From the Democrat & Chronicle: "Ex-wife: Suspect a nonviolent man" [full txt]

From the D&C archives: http://roc.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111015/news01/110150330/Hayden-Blackman-s-ex-wife-says-he-nonviolent

Ex-wife: Suspect a nonviolent man

Author: Freile, Victoria; Ramos, Nestor; Dobbin, Sean

http://search.proquest.com/docview/898407096?accountid=47680

Abstract: [...] the attacker must display intent to do physical harm. [...] they must possess the capability -- either the physical strength or ability to operate that weapon -- to follow through.

Full text: The ex-wife of a 43-year-old man who was shot and killed by Rochester police Thursday night said her ex-husband -- still a close friend -- was a generous, nonviolent man who laughed and joked with her even as they filed their divorce paperwork.

Hayden O. Blackman was shot to death in a second-floor apartment at 181 Columbia Ave. after officers responded to a 911 call involving a domestic dispute, according to Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard. Police on Friday identified the officer who fired the shots as Randy Book, a 25-year-old who has been on the force for 4 1/2 years.

Antonia Salters Blackman said her ex-husband was shot in the home he shared with his new wife, whom he married over the summer.

Sheppard said officers found Blackman, who lived in the upstairs apartment, holding a six-inch folding knife and threatening his 16-year-old stepson. The officers remained in the doorway of the apartment and directed Blackman to drop the knife several times, Sheppard said.

Blackman refused and turned toward the officers, Sheppard said. One officer fired multiple times, after which Blackman was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 12:34 a.m. Sheppard declined to say how many times or where in the body Blackman was shot.

Blackman's wife and 12-year-old stepdaughter, who police say met the officers at the door, were also in the residence when the shooting occurred, though no other injuries were reported.

Salters Blackman and Blackman's aunt, Sandra Blackman, said they were shocked by the circumstances of his death, because of his gentle personality.

"When Hayden and I married, I had two children already," Salters Blackman said. "He never raised his voice at my children. He never raised his hand to my children. He wasn't that kind of person."

She and her ex-husband, who worked at a tool and die shop in the city, remained friendly after their divorce earlier this year, talking on the phone often. Hayden Blackman remarried in July, she said, despite "ongoing issues between Hayden and the son" of his new wife, with whom Salters Blackman said she is also friendly.

She said she did not understand how something like this could have happened, and found it difficult to believe the man she knew would have threatened somebody with a knife.

"Everybody is making him look like he was crazy. He was not a crazy person," Salters Blackman said.

Book will be on administrative leave while the department completes an internal and criminal investigation of the shooting, and Sheppard said the shooting "fell within the department parameters of officer training" to be considered justified.

But a neighbor who watched the officers enter the residence questioned the police's version of events. Darryl Phillips Jr., 23, said that less than two seconds passed between the time the officers ascended the stairs to the second-floor apartment and the first gunshots.

"As soon as they pulled up, they banged on the door and said 'We're coming in,'" said Phillips, who watched the police arrive through his front window at 172 Columbia Ave.

"By the time I went to leave the room to go outside -- and I was running because I was being nosy -- 'Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!'"

Phillips, who said he heard five gunshots, also doubted that warnings were given prior to the shots being fired. He said he heard the footsteps of police as they climbed the stairs, and suspected that he therefore would have heard a warning had one been issued.

"I never heard from in the house, 'Put down the weapon,'" he said.

Sheppard said the man had been told to drop the knife several times.

But there is nothing that says police must issue any warning at all before discharging their weapons, said Greece Police Chief Todd Baxter. Greece police shot and killed Ontario Boulevard resident Paul Miller in December 2009.

Baxter's department was not involved in the incident at 181 Columbia Ave., but he said that officers are trained to the use of deadly physical force when they sense an "imminent threat" to either themselves or a third party.

Three conditions must be satisfied for a threat to be considered imminent, said Baxter.

First, the attacker must display intent to do physical harm. Second, they must have the means to inflict that damage, which often means a weapon. Third, they must possess the capability -- either the physical strength or ability to operate that weapon -- to follow through.

Officers are trained to look for these three conditions before using deadly physical force, but they may have only seconds to make their decision, said Baxter, and they may not have time to issue a warning before doing so.

Additionally, when attempting to subdue a threat, officers are always trained to aim for "center mass," or the center of a person's body, when firing, said Baxter.
Sheppard declined to give an exact distance between police and Blackman but said it was "significantly less" than 21 feet.

"When dealing with an armed subject who has a knife, the distance we refer to is a 21-foot rule," said Sheppard. "With a holstered weapon, the time it takes an officer to draw his weapon and engage a threat, he needs a distance of 21 feet."

It was not clear whether Book fired because of danger to the 16-year-old or to himself or fellow officers.

Sheppard offered his condolences to Blackman's family, "regardless of the circumstances" of his death.

When the shooting occurred, it was the second time that police had been called to the apartment Friday night.

Officers were first called to the scene about 10 p.m., when police intervened in a dispute between Blackman's 12-year-old stepdaughter and his 16-year-old stepson. Sheppard said the youths were home alone at the time and officers were at the scene for about an hour. He said the officers believed they had resolved the argument.

Police were called back to the apartment at 11:30 p.m. Sheppard said police did not know Blackman was armed with a knife until they arrived.

Sheppard said he was not aware of police being called to the residence before last night.

The results of the investigation will be turned over to the Monroe County District Attorney's Office to be reviewed by a grand jury.

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com
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