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Police Pursuit Ends In Lafayette Wednesday

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Police Activity in Lafayette after a twisty police chase ends at an apartment complex on Mt. Diablo Boulevard.

Police tailed a suspect believed wanted in connection with some local auto burglaries to this location and are believed to have extracted him from the apartment.

17 COMMENTS

    • Most of the above are deputies assigned to county patrol, Lafayette fields very few officers per shift. Of course LPlD is just a contract city and staffed by deputies.

      Firestone 11R

  1. The top photo “Stack1” looks to an outsider (like me) like an accidental shooting of a police officer waiting to happen. Multiple guns drawn. One officer’s gun pointed in the direction of officers entering through a single entrance (interior wall notwithstanding) to collect a single suspect. Is that really how they train to do it? It looks like military tactics misapplied. Please help me understand how this bunch formation tactic facilitates police safety in a non-military setting.

    • @David
      We ran through this on our Facebook page for folks. It’s a perspective issue. The man we think you’re talking about is actually assuming a cover position at the broken window facing INTO the apartment – so he can provide cover for this team, the stack, entering through the front door.

  2. I don’t do facebook. I don’t breach apartments harboring dangerous individuals. I appreciate the information, however, uninformed as I am, I do wonder aloud if this stack formation is advisable in this non-military scenario. If this suspect wanted to shoot his way out, how is the stack formation a smart response? Why are so many officers exposed to fire from the suspect and from friendly-fire behind? I repeat my original question: Is that really how they train to do it? Or was this outside of police protocol?

    • @David
      You/We may get some input from local LEOs (we did on Facebook but we get you don’t use it), but this is a tactic for clearing a room with a potentially hostile subject holed up inside. There’s a lot of information we’re not privy to because, well, we’re not the police and they don’t always share, but this was the tail end of a prolonged chase with the subject crashing into a car prior to ending up in Lafayette. He ran inside the apartment and we believe he was in a rear bedroom when the response you see formed up and made entry. Again, the officer far left is not “sweeping” the entry team but rather protecting them from surprise attack by the person inside – his weapon aimed INTO the apartment. The rest of the entry team lines up (stacks) single file to push through the door and deploy once inside, many are communicating with hand signals on the shoulders of the officer ahead of them. It is a military, close-quarters tactic and one we have seen employed by both military and police units.

      • I understand that this was a military tactic, and I WANT THEM TO BE SAFE. I am questioning (as an out of the loop observer) whether this military tactic is appropriate and safe in the context of a single fugitive who has fled to hide in an apartment. What was the threat?? They were not attempting to take out a machine gun nest or neutralize a sniper. This was a fugitive hiding in his own apartment? Why a stack formation which puts multiple officers in the line of fire? It’s not a trick question. Is this how they were trained?

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