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Utah police to review deadly force in standoff
Utah police standoff ends in tragedy
By Aaron Falk
Deseret Morning News
FARMINGTON, Utah — SWAT team members surrounded a Roy home where a man had barricaded himself after a domestic dispute Tuesday.
A negotiator made contact and options were weighed. In the tense moments, the question was how would it end?
A day earlier, the Davis County SWAT team had converged on Brian Wood, a 36-year-old firefighter who had fired a gun at a garbage can during an argument with his wife. The standoff lasted 12 hours and ended with gunfire.
Tuesday, however, police got the ending they hoped for as the man in Roy stepped outside after two hours of negotiations.
These incidents a day apart have ignited a discussion around the state about how SWAT teams handle standoffs.
Wood’s friends have said the man was provoked by police too anxious to end a delicate situation. But the former commander of the Ogden Metro SWAT team said the biggest variable in any standoff is the man with the gun.
“Here’s the underlying thing that everybody misjudges or doesn’t realize: We have no control over the actions of the individual. None,” said Ogden Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt. “When we arrive on the scene, we hope for the best. We hope the person sees the light and no one is injured, but we don’t control that.
“The suspect makes the decision how it will end,” Watt added.
The Wood incident was the third SWAT standoff in Utah this year to end with police shooting and killing the person.
In January, South Salt Lake police shot and killed Ross Sullivan after he swung a sword at officers at the end of a 90-minute standoff. And last month, Gregory Martin Lamb was shot and killed during a 90-minute standoff in Cache County.
The officers involved in the latter two incidents have been legally cleared in the shootings. But in all cases, friends and family members have said police forced the issue and caused more harm than good.
“They came running in like a posse,” said Karen Martin, Lamb’s aunt. “What was your big hurry? This was a person’s life. Ninety minutes was too long?”
After his wife and 10-year-old son ran from the house, Wood left his home and holed up inside his pickup truck Monday night. Nonlethal means -- tear gas and flash bangs -- were used because Farmington Police Chief Wayne Hansen said he believed his officers had a chance to take the man safely into custody.
But some said actions taken by police escalated the situation and caused Wood’s death.
“I just thought it was horrible,” said Farmington resident Wade Lake, who watched police close in on Wood. “Just like someone tormenting an animal in a cage.”
In the death of both Lamb and Wood, friends and family members say that if only they could have spoken to the man with the gun, maybe things would have turned out differently.
There is no template
SWAT team members are chosen because of their physical and mental toughness, Watt said. They undergo extensive and continuing training through their careers to be ready for a number of stressful situations.
A standoff with someone who has barricaded himself inside a home is one of the toughest, Watt said.
“A lot of people suggest you don’t handle that call,” he said. “But how do you not? We have a moral and ethical obligation to that person and society. Because when that doesn’t cause the attention or contact they’re seeking, they find another way. ... That puts us in a situation where things can get ugly fast.”
A trained negotiator, and often a psychologist, begins attempting to reach the barricaded suspect. Based on those talks, it is up to the SWAT commander how things advance, Watt said.
“There’s no template,” he said.
In an interview with the Deseret News last week, Watt said a number of factors determine how police handle a standoff. Time and money are among them.
“How long do we inconvenience all the other people who live in the area?” Watt asked. “How long do we keep kids tied up in the school? How long do we keep businesses shut down? These things don’t happen in a vacuum.
“No police department I know of has a cash account that will pay for these things until they’re resolved,” he added.
But ultimately it is up to the person how the situation ends.
“We don’t choose the timeline,” Watt said. “The suspect chooses the timeline.”
If a negotiator does not believe progress is being made with the person, as was the case in Farmington, nonlethal force can be used to move the talks along.
“We’ll break a window or two, or knock a door off the hinges,” Watt said. “It shows the police are going to take some action. More often than not, the guy picks up the phone.”
He said more often than not, it ends peacefully -- but not always.
‘I’m gonna die tonight’
The two men were talking on the telephone for more than an hour about fly fishing and The Cure, skateboarding and their children.
“I really do, I actually trust you and I, I really like talking to you,” one of them said. “The thing is though, I don’t trust the 100 peace officers around my house.”
Gregory Martin Lamb, 28, was an alcoholic, and on Aug. 16 he had been drinking whiskey in the basement of his parent’s home in Hyde Park, a tiny town just north of Logan.
His father had called police that afternoon and said, “My son is threatening our lives and we want him out of here,” according to a report from the Cache County Attorney’s Office.
A SWAT team arrived at the home and a negotiator, Logan Police Capt. Eric Collins, talked with Lamb for more than 90 minutes, trying to persuade him to come outside without his guns.
“Well, let me tell you something, Greg,” Collins said, according to a transcript provided by the county attorney. “It’s your choice if you want to be around, if you want to be around for your son. It’s your choice, but I think that, I think that your son deserves that.”
“I’m absolutely not going to be,” Lamb replied. “I’m gonna die tonight.”
Collins kept talking with the man, hoping to wear him down.
“Are you guys going to sit out there all night?” Lamb asked Collins.
“Well, as long as it takes, buddy. I’m gonna sit on the phone with you until the cows come home. I’m not goin’ ....”
“Till the llamas come along, huh.”
“The llamas, yeah.”
“We got two new goats from the fair yesterday.”
“You got new goats from the fair?”
“Yeah. For (my child). He wanted them, so ....”
“Well that’s awesome. Who’s gonna teach him how to take care of the goats?”
“Obviously not me.”
A few minutes later, Lamb crawled out of the basement window and was met by a half dozen police officers. According to the county attorney’s report, Lamb had a handgun raised above his head and lowered it when the officers ordered him to stop.
Six officers fired about 20 shots in less than two seconds, killing Lamb.
‘Shots fired, shots fired’
There was a moment during their conversation when Collins told another officer he thought he could go inside the home and talk with Lamb, according to the transcript. And when the call of “shots fired” came over the radio, Collins just cursed.
Gunshots are not the sounds any police officer wants to hear at the end of a standoff, Watt said.
“No SWAT officer I know wants to kill anybody,” he said. “He’s hoping to avoid it at all costs.”
For Martin, that cost would have included using nonlethal weapons such as Tasers and rubber bullets to subdue her nephew.
But Watt said there is no guarantee those options will work in all instances. And there are too many cases of “suicide by cop” for police to not take a man with a gun seriously.
“If he points the firearm and we don’t shoot, he’s got to jack it up to the next level,” Watt said. “I don’t want to explain to a spouse or a child that we waited to see if he would pull the trigger.”
In Farmington, Watt said he understands there will be plenty of scrutiny while a community heals.
“There are a lot of decisions that have to be made,” he said of any standoff. “They’re not easy and they’re not popular.”
Copyright 2008 Deseret Morning News