02/04/10 - Madison County

When Officers Use Deadly Force
By: Jonquil Newland
10:07 p.m.
 
Since the deadly shooting in Dyersburg, which involved two Dyersburg police officers, many have asked when should deadly force be used? Sergeant Mike Landreth with the Jackson Police Department said it depends on the situation.
 
"The officer, first thing he is going to do, he is going to react to that situation," said Landreth. "If he is presented with a threat then he is going to have to react, be it whatever the threat is. If it requires for him to pull his weapon, then that is what will happen."
 
Landreth said he has never shot someone but he has been on the other side of the barrel. "[I] traveled through Lincoln Courts on a "shots fired" call and was hit by pellets from a shotgun blast fired into my car," Landreth said.
 
Landreth was shot in the head on New Year's Eve 2007 and has since recovered. However, not everyone in an officer-involved shooting can say the same. "Officers train to shoot the center mass of the body," said Landreth.
 
Charles "Chuck" King, 49, of Dyersburg, was one of those victims, Wednesday. According to police, King had a knife and charged police after he was asked three times to put down his weapon. Witnesses said King was hit multiple times in the chest.
 
"People need to realize officers out here on the street, they have to make a decision in a split second that attorney's can take months or years to dissect. This officer had to react in that short amount of time where it could be his life or someone else's," Landreth said.
 
According to Dyersburg Police, both Officer David Cecil and Officer Brent Hill, who was with him serving a warrant, have been placed on paid administrative leave which is standard procedure.