BoneheadNW
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To have to make split-second, life and death decisions is not a job I would want, or could do. Sure, there are some situations where my job has life or death type decisions, but they are not based on potential violent actions of another person. Read below.
Bone
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SEATTLE -- A 13-year-old boy was shot early Sunday morning after refusing to obey an officer and reaching into his pocket for a phone, which the officer mistook for a weapon.
Seattle Police Sgt. Deanna Nollette said the boy was shot in the leg. The teen was taken to Harborview Medical Center where he was expected to recover.
The shooting occurred just after 3 a.m. near the intersection of 26th and South Washington.
Nollette said the officer was on routine patrol when he encountered two teens who he thought were behaving suspiciously. When he approached, the two ran off.
He found them again a short time later and ordered both to stop. One of the boys complied, but Nollette said the other threw off his jacket and refused to show the officer his hands.
The teen allegedly walked toward the officer and reached into his pocket and began to pull out a black cell phone, at which point the officer fired twice.
Nollette said the officer did not know it was a phone and thought it was a weapon.
"It's a horrible situation to put an officer or anybody, an officer in this particular case who's in a full uniform, marked patrol car, he's making a reasonable demand for someone to just show their hands," said Deputy Chief John Diaz.
"And then you have one person comply and one being very agitated and unwilling to follow instructions. They don't have a lot of time to make a decision."
The officer, a 3-year veteran of the department, was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure any time an officer fires a weapon in the line of duty.
The other boy, who Nollette said is 14 years old, was interviewed and released to his parents.
Officials said the boy admitted to investigators that he and the wounded boy had been spraying graffiti on buildings in the area.
Nollette said the department's shooting review board would be investigating the incident.