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Police Inivolved Shooting In Dartmouth

6K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  kwflatbed 
#1 ·
DARTMOUTH - The Bristol County District Attorney's Office and state and Dartmouth police are investigating the "police-involved" fatal shooting of a 42-year-old Dartmouth man Tuesday night, DA spokesman Gregg Miliote confirmed. According to Miliote, the man was shot outside 52 Milton St. in South Dartmouth around 9:30 p.m. The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately available. Reports that the man was wielding a knife, or possibly a screwdriver, were under investigation, Miliote said.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090812/NEWS/908119987/-1/TOWN1001
 
#2 ·
42-year-old man shot dead by Dartmouth cop after confrontation


Witness says suspect lived in shack in the woods, was behaving 'irrationally'


Police at the scene of Tuesday night's shooting.Ed Cabral/Standard-Times correspondent

DARTMOUTH - A Dartmouth police officer shot a 42-year-old man dead Tuesday night after a confrontation with the man - armed first with a metal pole with nails protruding from it, then with a screwdriver - on Milton Street, according to investigators.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office and the state police unit assigned to his office are investigating the incident, which occurred around 9:30 p.m. outside a home at 52 Milton St.
According to a news release from the DA's office, Officers Jared White and Scott Brooks responded to Milton Street around 9:15 p.m. after police received calls regarding a person in the neighborhood acting suspiciously.
When the officers arrived, they found Joseph M. Ramos Jr., who was holding a pole with several nails protruding from it.
According to a preliminary investigation, he then armed himself with a silver metal object - later determined to be a screwdriver - and attacked Brooks. As the two struggled, they both fell to the ground, according to the DA's office.
White used his canine counterpart in an attempt to subdue Ramos, to no avail, according to the statement. After Ramos refused to comply with the officers' demands to drop the weapon, White fired a single shot at him, according to the preliminary investigation.
Ramos was transported to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, where he was pronounced dead.
The officers were transported to Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River for observation.
Investigators are interviewing witnesses as they continue to look into the incident.
A witness to the event said Ramos knocked on her Milton Street door last night after 9 p.m., acting irrationally and looking for someone named Mary. The witness, Terri Carter, said she told him no "Mary" lived there.
Carter said Ramos had a tool in his hand that she described as a long pole with metal on the end of it that could be used as a weapon. She said she has lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years and knew of Ramos, who she said had been living in a shack in a wooded area behind her home. She said she hadn't had much interaction with him over the years, but that he had recently begun showing up at their home looking for "Mary".
Carter said after Ramos left her doorway Tuesday night, she and her husband went outside to check on the yard. By that time, police had arrived after being called by a neighbor. She said two officers, one in front of Ramos and one behind him, were talking to him, trying to keep the situation under control.
She said Ramos then pulled out an object and charged one of the officers, causing him to hit his head on an open police cruiser door. She said when the other officer released the police dog, the dog might have actually have bitten the officer struggling with Ramos, which is what allowed Ramos to stand back up.
She said he then charged the other officer, who authorities have identified as White. She said he told Ramos multiple times to "get down" before he drew his weapon and shot him.

42-year-old man shot dead by Dartmouth cop after confrontation | SouthCoastToday.com
 
#3 ·
Very unfortunate! Sounds like a situation none of us want to be in but could easily happen at any moment. Prayers for the officers and Victim both!
 
#4 ·
Man killed by police 'was acting irrational'



PETER PEREIRA/The Standard-Times Dartmouth and state police examine one of the areas that Joseph M. Ramos Jr. spent time at on Milton Street in Dartmouth. Mr. Ramos was shot and killed by Dartmouth police Tuesday evening after he reportedly rushed police with a weapon.

