01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 28, 2007
By John Castellucci
Journal Staff Writer
PAWTUCKET - Police officers called to the scene of a break-in on Coyle Avenue yesterday shot and killed a burglary suspect, hitting the suspect several times.
Pawtucket police investigate and videotape the driveway between two buildings on Coyle Street where an officer shot and killed an armed robbery suspect yesterday.
The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez
The man was shot in the driveway of the multifamily house at 62 Coyle Ave. after the police arrived in response to a report of a burglary in progress and the suspect brandished a semiautomatic handgun, according to Maj. John J. Whiting, the officer in charge of the detectives division.
"A struggle ensued. Shots were fired," Whiting told reporters around 4 p.m. yesterday. "He was brought to the hospital and we've since received word that he's deceased."
The shooting, coming a day after another member of the Police Department shot and killed a carjacking suspect, raised the question whether Pawtucket officers are too quick to use their firearms.
"Absolutely not," Whiting said. "Our officers are very well trained and they use the utmost discretion."
"This was a man with a gun. He confronted other people with the gun prior to police arriving," Whiting said.
Harvey E. Goulet Jr., the city's director of administration, said that if the officers who confronted the suspect had hesitated, "we could be sitting here talking about a police murder."
Whiting declined to name the officers or identify the burglary suspect.
He said the incident was still being investigated and the police were still notifying the suspect's next of kin.
However, neighbors identified the suspect as 34-year-old Jason S. Audette and said he grew up in the neighborhood and had family in the area.
"He was a good person. A good person to hang around with," said Brenda Veveiros, 40, of 45 Clark Ave.
She said she believed the police use of deadly force was unnecessary.
"Granted, he was breaking into the house. But don't shoot him in the chest. Shoot him in the legs," she said.
Tracey Poole, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said Audette was released on bail last Saturday after spending three weeks at the Adult Correctional Institutions on charges that he violated the probation that he received on convictions for driving while his license was suspended, burglary, robbery and felony domestic assault.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said that, like Thursday's fatal shooting of the carjacking suspect, yesterday's shooting will be investigated by both the state police and the Pawtucket police, then referred to the attorney general for review.
"Because there's a fatality involved, it will most likely go to the grand jury to determine if the police officers' actions were justified or not," Michael J. Healey said.
"In this instance, the officers involved had to make a split-second decision under literally life-or-death pressure. That's certainly a factor at an ultimate determination. But that doesn't mean our review of it will be anything less than the fine-tooth-comb treatment," Healey said.
In Thursday morning's fatal shooting of the carjacking suspect, Pawtucket Patrolman Derrick Smith fired several shots at Bridget DeGrafft, 49, of Attleboro, when DeGrafft allegedly tried to run him down on Route 10 in Cranston, where Smith and state troopers had pursued her following reports that she had hijacked a car at knifepoint in Attleboro.
State Trooper Douglas Watters had opened fire on DeGrafft seconds earlier when she also tried to run him down, state police Maj. Steven O'Donnell said.
Smith, a Pawtucket police officer for four years, fired at least one other round at DeGrafft, O'Donnell said, after the stolen car was finally stopped at the Jefferson Boulevard exit on Route 95 and Smith and two other police officers used their cruisers to box her in.
According to O'Donnell, Smith, who is believed to have fired the fatal shot, discharged his weapon when DeGrafft violently jerked the car back and forth, pinning him between the car and his police cruiser and injuring his legs.
Police Chief George L. Kelley III said Smith's use of deadly force appears to have been appropriate.
"I don't have all the reports on it, but from the look of it, he followed all our procedures," Kelley said.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/PAWTUCKET_COP_SHOOTING_07-28-07_M56HQ92.3793b0a.html
By John Castellucci
Journal Staff Writer
PAWTUCKET - Police officers called to the scene of a break-in on Coyle Avenue yesterday shot and killed a burglary suspect, hitting the suspect several times.
Pawtucket police investigate and videotape the driveway between two buildings on Coyle Street where an officer shot and killed an armed robbery suspect yesterday.
The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez
The man was shot in the driveway of the multifamily house at 62 Coyle Ave. after the police arrived in response to a report of a burglary in progress and the suspect brandished a semiautomatic handgun, according to Maj. John J. Whiting, the officer in charge of the detectives division.
"A struggle ensued. Shots were fired," Whiting told reporters around 4 p.m. yesterday. "He was brought to the hospital and we've since received word that he's deceased."
The shooting, coming a day after another member of the Police Department shot and killed a carjacking suspect, raised the question whether Pawtucket officers are too quick to use their firearms.
"Absolutely not," Whiting said. "Our officers are very well trained and they use the utmost discretion."
"This was a man with a gun. He confronted other people with the gun prior to police arriving," Whiting said.
Harvey E. Goulet Jr., the city's director of administration, said that if the officers who confronted the suspect had hesitated, "we could be sitting here talking about a police murder."
Whiting declined to name the officers or identify the burglary suspect.
He said the incident was still being investigated and the police were still notifying the suspect's next of kin.
However, neighbors identified the suspect as 34-year-old Jason S. Audette and said he grew up in the neighborhood and had family in the area.
"He was a good person. A good person to hang around with," said Brenda Veveiros, 40, of 45 Clark Ave.
She said she believed the police use of deadly force was unnecessary.
"Granted, he was breaking into the house. But don't shoot him in the chest. Shoot him in the legs," she said.
Tracey Poole, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said Audette was released on bail last Saturday after spending three weeks at the Adult Correctional Institutions on charges that he violated the probation that he received on convictions for driving while his license was suspended, burglary, robbery and felony domestic assault.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said that, like Thursday's fatal shooting of the carjacking suspect, yesterday's shooting will be investigated by both the state police and the Pawtucket police, then referred to the attorney general for review.
"Because there's a fatality involved, it will most likely go to the grand jury to determine if the police officers' actions were justified or not," Michael J. Healey said.
"In this instance, the officers involved had to make a split-second decision under literally life-or-death pressure. That's certainly a factor at an ultimate determination. But that doesn't mean our review of it will be anything less than the fine-tooth-comb treatment," Healey said.
In Thursday morning's fatal shooting of the carjacking suspect, Pawtucket Patrolman Derrick Smith fired several shots at Bridget DeGrafft, 49, of Attleboro, when DeGrafft allegedly tried to run him down on Route 10 in Cranston, where Smith and state troopers had pursued her following reports that she had hijacked a car at knifepoint in Attleboro.
State Trooper Douglas Watters had opened fire on DeGrafft seconds earlier when she also tried to run him down, state police Maj. Steven O'Donnell said.
Smith, a Pawtucket police officer for four years, fired at least one other round at DeGrafft, O'Donnell said, after the stolen car was finally stopped at the Jefferson Boulevard exit on Route 95 and Smith and two other police officers used their cruisers to box her in.
According to O'Donnell, Smith, who is believed to have fired the fatal shot, discharged his weapon when DeGrafft violently jerked the car back and forth, pinning him between the car and his police cruiser and injuring his legs.
Police Chief George L. Kelley III said Smith's use of deadly force appears to have been appropriate.
"I don't have all the reports on it, but from the look of it, he followed all our procedures," Kelley said.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/PAWTUCKET_COP_SHOOTING_07-28-07_M56HQ92.3793b0a.html