Police1 Staff Report
(BOSSIER CITY, La)-- An internal investigation is underway to determine whether police erred in shooting a man outside his mother’s home, believing he might have a bomb.
But as the family of the dead man criticized police for the shooting, Police Chief Danny Dison told reporters that based on an initial investigation, the use of deadly force appeared justified.
Doug. B Miller, 30, a troubled alcoholic who had a history of misdemeanor arrests, was shot to death by two patrol officers outside his mother’s home Monday at 4 p.m. in the Pecan Park subdivision. Police said the officers opened fire after Miller came toward them and refused their orders to stop.
Bossier City Police spokesman Mike Halphen told the Shreveport Times that the officers saw a bulge under Miller’s jacket and believed he might be hiding an explosive device. But Halphen said that no bomb was found on the dead man.
Police have remained tight-lipped about the shooting, refusing to identify the officers involved or how many times Miller, who worked as a handyman at a bar, was shot. They say more details will be revealed when the investigation is complete -- possibly by Friday.
Dison told the newspaper that the shooting will be investigated by both the department’s internal affairs unit and the Bossier Parish District Attorney’s office.
But the use of deadly force has drawn criticism from Kay Miller, the mother of the dead man, who told the newspaper that she told the officers that her son didn’t have any weapon.
“I kept yelling to police that he didn’t have a weapon,” she told the newspaper. “I heard three shots. I don’t see how deadly force was called for in this case.”
Kay Miller had called police to report that her son was drunk and depressed and was threatening to blow up his broken-down car that he had parked in her driveway, The Shreveport Times reported.
The newspaper said that Doug Miller had a drinking problem, having attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and had at least seven misdemeanor convictions from 1990 through this year, mostly for disturbing the peace.