Story by Luke Wiggs
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office is responding to public criticism of a recent officer-involved shooting.
David Edward Browne, 29, of Martinsburg, was shot and killed by deputies Sunday after he attacked one of them with a hatchet.
Sheriff Rob Blair said during Wednesday’s Panhandle Live on WEPM Radio he has reviewed the body cam footage.
“The individual bolted from the door, with hatchet raised,” Blair said. “I don’t know exactly how close he got to one of our deputies but it was very close. She’s actually blessed not to be seriously injured right now or worse. When an incident happens like that, you immediately match the force that you are met with and unfortunately our officers had to do the one thing they don’t want to have to do. They were there to help, but were forced to use deadly force that actually saved our officers safety or life, however you want to put that.”
Blair bristled at some criticism his department and its deputies have received on social media.
“I’ve been in discussions with our command staff. I’m going to get this video prepared, and I’m going to invite you all (in the media) to come view this because I want the public to understand what happened.” Blair said. “This Facebook stuff is out of control. Some of the ignorant comments that people make, they have no clue, and I say that with all sincerity. They have no clue what these officers were there for and the professionalism they displayed.”
Captain Trent Heckman said he works with the crisis intervention team (CIT) and also shared support for the officers involved.
“My thoughts are with the family for sure, to Mr. Brown and his family and friends. My thoughts are equally with my officers that were presented with something and unfortunately had to make the decision.” Heckman said. “I’ve been unfortunately doom scrolling some on social media and seeing some of the comments that are there. I think it’s important to say that de-escalation is a goal, it’s not a tactic. We’re not able to force a de-escalation to occur.”
“I’m not in a position to clear my officers, that’s as the sheriff’s discussed, there’s a criminal investigation going on as well as an internal investigation. So I can just tell you from my review as a CIT, being the program administrator. If there’s any disagreement by the actions of my officers, the finger should be pointed at me.” Heckman said. “They acted in accordance with everything that they’ve been trained to do. I’ve been to three international conferences on how to attempt to de-escalate. The biggest thing when we are trained is if there is means, opportunity, and intent, there’s no de-escalation. You can’t force a de-escalation. My officers encountered that. I can tell you that there were numerous less lethal options that were present. I know that was an objective that they were trying to accomplish but that wasn’t an option. I’m glad that my officers are safe, but that doesn’t mean that they’re well.”
Officer mental health has been a focus of the department, Heckman said.
“There’s an MIT study that’s out that says that a civilian generally has two to four lifetime incidents of trauma. Law enforcement by the same statistic faces 178 to 600 or more. So this is just one of 178 to 600 that my officers are going to encounter.” Heckman said. “The PTSD element, there’s 6.8% of individuals that have PTSD. Law enforcement studies indicate that it’s 32 to 35% (for police officers). So what we can do to minimize that in an administrative setting is to get these people with mental health professionals. Unfortunately, the CDC reports that law enforcement has a 54% higher risk of dying by suicide.”
Blair added that the process is much better now than it was when he first joined the force.
“Speaking from experience, as a young trooper in the early 90s, I was involved in a fatal shooting and basically, I was told to take three days off. I’m blessed with a great family support system. Not everyone is.” Blair said. “That’s kind of what I leaned on back in the day, but we have made leaps and bounds from that. Our agency actually is looked at as a model of how these things are handled. We had a police social worker Alexis come out for the family and we’re concerned about all involved.”
“Six deputies total (have been placed on administrative leave), three discharged their firearms, and the three that didn’t, they go through a different process. We have policy and procedure that dictates what we do.” Blair said. “We’re in the middle of that now. And as that’s going on, we have our criminal Investigation division doing a thorough investigation. We also have internal so there’s two separate investigations happening at the same time. And I had Captain Heckman immediately call the prosecutors office. Death involved. That’s something we on the front end do to get them up to speed. There’s nothing to hide here. And we want this to be as transparent as it can be. But there’s also procedures in an investigation that need to happen.”
The full Panhandle Live! interview can be found below.