By Curt Brown
cbrown@s-t.com
August 13, 2009 2:00 AM

DARTMOUTH - The Bristol County District Attorney's Office is investigating the death of a 42-year-old Dartmouth man, fatally shot by police after witnesses said he charged at two officers while wielding a screwdriver.
Joseph M. Ramos Jr., a former track star and football player at Dartmouth High School in the mid-1980s, was shot about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday outside 52 Milton St. near the corner of Fifth Street, the District Attorney's Office said.
Ramos was armed with a pole with several nails protruding from it and later a screwdriver when Officers Jared White and Scott Brooks encountered him about 9:15 p.m. in the South Dartmouth neighborhood, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Ramos, who witnesses described as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, 225 pounds and in good physical shape, had apparently dropped the pole before he lunged at Brooks with a screwdriver, officials said. Brooks, a first-year member of the department, was knocked to the ground by Ramos, they said.
The two then struggled on the ground, while White, a 14-year veteran of the department, released his police dog. However, the dog failed to subdue Ramos.
Despite White's repeated commands, Ramos refused to drop the weapon, the District Attorney's Office said, adding that, at some point after that, White fired a single shot and Ramos dropped to the ground.
Ramos was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, where he was pronounced dead.
Milton Street is located off Slocum Road, about a quarter mile from the Dartmouth Police Station.
Terri Carter, who lives on Milton Street, said the incident was touched off when Ramos banged on her door about 9 p.m., "asking for Mary" and later saying there were "rabid animals" in the area.
Carter, who said she has lived in her home for 10 years, said Ramos had also come to her door "a couple of times (earlier) this week," also asking for "Mary."
No "Mary" lives there, Carter said.
Over the years, she recalled seeing Ramos in the neighborhood, sometimes riding a bicycle up and down Milton Street, and said he never bothered anyone but never talked to anyone, either.
But Tuesday night, he was obviously agitated, she said.
Carter said Ramos was armed with a stick with a metal piece on one end that he kept swinging back and forth when he banged on her door. "He was acting irrational," she said, noting she became concerned for her property and went outside after Ramos left.
Police arrived soon after and confronted Ramos with one officer standing in front of him and the other positioned behind Ramos, she said.
Carter said Ramos seemed coherent as he answered officers' questions with his hands in his pockets.
Then suddenly, she said, Ramos pulled something out of his pocket and charged at Brooks. She said the officer struck his head on a cruiser door as he fell to the ground and both he and Ramos went down in a heap.
At that point, White released the police dog, which Carter said bit Brooks, giving Ramos the opportunity to get up and charge at White. Ramos appeared to have something in his hand, she said.
White yelled repeatedly for Ramos to stay on the ground. "Get down, stay down, get down, get down, get down," she recalled the officer saying. "He kept saying it over and over."
"It was so surreal. (Ramos) hadn't said a word for 10 years, not even a wave, and then this," she said.
Police could not confirm Carter's report that the police dog bit an officer. Dartmouth Police Capt. Dennis McGuire said there was considerable confusion at the scene and he did not know if the dog bit the wrong person.
According to court records, Ramos had a criminal record that included prior arrests for marijuana and cocaine possession, trespassing, larceny, assault and battery and disturbing the peace. Most of those charges were dismissed. He was twice placed on probation for drug-related offenses.
Ramos had not been arrested in Massachusetts since 1998, when he was charged with breaking and entering in the nighttime. The case was continued without a finding, court records show.
What happened to change his life so dramatically is a mystery. At Dartmouth High School, Ramos was a standout long and triple jumper and a high and intermediate hurdler.
"He was a very good performer at track," said Bill Kavanaugh, his former coach. "He was a natural. He was a big kid. He had great legs."
Ramos was also "an extremely pleasant kid to coach. He was always smiling. He was a pleasure," said Kavanaugh, an assistant football coach at Dartmouth High when Ramos was a running back and defensive end there.
After graduating from Dartmouth High, Ramos attended Northeastern University, Kavanaugh said.
"That's the last I heard of him," he said.
Neighbors said Ramos lived in a rundown home on Milton Street, owned by the Ramos family and down the street from Carter's home. Shingles on the house are worn and falling off, the windows are knocked out and the property is overgrown with vegetation.
However, Paul J. Andrews, a Boston attorney who represents the Ramos family, said Ramos didn't live there, that he lived with his father, Joseph Ramos Sr., sister and brother at 14 Milton St. Andrews called Joseph Jr. "the caretaker" for the rundown property.
The Ramos family allowed the media to view the rear of the property where there were two bicycles, bottles of water, a couch, chairs and a wheelbarrow in plain view on a back porch or in the rear yard.
The attorney said state and Dartmouth police got a search warrant for the property and took some items.
Describing the Ramos family as "upset and distraught," Andrews said they do not know the facts of the shooting and are trying to learn what led to it.
But from the family's perspective, "there had to be another way" to resolve the situation, Andrews said.
Andrews said he could shed no light on neighbors' reports of erratic behavior.
McGuire said White and Brooks, the officers involved in the shooting, are currently on paid administrative leave, pending the completion of an internal investigation and a separate investigation by the District Attorney's Office.
He said they were taken Tuesday night to Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. Brooks was treated for scrapes and bruises suffered in the struggle with Ramos and White was seen for stress related to the incident.
Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, said an autopsy will be performed and toxicology tests will be conducted, with the results of the investigation announced when it is completed.

