Officer-involved shootings take a personal toll on officers

Monday morning, a Whitley County Grand Jury cleared Corbin Police Sgt. Stephen Meadors of any wrongdoing in connection with the Feb. 14 off-duty fatal shooting of Phillip N. Davenport, 20, of Corbin.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

About 3:30 a.m., a neighbor contacted Meadors about a prowler. Meadors went to confront the prowler resulting in an altercation and Meadors fatally shot Davenport, according to Kentucky State Police.

From what I have heard about the shooting and based on what the grand jurors heard, it appears that the shooting was lawful and justified, although this doesn’t make it any less tragic a circumstance for all involved.

Maybe Davenport was up to no good. Maybe he was just having a bad day, out walking around to clear his head and lost his temper when confronted. Perhaps we will never know the exact reason.

Regardless, it’s a tragedy to see a young life cut short. Davenport was someone’s son. He may have been someone’s brother, or nephew or grandchild. It’s just sad.

In recent years, there has been much talk about police shootings, but one thing usually not mentioned is the impact that the shootings have on the officers themselves.

I’ve known a great many police officers over the years, and have been fortunate to call several of them friends.

I have never met a single police officer that ever hoped he or she would have to discharge their firearm in the course of doing their duty. Most of them dread the thought of this happening, but they know it is something that they may be called upon to do one day.

Of the police officers I’ve known, a few have been involved in shootings. Some have even been involved in a fatal shooting.

I’ve yet to hear a single police officer brag about having to shoot and kill someone, or even having to fire their gun in the line of duty. It is a lot like soldiers, who have seen combat. Most of the time, it is not something that they talk about.

When they do discuss it, they are usually very solemn about it. They seldom go into much detail. You can tell even years later that it still bothers them to think about it.

A friend of mine, former Williamsburg Police Chief Russell Jones, was involved in an officer-involved shooting when he was a young sheriff’s deputy working security at an event. A gunman came along apparently intent of committing a mass shooting.

Russell drew the suspect’s fire onto himself and then returned fire mortally wounding the suspect, but not before being severely shot himself. This was before the modern ambulance era, and those at the event loaded Russell and the other man into vehicles and drove them to the hospital where Russell underwent extensive surgery and a long recovery.

One day I was over at the Williamsburg Fire Department with Russell and another friend, and Russell told me the story about the shooting although leaving out some of the more heroic details.

When Russell left, my other friend turned to me and said, “He must really like you. He doesn’t tell that story to many people.”

You could tell that the incident affected Russell for probably the rest of his life. Russell became an expert at being able to diffuse a situation without having to use force. He became great at it, not because he was afraid of having to shoot someone again, but because he knew what that brought with it.

For years, Russell resisted efforts to be recognized for his acts during the shooting incident in part because he didn’t want to upset the deceased man’s family members, and because of an aversion to accept recognition for things.

Decades later and after he retired, Russell received the medal of honor for his courage during that incident. It was a surprise. Had he known what he was going to the judicial center for that day, I am not sure anyone would have gotten him there.

Over the last couple of years, there has been a great deal of anti-police sentiment in some circles. There have definitely been police that have acted badly, even criminally. Without doubt, those officers should be punished.

Just remember that almost no police officer ever goes to work hoping that they will have to shoot someone that day, let alone kill a kid or a young person. When officers do have to pull the trigger, remember that they are people too, and it often affects them for years to come.