached the officers, who pointed their guns at him and asked that he put the machete down, police spokeswoman Amy Whittaker said. They tried to talk to him to calm him down.
Officers deployed a Taser, but it did not work, Whittaker said. A police dog arrived to the house on Copper Circle, which aggravated the man.
He continued to tell police he wanted to die. At one point, he sliced his arm and threatened to cut his stomach and head, Whittaker said.
Eventually, an officer fired three beanbag rounds, striking the man at least once in the hand, Whittaker said. He threw the machete down a few feet away and lay down on the driveway, allowing officers to handcuff him.
“There was a situation that wasn’t that far away from being another tragedy,” Chief Howard Hall said.
The incident happened May 27, just two days after Hall discussed the final results in his department’s investigation into the police shooting death of 18-year-old Kionte Spencer. The shooting prompted the department to review the number of beanbag guns it has and how to expand the less-lethal weapons to more officers.
Two county officers shot Spencer twice near the busy Cave Spring Corners shopping center on the evening of Feb. 26. Roanoke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach said officers gave Spencer ample time to drop his broken BB gun — which resembled a pistol — and had no choice but to shoot. He decided not to file any charges.
In dashboard camera footage from that night — which has not been made public but was shown to a few members of the media and a couple of county supervisors — an officer asks for a beanbag gun. Hall said the nearest gun was with an officer about three minutes away from the intersection where officers were circling Spencer.
Before the officer with the beanbag gun could make it to the scene, one of the officers following Spencer used a Taser on him twice, to no effect. Hall said Spencer turned around with his gun raised, and the two officers opened fire.
Whittaker said the department has 22 beanbag guns. Primarily supervisors and a few officers carry the rifles in their cars.
She said the department is purchasing conversion kits, which will allow it to turn shotguns into beanbag guns. The department has the funds to do that without asking the board of supervisors for money. The kits cost about $100.
Beanbag rounds are designed to deliver a strong blow to a suspect but not penetrate the skin. However, they can cause serious injury or death depending on where someone is struck.
The rounds are sacks that are usually filled with lead, silicone or rubber balls.
“If you hit someone with a beanbag, they’re going down,” Hall said. “They say it’s like getting hit with a major league fastball, so it is going to hurt.”
The rounds were initially used in the 1970s by correctional officers who wanted to be able to control riots or prison fights from a distance. In police departments, officers tend to use them in barricade situations or riots, or when a suspect is suicidal.
Beanbag guns have grown in popularity over the years with local police departments, although they are rarely used, police and criminal justice experts say.
In the spring of last year, Blacksburg police used a beanbag gun against a suicidal man who had barricaded himself in a house. When he came out of the house waving a gun, officers fired at him. Although the man fired one shot from his pistol, no officers were injured. He then went back inside. The man eventually came out of the house, and officers took him into custody.
The incident on Copper Circle started when the man’s mother called 911 to report that her son was threatening to kill himself, initially by using pills. When he learned that she had called police, he told the dispatcher he would use his machete to slit his own throat and would charge at responding officers so they would have to shoot him, Whittaker said. He had also been drinking, she said.
After officers took him into custody, he was treated at a hospital and a temporary detention order was issued. No charges have been filed.
Tod Burke, a criminal justice professor at Radford University and former police officer in Maryland, said beanbag guns are useful when there is time to assess a situation and consider force options. Burke said that in a fast-paced “shoot, don’t shoot” incident with an armed subject who is an imminent threat, beanbag guns are likely not going to be an option.
“I think it’s a good idea for police to have them, but they’re going to be used in specific circumstances,” Burke said.
By Amy Friedenberger
A 24-year-old man stood in a driveway on a May afternoon with a machete held over his shoulder. “Kill me,” he yelled at two Roanoke County police officers.
He approached the officers, who pointed their guns at him and asked that he put the machete down, police spokeswoman Amy Whittaker said. They tried to talk to him to calm him down.
Officers deployed a Taser, but it did not work, Whittaker said. A police dog arrived to the house on Copper Circle, which aggravated the man.
He continued to tell police he wanted to die. At one point, he sliced his arm and threatened to cut his stomach and head, Whittaker said.
Eventually, an officer fired three beanbag rounds, striking the man at least once in the hand, Whittaker said. He threw the machete down a few feet away and lay down on the driveway, allowing officers to handcuff him.
“There was a situation that wasn’t that far away from being another tragedy,” Chief Howard Hall said.
The incident happened May 27, just two days after Hall discussed the final results in his department’s investigation into the police shooting death of 18-year-old Kionte Spencer. The shooting prompted the department to review the number of beanbag guns it has and how to expand the less-lethal weapons to more officers.
Two county officers shot Spencer twice near the busy Cave Spring Corners shopping center on the evening of Feb. 26. Roanoke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach said officers gave Spencer ample time to drop his broken BB gun — which resembled a pistol — and had no choice but to shoot. He decided not to file any charges.
In dashboard camera footage from that night — which has not been made public but was shown to a few members of the media and a couple of county supervisors — an officer asks for a beanbag gun. Hall said the nearest gun was with an officer about three minutes away from the intersection where officers were circling Spencer.
Before the officer with the beanbag gun could make it to the scene, one of the officers following Spencer used a Taser on him twice, to no effect. Hall said Spencer turned around with his gun raised, and the two officers opened fire.
Whittaker said the department has 22 beanbag guns. Primarily supervisors and a few officers carry the rifles in their cars.
She said the department is purchasing conversion kits, which will allow it to turn shotguns into beanbag guns. The department has the funds to do that without asking the board of supervisors for money. The kits cost about $100.
Beanbag rounds are designed to deliver a strong blow to a suspect but not penetrate the skin. However, they can cause serious injury or death depending on where someone is struck.
The rounds are sacks that are usually filled with lead, silicone or rubber balls.
“If you hit someone with a beanbag, they’re going down,” Hall said. “They say it’s like getting hit with a major league fastball, so it is going to hurt.”
The rounds were initially used in the 1970s by correctional officers who wanted to be able to control riots or prison fights from a distance. In police departments, officers tend to use them in barricade situations or riots, or when a suspect is suicidal.
Beanbag guns have grown in popularity over the years with local police departments, although they are rarely used, police and criminal justice experts say.
In the spring of last year, Blacksburg police used a beanbag gun against a suicidal man who had barricaded himself in a house. When he came out of the house waving a gun, officers fired at him. Although the man fired one shot from his pistol, no officers were injured. He then went back inside. The man eventually came out of the house, and officers took him into custody.
The incident on Copper Circle started when the man’s mother called 911 to report that her son was threatening to kill himself, initially by using pills. When he learned that she had called police, he told the dispatcher he would use his machete to slit his own throat and would charge at responding officers so they would have to shoot him, Whittaker said. He had also been drinking, she said.
After officers took him into custody, he was treated at a hospital and a temporary detention order was issued. No charges have been filed.
Tod Burke, a criminal justice professor at Radford University and former police officer in Maryland, said beanbag guns are useful when there is time to assess a situation and consider force options. Burke said that in a fast-paced “shoot, don’t shoot” incident with an armed subject who is an imminent threat, beanbag guns are likely not going to be an option.
“I think it’s a good idea for police to have them, but they’re going to be used in specific circumstances,” Burke said.