Staff writer Brian Fraga contributed to this report.

Man killed by police 'was acting irrational' | SouthCoastToday.com
 
#9 ·
Very unfortunate! Sounds like a situation none of us want to be in but could easily happen at any moment. Prayers for the officers and Victim both!
Victim, what do you mean??
Fuck the victim he got what he deserved!!!!
Hopefully the two officers are well and have no other difficulties.
Scott and Jared did what we are trained to do, stop the threat!!! They have the right to go home to their family at the end of their shift.
 
#13 ·
Seems like a ground ball. Even the civilian witnesses are saying they saw the suspect charge the officers! I'm thrilled they are both in good health.

Chief Wiggins if ya wanna bring either one of those guys by my house let me know! They will always be welcomed here!!!
 
#14 ·
Police chief says officers were given no choice in fatal shooting

The family of Joseph M. Ramos Jr. (left) said he had a neurological condition that weakened his legs.

By John R. Ellement

Globe Staff / August 14, 2009

Dartmouth's police chief said yesterday that a fatal confrontation between his officers and an armed man Tuesday night happened too fast for nonlethal weapons to be used.

DiscussCOMMENTS (6)

But the lawyer for the family of Joseph M. Ramos Jr. said that Ramos had a neurological condition that weakened his legs, leading the family to question whether use of deadly force was justified.

Ramos was fatally shot by Officer Jared White Tuesday around 9:30 p.m. after Ramos allegedly charged into another officer, Scott Brooks, knocking Brooks to the ground, said the office of Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter II and a witness.

Ramos was armed with a screwdriver, prosecutors said. White deployed a police dog, but the dog attacked Brooks instead, according to prosecutors and a witness, Terri Carter.

The dog was called off, but Ramos, according to Carter, got off the ground and charged toward White, who fired once. Ramos was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford around 10 p.m.

Chief Mark Pacheco said yesterday that his officers are issued .45-caliber Glock handguns, pepper spray, and a collapsible baton, but do not carry electric stun guns. He said that on Tuesday the officers never had a chance to use the pepper spray, which they carry on their duty belts.

"There was just no way of getting it out in time,'' Pacheco said. "The suspect was already on them. He was already attacking the officer. It was a bang-bang type of situation.''

But Ramos family lawyer Jeffrey Denner of Boston said yesterday that the family is skeptical of police assertions that the only course of action they could have taken was to shoot the 42-year-old Ramos. "We continue to investigate why the use of lethal force was felt to be necessary,'' Denner said.

Pacheco said the police dog attacked Brooks because the officer was entangled with Ramos.

"I don't think the dog could distinguish which one he was supposed to go after,'' Pacheco said. "Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't.''

The chief said the two officers were shaken by the fatal shooting, which he said was the first in the department's history. He said Brooks was hired as a full-time officer last year and that White has been on the force since 1995.

Pacheco said the officers were being questioned for the first time yesterday about the shooting, which is the subject of an investigation by Sutter's office and an internal affairs inquiry by Pacheco's department.

"The officers are traumatized,'' Pacheco said. "It was an officer's worst nightmare, pulling their weapons. They are dealing with it the best they can. They are both seeking counseling. And they are both on paid administrative leave right now.''

In a separate interview, Denner said Ramos's family questioned why police used deadly force on a man who had lived most of his adult life on the street where he was shot and was known to be eccentric, but not violent. One issue that has sparked concern is a chronic medical condition the family says afflicted Ramos.

Denner said the chronic disease "certainly made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to get up again in short order or to pose a further threat to anyone.''

According to Denner, Ramos had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neurological disorder that weakens a patient's leg muscles, among other symptoms.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website, the disease is one of the most common neurological disorders and is incurable. Patients often must use braces to support their legs or hands in some cases.

"A typical feature includes weakness of the foot and lower leg muscles, which may result in foot drop and a high-stepped gait with frequent tripping or falls,'' according to the institute.

Denner said his office is seeking Ramos's medical records.

Gregg Miliote, Sutter's spokesman, said Ramos's physical condition is one of the issues that will be examined by prosecutors and State Police as they investigate the case. He said ballistics and toxicology tests are being conducted.

"We will be investigating everything,'' he said. "It's a wide-ranging and thorough investigation/''

Police chief says officers given no choice in fatal shooting - The Boston Globe
 
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