The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Defense and Tactics => Topic started by: ms1212 on July 22, 2010, 09:23:36 PM
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Routine Traffic Stop in Montana but well worth watching ...He needs to really count his blessings.
A routine traffic stop in Montana turns ugly. Turn up your computer
volume. Listen for the first "click" as the driver pulls out
and points the gun at the Trooper....a .41 Magnum Revolver. The
"click" is the hammer dropping on an already fired round in the
cylinder. The second round was live. A lucky Trooper indeed!
The suspect was shot in the back while driving away and died on
scene after crashing into a building.
Observe the speed at which the Trooper draws
his weapon and fires. Accurately. Practice makes
perfect.
Click here for: the Hamilton, MT Police video:
<http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/vmix_cdf93fba-47ca-11df-9f5c-001cc4c002e0.html>
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http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=12330.0
;)
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Observe the speed at which the Trooper draws
his weapon and fires. Accurately. Practice makes
perfect.
What should be learned from this incident starts at 00:31, when the suspect's gun comes out the window and the attempt to fire is made. Note the officer's classic instinctive reactions: lowered center of gravity, hands coming into the field of vision to protect the head (and, in this case, an attempt to swat the weapon away.)
By 00:32 these reactions have already taken place, and it takes a couple of seconds for the officer to cognitively process what's going on; he actually pauses before finally reaching for his gun. It's almost 5 seconds from the time the threat is recognized to the draw of the gun.
His natural grasp reflex has him clinging to his flashlight until 00:36, when his mind finally decides that it needs that hand for something more important, which is when he finally drops it and commences shooting at 00:37.
It's helpful to look at the YouTube video, as it allows scrubbing and stop motion to see what's really happening (the Gazette video doesn't):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9FtEYrnocM
The point of this? How fast you can draw the gun is really irrelevant compared to the delay in processing the appearance of the threat. Practicing more realistically - starting the intuitive reaction of drawing the gun at the point the instinctive reactions have occurred - will make the gains where they are most needed, which is in the recognition and response phase of the encounter.
This is not to denigrate the officer; he performed admirably under fire. His reactions, however, could have been made more efficient through more realistic training.
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"The point of this? How fast you can draw the gun is really irrelevant compared to the delay in processing the appearance of the threat. Practicing more realistically - starting the intuitive reaction of drawing the gun at the point the instinctive reactions have occurred - will make the gains where they are most needed, which is in the recognition and response phase of the encounter." - GrantCunningham
Amen to that. You will most likely react how you train. The officer is very fortunate to be alive.
Sorry I created a secondary thread on this topic. :-[
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The reaction phase, from real threat to action and subsequent reaction with multiple shots that ended the bad guy, 6 seconds by my count, not bad including a moving vehicle. Not bad Trooper.