4:38 PM Tue, Sep 19, 2006 | Permalink
E-mail
|
Just before our early newscasts Monday afternoon we received a copy of Hope Glenn's desperate call to a 911 dispatcher. Her son, Lukus, was drunk, breaking windows and threatening to kill himself. I listened to the entire 10 minute call. It was hard to listen to it. Real hard.
We had to make a decision about how much of the call we would use on air and on kgw.com. When we face these journalistic questions, I often gather around several members of the editorial staff to discuss the issue and get different points of view. This time four or five of us listened to the call again, taking notes on the sections we knew we would include and putting question marks by the sections we wondered whether we should use.
The questionable section of the tape basically covered the last three minutes of the call. It was clear at that point that the situation at the Glenn house was getting worse. The anguish in Hope Glenn's voice was heartbreaking. Then you heard the shots, presumably first the bean bag shots and then the real bullets.
We decided to use excerpts from the early and middle part of the call which set up the events that unfolded that night. We wouldn't use the last few minutes when Hope Glenn's anguish reached a fever pitch and when you heard the bullets flying. Even a disclaimer that "the story contained graphic material" would not prepare the viewer at home for what they would hear. This section of the call could add little insight into what happened that night at the Glenn's Washington County home. We already knew how the confrontation ended. Using that part of the call would take advantage of a grieving mother who already regretted calling 911.
With stories like this, it is the media's job to ask the tough questions, to find out exactly what happened and why. It is not our job to shock and awe. That is how and why we decided to use most, but not all, of Hope Glenn's desperate call to the Washington County 911 Center.
- Rod Gramer, KGW Executive News Director
I too went through this 14 years ago. My son was a
sophmore in high school and was going through a rough time in his life. He chased me through the house with a knife and then went outside with the knife waving it around. I called 911 and the next thing I saw were police all over pointing their guns at my son. My son took off running down the street with the knife. I just knew they were going to shoot my son. Fortunately, he dropped the knife. I just remember thinking that I called and because I called I would be the one responsible for killing my son. I ended up that night in the hospital with chest pains. These poor parents and what they are going thru. Please send them my love, I know what they are going through.
As a father, I am sickened by the end result of this tragic situation....however, it is time that the media put aside emotion, conjecture, and biased (rightly so)opinions of Mr. Glenn's family and friends and look at the entire event more objectively. While tough to listen to, perhaps the entire call SHOULD be heard....it helps put into perspective how irrational and out-of-control Mr. Glenn was acting as well as gives the listener a feel for how chaotic the entire scene was.
While almost all media reports indicate that Mr. Glenn only represented a threat to himself, the tape of his mother's call clearly indicates in more than one place that Mr. Glenn had indicated that he intended to not only kill himself, but also kill others including police officers.
Remember that those officers arriving on the scene didn't have first hand knowledge of anything that had gone on that evening or Mr. Glenn's past...only the dispatchers relaying of Ms. Glenn's panic filled call. They arrive on the scene to find an extremely chaotic situation, a front door kicked in, numerous broken windows, a bloody out-of-control man with a knife threatening to kill himself and others, screaming family and friends, etc.....all occuring in the dead of the night.
If Mr. Glenn would have simply dropped the knife...most likely, story over. If Mr. Glenn had turned on any of the bystanders or family (a very real possibility based on his irrational behavior) and caused injury or death, the family, friends and media would be screaming about why the officers didn't do something to prevent the situation from escalating. And anyone who knows about guns knows that "shooting the knife out of his hand" or some such action is only for the movies....it simply doesn't happen in the real world. For those who seem to want to dwell on the size of the knife, ask any police officer, paramedic, ER doctor, or trauma surgeon how many dead bodies they've seen as a result of a 3inch blade. Small knifes can definitely kill very quickly.
Understand, I am not saying that there were no tactical errors made on the officer's part or they could have done things differently...I don't know because I wasn't there...and even if they had used other means including dropping back and waiting for better trained negotiators or whatever, we don't know that the end result, Mr. Glenn dying, would be any different...but what's clear from the 9-1-1 call itself is that this wasn't simply a matter of a despondent individual threatening suicide....it was much more complex than that. The unfortunate result was not an unjustifed murder by police, but rather a very well documented action by Mr. Glenn known as "suicide by cop". No matter what, a horrible tragedy....but be fair to all involved including the police officers.
