Sheriff: Revise shooting policy

Jim Coats wants changes in training and a clarification on using deadly force, so that shooting is the last option.

ST. PETERSBURG - Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats plans to revise his department's deadly force policy to clarify when a shooting is necessary.

Coats also wants his deputies better trained in reacting to various threats. Firing their guns should be the last resort, he said.

The planned changes come after the agency's investigation into the controversial shooting death of 19-year-old Jarrell Walker, killed by a SWAT team member during a drug raid April 12.

"We need to make it more clear when deadly force will be used," Coats said Monday, acknowledging that specific changes have not been determined. "Improved training needs to be the focus."

Walker's mother, Wanda Walker, agreed with the need for changes but said they should have come before her son was killed.

"It's good they are changing that," she said. "But this is for the next person's child. I've lost mine."

In a report released Monday, the Sheriff's Office's shooting review board concluded that Cpl. Christopher Taylor was "justified" in shooting Walker.

Coats has the final say on whether Taylor violated any office policies and what, if any, discipline he will face. Coats said he likely will decide by the end of the week. Taylor, 33, remains on administrative leave from the SWAT team.

The review board, composed of high-ranking sheriff's officials, recommended the department's policy recognize "citizen concerns, specifically that deputies are trained and equipped to use appropriate force."

The Walker shooting spurred harsh criticism from some community leaders, especially in St. Petersburg's African-American community. Walker was black. Cpl. Taylor is white.

Last month, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe cleared Taylor of any criminal wrongdoing. In his report, McCabe acknowledged the rift between law enforcement and some residents in the black community and recommended that the sheriff's office review its shooting policies.

Coats said Monday that he has formed two work groups, one to study the agency's written policies on use of deadly force and another to look at training methods.

Coats said he did not know specifically how the training would be improved. The work group will look at the methods of law enforcement agencies around the country and recommendations of think tanks such as the Police Research Forum in Washington, D.C.

Coats also said he is in the process of changing the leadership of the agency's training staff, and he emphasized that deputy safety will remain a priority.

"We need to do better at training our deputies at threat assessments," he said. "I'm not trying to get any of our deputies killed."

* * *

A suspicion of drug dealing brought the SWAT team to the home on 16th Avenue S.

A few weeks earlier, undercover detectives had set up a sting. They gave an informant $650 to purchase 50 pills of the drug ecstasy from someone at the house. Nine days later, the informant bought 15 pills for $225.

The informant told the detective that he had seen weapons inside the house and that "if police came to the residence, someone would die," according to information released Monday by the Sheriff's Office.

Officers from the St. Petersburg Police Department had raided the house earlier in March and found crack cocaine, marijuana and seven handguns, among other items. The SWAT team knew that one gun was found in a couch by the front door, according to the state attorney's investigation.

On April 12 about 8:55 p.m., the house was dark, except for a porch light, when the SWAT team moved in, reports said.

Three times the SWAT members called out, "Sheriff's Office, open the door." No one responded, according to the report. The team battered down the door and threw in flash-bang devices to disorient anyone inside.

Cpl. Taylor went in first. He wore a bulletproof helmet, vest and shin guards and carried a shield. He found Walker lying on a couch by the door.

"I started challenging the suspect, told him "Sheriff's Office, stop, don't move,"' Taylor recounted in an interview with investigators. "He had eye contact with me, he was looking back over and then what he did was he actually like crawled down toward the end of the couch."

Walker used his right hand and patted the floor under the couch, as if searching for something, Taylor reported. Walker also put a hand in his waistband. Taylor stepped toward Walker and put his foot on his shoulder "to get his attention to let him know I was talking to him."

But Walker reached again under the couch, Taylor said. "I was screaming at him ... "Sheriff's Office, stop don't move,"' Taylor said.

Taylor feared Walker had a gun and was about to pull it out, he told investigators.

"I was just afraid of, you know, action versus reaction," Taylor said. "If he got the gun out he'd pull the trigger and shoot me or somebody else first before I got a chance to stop the threat. So, at that time, I made the decision to stop him."

Taylor fired two shots, as SWAT members are trained to do. Both hit Walker in the back. Taylor put his gun in the holster and helped administer first aid, the Sheriff's Office reported.

The shooting occurred 25 seconds after SWAT team members knocked down the door.

Walker died an hour later at Bayfront Medical Center.

* * *

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Sevell C. Brown III doubted that Taylor's life was in imminent danger.

Brown, president of the Florida chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Taylor's actions, and not the shooting policy, needed further review.

"We have a question, a serious question, about the immediate danger of the officer," Brown said from the steps of City Hall.

Brown called for a more thorough review of Taylor's history with the Sheriff's Office. Taylor wounded a suspect in a Home Depot parking lot in 2000 and in 2004 shot at another suspect along with another deputy. He was cleared of wrongdoing in the incidents.

Taylor, who joined the force in 1998, has received mostly above average reviews from his supervisors.

Brown said he had asked the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officers and the National Police Compliance Center to look into shootings by Pinellas County deputies.

The community needs clarity on the Walker shooting, Brown said, perspective that can only be provided by an agency outside of the St. Petersburg area.

Sheriff Coats pointed out that the FBI is already investigating the Walker shooting for possible civil rights violations. He said the FBI is a "very credible independent reviewer."

Coats said the Sheriff's Office has been open about the review process, allowing outsiders to observe and ask questions of the shooting review board, he said. Coats said he knew that any acknowledgment that the use of force policy was flawed could open the Sheriff's Office up to criticism and potential lawsuits.

"This review is something we need to do," he said. "If we have deficiencies, I think we need to own up to them."

--Times staff writer Emily Anthes contributed to this report. Graham Brink can be reached at 727 893-8406 or brink@sptimes.com

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