Rod wrote:When I first read the story, I thought here we go again. New York cops spray and pray. Now I realize that three people lost their lives (in a sense) that day. The killer (he caused the shooting), the coed, and the cop (who'll never have a normal life now). I sincerely hope he doesn't pull a "man up" and try to get on with life; hopefully, he'll get professional help before he pulls the pin on himself. I agree that he'll be off the force within a year, either quitting or getting a medical.
AYUP - it's VERY common of the guys who get in this situation, and have these results, wind up eating their barrel within several years.
If they can make it past 5 years downstream, it's unlikely they'll eat their barrel because of this incident. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean they won't do it anyway based on everything else they've had to deal with, both; on the job and at home. It's one of the reasons that fifteen years ago, the VAST majority of cops who took a full retirement didn't last more than 5 years past their retirement date - for a variety of reasons (which I don't feel like spelling out right now).
I also hopes he gets professional help and will accept it for the next few YEARS!! Also, I sure hope their department's Peer Support Group (usually established for those officers who've been in a life or death shooting and consisting SOLELY of those officers along with a psychologist) also gets involved, to let him know they are there and to talk to him and have him sort out his feelings and inner turmoil, ESPECIALLY after something as devastating as this might be to a person who BELIEVES they are doing the right thing - and then TRAGEDY!!
