Man who struck cops with car gets 2 1/2 years
By Sara Withee / Daily News Staff
Friday, April 21, 2006
A 50-year-old man who triggered police shots last fall when he hit two Bellingham cops trying to arrest him went to jail this week for 2 1/2 years.
David W. Mitchell pleaded guilty Wednesday to five charges in Worcester Superior Court, including two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of operating under the influence of drugs, one count of resisting arrest and one count of operating to endanger, according to Elizabeth Stammo, spokeswoman for Worcester District Attorney John Conte.
Judge Frances A. McIntyre accepted a plea deal that sent Mitchell to the Worcester House of Correction for 2 1/2 years. The sentence included concurrent terms of 2 1/2 years on four charges and a two-year term, also concurrent, for the operating to endanger charge, Stammo said.
"That sounds like a good disposition to me," Bellingham Police Capt. Gerard Corriveau said yesterday.
The disposition stems from Sept. 1, when Bellingham Police Officers John McLaughlin and Ken Jones fired more than a dozen rounds from their .40 caliber Berettas -- the first time a Bellingham Police officer had had to resort to such force since 1999.
McLaughlin and Jones went to serve Mitchell a warrant for drug offenses at the Countryside Motel on Rte. 140, where he apparently had been staying for the past few months.
They found Mitchell, a tree service employee, in his parked Saab outside the motel, where police say he was under the influence of crack cocaine and methadone and began to drive off when the officers approached on foot.
Jones was hit first in the leg, then McLaughlin. Mitchell kept driving as the officers began shooting to stop him and finally was stopped after hitting a parked truck and ripping across the motel’s lawn.
Neither of the two officers suffered major injuries and both returned to work days later as state police attached to the district attorney’s office conducted the standard investigation into the shooting.
Corriveau said the report is finished and found the officers’ actions justified.
"These guys had a decision they had to make in a split second: whether or not they were to open fire on this guy and in this split second, it was evident to them they had no other alternative," Corriveau said. "And that follows the law."
But the report is being incorporated into the department’s training and made some suggestions for improvement, he added.
"They followed what they thought was the right thing to do and for the most part, we don’t disagree with that...We think based on the circumstances that day, there could be some different ways of handling it, so we’re going to apply it into the training," Corriveau said.
Corriveau stressed his officers were in a situation where a vehicle was coming at them and both have strong gun skills.
Jones has been on the department for four years and McLaughlin for three, but both came on with prior gun knowledge, Corriveau said. McLaughlin was in the Marines and Jones had recreational experience.
"In this case, these guys could certainly be classified as top notch firearm handlers," he said. "If there was a shooting situation, these would certainly be two officers I would be comfortable with because of their knowledge of shooting and firearms. That was a plus and helped here."
Finally another one for the Blue team!! Isn't it pathetic though, it seams that anything over 6 months is pretty much considered a "win".
Posted by: SGT_GRUNT_USMC
2 1/2 years for trying to kill a cop.What F*ucking Bullsh*t.
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