Antidepressants: Man with sword acting bizarre: is shot by police

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Tue, 10 May 2005 21:50:42 -0400

 

 

[sSRI-Research] Antidepressants: Man with sword acting

bizarre: is shot by police

 

This article states: " On Nov. 13, 2000, neighbors reported a man

licking a sword and waving it as he walked through the neighborhood,

sometimes in the middle of the street. Two police officers responded

and walked up behind him. They ordered him to drop the weapon, and

Blanford did not respond. "

 

" Blanford, who was heavily medicated on antidepressants, was listening

to music on headphones, but his head was covered by a snowcap and the

headphones were not visible to the officers. The officers feared

Blanford may use the sword on them or bystanders. "

 

 

http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full & id=6099BE04-0300\

-4E98-B804-0FC44ED8C0F8

 

Court tosses suit by man shot eight times by deputies

 

Saturday, May 7, 2005

 

By DAVID KRAVETS

AP Legal Affairs Writer

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- A divided federal appeals court on Friday dismissed

the civil rights suit brought by a man who survived multiple shots

from Sacramento County sheriff's deputies, who fired at him after he

was reported wandering his Orangevale neighborhood waiving a 30-inch

Civil War-era sword.

 

The man, 25-year-old Matthew Blanford, who is now wheelchair bound,

was shot at least eight times, several times in the back, as he tried

to enter the house where he lives with his parents.

 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in deciding 2-1 to dismiss the

suit, said the deputies' use of force was reasonable given the bizarre

circumstances that led to the incident.

 

On Nov. 13, 2000, neighbors reported a man licking a sword and waving

it as he walked through the neighborhood, sometimes in the middle of

the street. Two police officers responded and walked up behind him.

They ordered him to drop the weapon, and Blanford did not respond.

 

Blanford, who was heavily medicated on antidepressants, was listening

to music on headphones, but his head was covered by a snowcap and the

headphones were not visible to the officers. The officers feared

Blanford may use the sword on them or bystanders.

 

They followed Blanford, still carrying the sword, to the front door of

what turned out to be his residence. Under the close watch of the

officers who were several feet away, he went to the front door,

fumbled for his keys, did not have them and knocked. When nobody

answered, he went to the side of the house to go through a gate, and

the officers yelled " drop the sword. "

 

He looked at the officers but did not comply. As he got to the gate,

both officers fired. Blanford then tried to open the door leading to

the garage after he went through the gate, and was shot in the wrist.

Then a volley of shots rang out, some hitting him in the back and

hands. The shooting left him a paraplegic.

 

He sued, seeking damages, claiming excessive force. A lower court

judge tossed the case, ruling Blanford " presented an imminent threat

of death or serious bodily injury to persons inside the house or yard. "

 

A majority of the appeals court agreed, dismissing claims that

Blanford, now a student at Sierra College, was not a threat to the

officers or anybody else.

 

" The deputies had cause to believe that Blanford posed a serious

danger to themselves and to anyone in the house or yard that he was

intent upon accessing, because he failed to heed warnings or commands

and was armed with an edged weapon that he refused to put down, " wrote

Judge Pamela Rymer, who was joined by Judge David Thompson.

 

In dissent, Judge John T. Noonan said that, at the time Blanford was

shot, " he was not threatening the police or any other known person,

and he was not attempting to escape. " He added that " The case is one

that demands judgment by the citizens of Sacramento County assembled

as a jury, not immunity for the injury-inflicting police. "

 

Blanford's attorney, Stewart Katz, decried the ruling, and agreed with

the dissent. " They shouldn't have shot him. " Katz said he would ask

the court to rehear the case with 11 judges. Lawyers for the

Sacramento county and the officers, Brett Anderson and Todd Hengel,

did not immediately return calls.