Elbert Aull, Staff Writer
Copyright 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
SANFORD- Two Sanford Police officers have returned to duty as they await the outcome of investigations into whether they were legally justified when they shot a woman during a standoff in May. The two were placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting on Sunset Road, which sent the 26-year-old woman to the hospital and triggered mandatory investigations.
Officers Richard Bucklin and Scott Foisy returned to duty without restriction Friday, a week after they shot Jillian Daniels, saying she had threatened them with a weapon. Daniels, who survived the incident, has been taken to a New Hampshire jail.
Two reports on whether the officers’ use of force was legal are still in the works - one from the department and one from the Attorney General’s Office, which is required to investigate when police use deadly force. Those reports are still weeks away, police said.
The decision to put officers back to work does not suggest anything about the status of the attorney general’s investigation, spokesman Chuck Dow said.
Criminal justice experts said it is not uncommon for police officers in Maine to return to duty while they are being investigated.
Bucklin and Foisy fired at Daniels after a standoff at her grandmother’s Sunset Road home early May 26.
The officers were working a plainclothes detail and knew Daniels had an outstanding arrest warrant in New Hampshire, police said.
The two saw Daniels at the home around 12:45 a.m. but called in a crisis negotiator and set up a spotlight when she wouldn’t come outside, they said.
Police say Daniels had a weapon and threatened officers before they opened fire.
Daniels “either intended to commit suicide or attempt `suicide-by-cop’ by using deadly force against the police,” according to a police statement issued the day of the shooting.
Police have not released a more detailed description of Daniels’ actions, her weapon or her injuries. She was released from the hospital last week, taken to the York County Jail and extradited to New Hampshire on Friday.
She was being held at the Hillsborough County jail on a charge of probation violation Tuesday.
It is unclear what charges she will face in New Hampshire before she returns to Maine to answer charges of creating a police standoff and criminal threatening with a firearm.
Phone messages to both the county attorney and public defender’s offices were not returned.
Daniels’ family members declined to comment Tuesday.
Sanford police officers involved in shootings are required to attend a counseling session before returning to work, said Maj. Gordon Littlefield.
In Maine, local departments set administrative leave requirements. Therefore, it is not unusual for officers to return to duty while they are the subject of internal investigations, said William McClaran, a former Portland police chief and now a criminal justice professor at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.
“It could be some time, depending on the complexity of the situation, before the investigation is complete,” McClaran said.
There is no standard for an accepted length of time for administrative leave after an officer shoots a suspect, but most departments have policies similar to Sanford’s, McClaran said.
Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 324-4888 or at:
eaull@pressherald.com
June 7, 2006