A man, wielding a machete, ran out of a house and refused to drop the weapon. He was surrounded by arriving police officers. A split-second decision needed to be made on how to end the threat. The man’s life is in the balance. Officers from Central West Division were dispatched to a report of a person armed with a machete in a residence. Sgt. Julia Whittaker and fellow officers contained the scene, while the Duty Inspector and Incident Commander attended due to the escalating situation.
The male exited the home and ignored the officer’s commands, advancing toward them with the machete raised. From her cover position and with other officers training their guns on the man, Sgt. Whittaker deployed her conductive energy weapon, successfully causing a full-body lock up. The male was then taken into custody. Officers are often under scrutiny when responding to incidents with members of the public who are dealing with mental health issues. Unfortunately, some of these incidents end with tragic results. Due in no small part to Sgt. Whittaker’s actions, and conditions at the time, this was not one of them.
