Skill Set: Post Shooting Procedures

[SeekHer]

From The Tactical Wire:

Skill Set: Post Shooting Procedures
Editor's Note: Tiger is off-duty this week, taking a well-deserved rest. Editor Rich Grassi takes his place today with an examination of how to prepare for the immediate moments after the shooting stops. Author of the police firearms instructor text Police Firearms Instruction: Problems and Practices, Rich has been a certified instructor of police for 26 years.

When you watch a drama in motion pictures or television and there is a gunfight depicted, when the last empty cartridge case hits the ground the hero sighs, sometimes makes a light-hearted remark, holsters the smoking gun and marches on. When you saw that, did you reflect on how silly that is?

We saw real gunfights with the advent of patrol car cameras. Seeing those, we realized our training was no better than motion picture "entertainment." Think about the range: Targets turn, you draw, fired a prescribed number of rounds into the hapless paper figure, the targets turn away and you reholster - or do what the instructor says.

It's not that way on the street. Looking at the patrol car video of the murder of South Carolina Trooper Mark Coates told us that.

The Coates incident showed a trooper in a physical struggle with a grotesquely obese motorist - a fight that started when the trooper went to pat him down for weapons. The fight went to the ground - as they often do - and the offender came up with a small caliber gun, which he fired into the trooper's chest. Tpr. Coates, hit on the armor, got a shot off from his S&W .357 Magnum revolver which was the only round he fired that missed. It zipped close enough by the offender's head you could see him recoil from the passing bullet.

Coates got up, shot on the move backing out, four rounds, getting four hits. Coates stopped, reached up to his mic that was clipped to his shirt, and began to call it in. This opened the side vent of his armor. The cop killer fired one shot from the ground. It entered between the panels and went into the pump. Trp. Coates flinched as he fired one-handed, again striking the grounded suspect. He then ran around the car, putting it between him and danger. Hearing his last words as he cried out into the radio was horrifying. You never want to hear it.

At the bottom of the picture, you could see the obese murderer trying to get his gun to work to shoot again.

It wasn't the first time we'd known this was a problem. We didn't teach or practice a solution. Motorola Teleprograms Inc. did a training film "Survival Shooting Techniques" in 1979! It was prepared by the team that later became Calibre Press and made the ground-breaking training film "Surviving Edged Weapons."

In the older film, the narrator talks you through the moments after a shooting. "After a shooting," he says, "you'll be hyper. You'll want to rush right up and handcuff him."

Don't. They go on to show and tell why, recommending that you pause, give yourself a ten-count, slow your breathing.

"If I don't rush up there and give first aid, I'll get sued," the officer says.

You fired shots at someone. You will get sued. Get over it.

"I need to call in on the radio right away," another says. When the only thing between you and a deadly predator is air, chatting with people who aren't on the scene is counterproductive. What do we do?

Creativity and critical thinking isn't likely during or immediately after a potentially deadly experience, so we plan and think it out now and drill to make it reflexive.

First, COVER. If you've had the drawing of the gun, let alone shots being fired, get to cover at the first opportunity. Cover is something that stops, slows or diverts gunfire. Very little in our society is constructed to do that. If your approach is proper, you will have been selecting cover items as you go along. Move to the closest, strongest cover.

Once there, you have time. Take that time to RELOAD. Inherent in the task of the reload is checking the condition of the piece to ensure it's ready to fight if the battle isn't over - like if the offender has reinforcements you haven't seen. While in RELOAD, slow your breathing. Make it slow, deep, rhythmic. This slows the heart rate and oxygenates the system. This has a calming effect, reducing the jittery effect of adrenaline.

During or immediately after RELOAD, SCAN for other dangers. Predators tend to travel in packs, so look out for his buddies. Scanning is looking for something, don't make it a ritual head-turning. LOOK. Look to the front, sides, back. Look up and down, where relevant. If you have COVER, done the RELOAD and the SCAN, it's time for self-assessment. You need to determine if you are injured.

Don't brush this off; people have been shot and stabbed and not realized it. The moments you waste talking on radios and standing in the open can be used with getting behind something solid and patting yourself down; a "leak check," if you will.

When we have COVER, RELOAD, SCAN, and LEAK CHECK, now it's time to COMMUNICATE. Communicate to dispatch, by radio if on the job or by cell if you are nonsworn or off-duty.

First aid to the injured? We do that as soon as safely possible.

Remember: COVER-RELOAD-SCAN-LEAK CHECK-COMMUNICATE. Don't stand out in the open, talking on a radio or cell phone. Don't let Trooper Coates' sacrifice be in vain. Have and practice a good post shooting procedure.

(This column, and the training it describes, is done in respectful memory of Mark Coates, SCHP.)

[Rumpshot]

Not being a LEO or having been involved in a situation described above, I have a couple of comments.

When I was a youngster going hunting with the big guys, I was taught that it did not matter what we were hunting, once it was down, RELOAD, then approach with caution. Deer and Antelope both have sharp hooves and pointy things on their head that will cause extreme pain and injury. Coyotes, rabbits, raccoons, etc have sharp teeth and will cause extreme pain and injury. All of the above may not be dead when they go down. All of the above may injure you with the twitches of death. I was taught to ensure the game was dead and then be very cautious until it had been bled out completely. This was the most humane way to harvest wild game and protect myself at the same time.

Now why would someone approach the most deadly game of all with any less caution?

I don't KNOW just what I would do in a shooting event. But I would like to think that I would do pretty much what is listed in the article. The communication part would probably precede any thoughts of first aid and would include 911 then in short order Attorney. The 911 call would include the request for medical aid, MINE (visible/obvious injuries or not) then the other.

[Flintlock Tom]

COVER-RELOAD-SCAN-LEAK CHECK-COMMUNICATE

If I were ever inclined to get a tattoo, that would be it.

Second on the list might be:

SHELTER-HEAT-WATER-FOOD

[Aglifter]

+1 on not noticing leaks... Made a stupid mistake once, ended up slashing through my calf down to the bone, and didn't feel or notice a thing -- went off and stabilized the bandsaw I dropped, then happened to look down...

[Combat Controller]

That was some of the most useful advice I have seen from this newsletter so far. You want to tell someone, as a cop you want to help people and 90% of your job is really doing that anyway. I feel for his family, I really do. I wish we knew if the goblin ever succumbed. Still goes to show even with 4 rounds of .357 then 5, you can never be sure.

[sam]

After moving to cover, I would say do a quick scan before a reload, unless you are dry. Having another Goblin show up while you are reloading can make a bad day, worse.

After the reload, a slower more thorough scan. Then the leak check, and then communicate.

[Steamforger]

IIRC, Trooper Coates' killer is living in a cage somewhere on the taxpayer dime. The sheer amount of body fat he was packing around, and Trooper Coates' shot placement did little to put him down, much less put him out of the fight.

That video was the first I saw at the academy. Talk about a wake up call.