Police Union Backs Officer
KIIITV News
Story Created: May 15, 2009 at 6:15 PM CDT
Story Updated: May 15, 2009 at 6:15 PM CDT
The Corpus Christi Police Officer's Association is defending the officer who was involved in a shooting last weekend that left a Sinton man dead.
A deadly force scenario will never happen in most law enforcement careers, but the association president Mike Staff says in this case, the officer apparently did what he was trained to do.
When a knife wielding suspect approaches an officer the general rule is 21 feet is too close. In this case, police say the suspect was about 10 feet away.
"Think about 10 feet, the distance of a basketball rim, and someone is aggressively approaching you," said Staff. "21 feet is really the envelop of safety for an officer and it's been explained to me that this officer allowed this individual before he had to actually fire a shot."
On Saturday, Officer Justin Sanders a relatively new cop on the force shot and killed a man. Police believe that man, Sylvester Villasana, was armed with a knife as he approached Officer Sanders.
Staff spoke publicly for the first time on this matter Friday. He says it is time for the department to come to the defense of this young officer.
Staff says he spoke to Officer Sanders. He tells us he's in good spirits but is taking the loss of a life very seriously, but wants everyone to understand it was a last resort, he had no other option.
Staff says he spoke to Officer Sanders. He tells us he's in good spirits but is taking the loss of a life very seriously, but wants everyone to understand it was a last resort, he had no other option.
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