This month’s Ayoob Files covered both a double cop-killing and the takedown of the cop-killer, so two shootouts that had to be described instead of the usual one in that space. Moreover, the press and the Internet had built up an unusual number of false impressions of the incident, which took more space to dispel. Let’s look a little deeper into some of the lessons from that tragic occurrence. It might help to read the Ayoob Files segment first, for details.

I devoted this column to the same incident shortly after it occured. We talked about the importance of the Contact and Cover principle, developed years ago in San Diego under our own John Morrison and others. It turns out that Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office does teach that, and the two deputies were using it at the outset of the encounter with the killer, with Skip York in the Cover role and Burt Lopez as Contact. When it came time to subdue him, however, Lopez activated the TASER, and TASER training assigns the second officer to handcuffing. Witnesses saw York with hand variously on pistol and handcuffs. This created a crossover effect, which may have left Lopez holding the TASER and York reaching for handcuffs when the prostrate suspect unexpectedly drew his concealed pistol and put them both behind the curve. This is an issue that may be worthy of further consideration between TASER instructors, tactics instructors, and policy-makers.

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