Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad defended his officer’s use of deadly force during Saturday’s fatal shooting and released CCTV footage of the incident to update the media on the ongoing investigation.
Conrad said Officer Nathan Blanford, 40, acted in accordance with police policies and after viewing the video himself is confident Blanford felt “threatened.”
“I believe, looking at the video, he (Blanford) did not have the opportunity to transition to another option,” said Conrad. “It would appear to me, based on my viewing of the video, that he felt threatened, that his life was in danger – there’s a man swinging an eight foot metal pole at him. You see in the video he’s coming down in what I would describe as a sledgehammer-like motion towards the officer.”
Blanford initiated a stop on Deng Manyoun, 35, who after being contacted walked away and grabbed an eight foot long metal flag pole. Blanford drew down on Manyoun and when the suspect swung, Blanford fired two shots, killing the suspect.
The actions of Blanford drew criticism from activists like Chanelle Helm, who spoke out against Blanford during a local meeting.
“You’re telling me you can’t defeat a person with a flag pole who seems to be intoxicated?” said Helm. “An officer is supposed to be trained to protect people. He lost all type of control.”
However, Conrad explained that officers are not required to move up the chain of escalation of force systematically, and can jump from non-lethal to lethal force if they feel they are in danger of serious bodily injury or death.
“Officers, to the extent possible, utilize an escalating scale of options when they are deciding to use force,” said Conrad. “But you need to understand that officers are not required to use one option and then the next option. They can move ahead to another option if it appears to be reasonable given the circumstances of the situation.”
Blanford, who has received 18 commendations during his time on the force, has yet to be interviewed by internal investigators, but plans to do so are underway.
(The following is a submission from freelance writer Brent McCluskey)
I was in law enforcement for 27yrs. In my experience, dealing with the scum who walk our streets, the ones who would attack us are the most dangerous. We, in uniform, are the most recognized as representing our society in general, so an attack on the officer is the same as rejecting everything America stands for. Very seldom will they go one on one with us, but have a pack mentality, sneak up on a parked beat car, then shooting them in the back of the head. These cold blooded punks have no respect for anyone, or anybody, they think we are sheep to be used. They have absolutely no problem attacking/killing children, women, old people, but will go after anyone they perceive as easy. They prey more on the helpless because there’s less chance of them getting hurt. The true predator/prey scum is a serial killer, absolutely no recognition of right or wrong, except theirs. Sorry if I seem to be rambling, but there’s so many things that can be said about modern society, i could do a doctorate on it. Our only hope is getting politicians in office that have a set and will back the officers trying to enforce our laws!
Before I say anything else, I want to say this is a justifiable act by a police officer. Plain and simple, now the nitty gritty, some people are whining about when things like this happen. Most do not know the ins and outs , because they are ________ well, anyway When people attack Law Enforcement of any kind , they take this chance. Damn, I have to cut this short, bottom line is the cop did his job properly, whoever disagrees should get a life , because it was a good shoot . Thank You, to all of our Law Enforcement Divisions around the country for doing a great job. And a Thank You , to all of our Military Personnel for what you guys do !!!!!!!!
If a person armed with a holstered sidearm lets someone armed with what is basically a blunted spear get within six or seven yards of him he will be lucky to survive if the pole wielder is even halfway trained. I would would feel no hesitation and be fairly confident of winning about using a staff against an armed policeman if I were within that range and the officer had left his weapon holstered.
This was without a doubt a completely justified shooting.
He tries to bash in the skull of a law enforcement officer, ends up being fatally shot and some moron wants to complain about “excessive force”. Get a brain, then get real.
What was he supposed to do get his skull bashed in? This is the aftermath of Ferguson and Baltimore. The thugs have been emboldened. What little respect they had for the police is now gone. Even after this thug had 2 rounds in him he still tried to get up and go after the officer again. This is totally justified. I for one have had enough of the police being crucified lately. Give us nationwide concealed carry and disband them if everything they do is going to be second guessed every day. I’d like to know how others would react under this type of constant scrutiny. These thugs get what they deserve.
I agree this is justifiable. I also understand that police training states to stop the threat and to place the rounds center mass. I also wonder if shooting to wound isn’t acceptable. No doubt this kid deserved what he got. Would a round or two in the lower abdomen or quads be OK? He may die, but may not. I only think this out loud because of the mental anguish that office will likely go through along with the media and internal investigation.
As a retired LEO I’d like to comment on the fact that yes we are given training in self defense but we are not ninja warriors. Shooting a perp to wound him will not necessarily stop the threat, many times they are under the influence of intoxicants that do not respond immediately to chemical, neuro disabling devices or wounding shots. I’m sorry but LEO’s are human beings as well and have wives and families to go home to, when it came down to some wacked out idiot (regardless of ethnicity or whatever) vs. me guess who the loser was going to be. I had to utilize my side arm as a deterrent on 3 different occasions during my career but luckily never had to fire a shot. I most certainly would have under these circumstances.
Time to trot out his mother/grandmother/pregnant GF to tell us all how he was such a good kid. The media will show a picture of him at age 9 and the idiot-in-chief will wax on about how if he had a son he would look just like this moron.
His mama should have taught him that if he has a beef with law enforcement, he can file a suit against the PD. There are plenty of pony-tailed ACLU lawyers that will do that pro bono. If you don’t respect “the man” respect his authority and especially his Glock. Instead, this Rhodes Scholar of stupidity charged a cop swinging a deadly weapon. Who knows how many future lives in the community were saved (black lives matter too) by the cop’s righteous shooting of this dirtbag?
Time to trot out his mother/grandmother/pregnant GF to tell us all how he was such a good kid. The media will show a picture of him at age 9 and the idiot-in-chief will wax on about how if he had a son he would look just like this moron.
His mama should have taught him that if he has a beef with law enforcement, he can file a suit against the PD. There are plenty of pony-tailed ACLU lawyers that will do that pro bono. If you don’t respect “the man” respect his authority and especially his Glock. Instead, this Rhodes Scholar of stupidity chargeg a cop swinging a deadly weapon. Who knows how many lives in the community were saved down the line (black lives matter too) by the cop’s righteous shooting of this dirtbag?
Big Mama say, “He was good boy. got 3 babies, buys them diapers, gonna go to college and become a brain surgeon!”
Lessons: 1) Don’t do drugs! 2) Drugs can make you do stupid things! 3) Stupid things like bringing a pole to a gunfight! Justified!
I’m a pretty big critic of unnecessary law enforcement violence, but this one is completely justified, if unfortunate.
Looked like a justifiable shoot to me.
I wonder how “community activist” Chanelle Helm would handle some drunken homie swinging a pole at her or her children? Maybe try to “reason” with him? Show him her “Hope and Change” tee-shirt from 2008?
Nope. She would have called LE and all the government powers that be because we definitely are too stupid for self reliance and to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Or maybe she would have called Obama like that woman a few years ago who was videotaped screaming, “Help me, Obama, help me…!”
That could have been much worse:
It could have been the stars and stripes he was tumbling around on the sidewalk with.