I appreciate the difficulty you must have had regarding this story. I must tell you even though you took care to not "shock and awe" I am shocked. I can not believe that three officers shot and killed this boy. He is a boy not a man. This case needs to be scrutinized by police departments all over the country. There will most certainly be a lawsuit and Hope Glenn will most certainly win. Rightfully so. This is outrageous and everyone who feels that way needs to speak out! Thanks
I am glad these tapes were released. My perception of the situation was that the boy and family were victims. With the additional information of the mother actually telling 911 that the boy's intent was to kill someone or kill himself - the officers had those 2 facts - an armed man that has verbally threaten to kill. Ask the tough questions. and when he followed thru with the actions to kill - The outcome is NOT surprising .
http://www.co.washington.or.us/sheriff/media/tgrdfatl.htm
First thanks for using restraint, but it stops there. As previous posters have pointed out the media has a responsibility to report a story with ALL the facts. Not to sanitize the story. While the situation is tragic, I think that citizens everywhere should hear the entire incident. We as a society have become far to quick to rely on our media as the gospel that tells all. Further we have become far to cynical, why is so hard to support out police? When we support others so quickly?
On the same hand I feel that law enforcement continues to do a poor job in managing their public perception in incidents such as these. These days the police have worked themselves into a no win situation whenever lethal force is needed in their duties. They are all too often either damned if they do, and damned if they do not.
This said state, and times we live in, when no one accepts their own culpability in their personal lives. My heart and prayers go out to all involved. INCLUDING THE Deputies and officer and their loved-ones involved in this case.
Just the facts, and ALL SIDES OF A CASE!
Lars Larson played the entire tape on his radio show yesterday. I'm glad he did that. The tape reinforces the mother's statement that there was almost no time between the three beanbag shots and the barrage of gunfire that killed the boy. While the cops will probably be legally absolved of killing the young man, they surely know in their hearts they could have resolved this incident in a better way.
IMO, shooting a drunken teenager five times in his back was a cowardly act.
Way to go! Done with tact and respect.
I am really in the middle here, I really believe too that the entire 911 call should have been aired. That way the community could understand why these incidents actually took place. I also feel a tremendous amount of sadness for the mother, who witnessed her son being shot. My question is why did the officer's have to shot to kill? It seems that the police departments get away with murder a lot around here. Where else can an officer shoot an 18 year old boy because he was out of control, shoot an 27 year old gresham man after he was burned and dazed, and lets not forget the black woman shot several years ago trying to flee in her car, or the mexican mental patient in SE portland, and the deadly crash from a gresham police officer killing a mexican father and husband, and just recently the man killed by blunt force trauma while in police custody. Why aren't these officers punished for their wrong doings? If I were to kill someone, intentional or accidental I would be in prision. When will the public see justice?
My next question is should the mother have called 911, knowing what her son was saying? She needs to take parital responsibilty. Her son told her how events who partake if she did call 911. What would have happened if the mother would have tried to calm the son down, and let him break a few more windows? What was an 18 year old drinking anyway? Did this boy have a history of being violent?
It't tough and complicated. The public will never know simply because we were not involved but I think the news should follow up on the unanswered question of police recklessness with the public's lives. Police officers, I thought were here to protect and serve the community, not help eliminate them
The thing that upsets me the most about some of your posts is when comments are made like, "He was just a boy, how could the police shoot an innocent and confused boy?" Lukus Glenn was 18 years old; he was an adult people.. We don't have to look that far back at a Clackamas County Deputy named Damon Coates who was shot in the face by a 15 year old boy just a few years ago. Deputy Coates will never be a cop again; let alone live a normal life like you and I have the luxury of living... It amazes me how people can Monday morning quarterback the split second decisions that officers were forced to make that night when a majority of you have never spent a single minute in the shoes of a police officer and have never had to face a tragic and imminent deadly situation like what these officers had to go through in order to keep their community safe... Become more educated about the entire situation before posting such a one dimensional point of view next time...