There were other options for the concerned relative in Anson County, North Carolina. The relative could have called on the telephone, and kept calling until someone answered. Or called a neighbor. Assuming those options didn’t work, the relative could have hopped in the car and made the drive to Gastonia.
Instead, the relative called the Gastonia police to check on the welfare of 74-year-old James Howard Allen. A few hours later, they got their answer.
Police were called to the home of James Howard Allen about 10 p.m. Saturday because a relative of Allen’s in Anson County was worried about his condition, Gastonia police Chief Robert Helton said during a Sunday morning press conference.
In addition to the police serving a law enforcement function, they also serve a public safety function. When engaged in the latter, many of the limitations that would otherwise apply are discarded. For example, you wouldn’t want an elderly person lying on the floor with a broken hip while police stood outside the door knocking, with no one able to answer. So the police have authority to enter, not to find evidence or arrest, but to check on the welfare of a resident.
Anson County authorities contacted the Gastonia Police Department to conduct a welfare check on Allen, of 2704 Mary Ave., Gastonia, police said. Helton said Allen had recently undergone surgery and family members were concerned about his well-being.
Not concerned enough to have someone stay with Allen, or to have Allen stay with someone in the family until he recovered from his surgery. But concerned. Maybe they begged Allen to stay with them, but he refused. Old guys can get ornery.
An officer arrived at the address, but there was no answer at the door at 10:20 p.m. and the officer left, police said. At 11:08 p.m., Anson County authorities requested a check of local hospitals, police said.
Gaston County officials checked area hospitals and did not find Allen, police said. Neighbors told police that the last time they saw Allen was the day before. “His car was present at the residence,” Helton said.
It appears that the Gaston County police did all they could to ascertain the whereabouts and condition of Allen, short of breaking into his home to see if he was lying on the floor.
“A decision was made to enter the house, concerned that he may be inside in need of emergency assistance,” Helton said.
The Fire Department helped enter through the back door of the house, and Gastonia police Officer Josh Lefevers announced his presence, Helton said.
Despite the passive “a decision was made,” as opposed to saying who made the decision since decisions can’t make themselves, there was likely no other decision to be made. The relative from Anson County raised the alarm, the police investigated with appropriate diligence and concern, and decided to enter Allen’s home as a last resort.
When officers entered, they found Allen holding a handgun and pointing it toward the officers, Helton said. “He was challenged to lower the gun down,” Helton said. “The gun was pointed in the direction of the officers, and a shot was fired that fatally wounded him.”
When Helton says “a shot was fired,” what he means to say is that Police Officer Lefevers shot and killed 74-year-old James Howard Allen. As for the relative in Anson County, there was good news, bad news and worse news. The good news is that they know the status of their relative’s condition. The bad news is that he’s dead. The worse news is that it was at the hand of the officer sent in response to their request for help.
Why Allen had a gun, pointed it at the officer when he entered Allen’s home and refuse to lower it will never be known. Dead men tell no tales. Given his age and condition, there are a number of possibilities that immediately come to mind, such as senile dementia or confusion secondary to post-surgical infection.
There was no reason for Allen to be particularly hostile to police, though a forced entry into someone’s house tends to get a guy riled up. Whether Lefevers announced his presence, that he was a cop entering to check on him, seems likely to have happened. It was certainly in Lefevers’ interest to do so, and police like serving in their function as saviors. Who doesn’t?
When faced with Allen’s gun, there were options as well. Lefevers may have been able to back away. Obviously, Allen didn’t shoot his pointed gun, though it was unclear from Helton’s story whose gun killed Allen. While Lefevers clearly had a reason to be fearful for his life, he had no reason to believe that Allen wanted to shoot him. Had he retreated, perhaps the scenario would have played out differently.
But faced with a gun and a man who refuses to comply with commands, Officer Lefevers’ decision to shoot is a lawful one. He faced deadly force and responded in kind. But damn, what a horrible result.
Is the message never to call the cops for help? Maybe. Maybe the answer is that someone inclined to talk Allen off the edge would have avoided this tragedy. Maybe the answer is that someone willing to back off rather than kill the person they were there to check on would have done so.
Somewhere along the spectrum of options for helping 74-year-old Allen, it should have been possible to check on his welfare without his dying, regardless of how he reacted to someone coming into his home. Yet, if Officer Lefevers had tried to back away and was shot by a demented Allen, it would have been a tragedy as well. There has to be a way that everyone lives.
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ECLS, what do you think? Since Lefevers apparently walked in on Allen pointing a gun at him, but managed to pull out his own gun and shoot him, would he have had the time to back away instead?
How would I know? There aren’t enough facts present.
You said you ran firearms drills. Figured you could give us an estimate of whether these are options on the same time scale. But OK, no prob.
There are a lot of variables that are unknown in this case. We can ask questions. Answers are harder to come by in the absence of information. Surely, you didn’t want ECLS to just make stuff up.
That sounded sarcastic, didn’t it? My bad. No, the two of you are right.
Yeah. Just a little.
I love seeing the passive voice used — “a decision was made,” “a shot was fired.” It’s the mother of all weasel tactics. Whenever I see it, I replace it in my head with “I’m a big pussy so I can’t say right out that I did/am doing/will do X.”
I used to think this was just reserved to passive aggressive lawyers and dumb politicians, but now I see that people who are in supposedly authoritative, commanding, decision-making positions like police chief have no issues with it either.
Are you kidding? The cops have raised the passive voice to high art.
He also could’ve been recovering from anesthesia. My dad had heart surgery at a much younger age than mentioned above, and he said the anesthesia affected his memory and thinking for months afterward. I can only imagine what it does to the brains of elderly folks.
Another reasonable possibility. No doubt I’ve left a few very strong possibilities off the table, but then, it’s too late now anyway.
I had typed a long post on what should have been done, but then erased it. It’s not really germane to the main point which is that cops do not have the training, experience or attitude to do welfare checks on the elderly or mentally unstable. Cops should never be tasked with them, because outcomes like this are entirely predictable. If the EMTs had been alone, I’m fairly sure everyone would still be alive.
I won’t go as far as “fairly sure,” but yeah, I think so too.
EMTs are generally worse than cops about personal safety, they just don’t have the means to carry out deadly force readily available. EMS training stresses scene safety and most won’t go in until the police have secured the area. It’s a pet peeve of mine, personally believing the whole “you have to go out…” thing, but even I have to follow the policies given to me.
That EMTs don’t have the means to use deadly force is the point. Whether EMTs were required to wait until police secured the area is an assumption. We don’t know in this instance. But had it been EMTs rather than a cop, I nonetheless suspect it would have been a very different outcome.
I agree. Family was negligent. Dont’ be calling the cops to do what you should be doing yourself.
But, that does not pardon the absolute incompetence of the Office LeFevers in this situation. What was the old man doing? I can tell you exactly what he was doing: he was defending his home against what he perceived to be intruders. This happened at 11:30 at night! They kicked in his back door! The home owner is 74 years old, probably has poor hearing, and probably woke up to the racket very confused and disoriented! This is such gross incompetence. I would love for Officer LeFevers to take an IQ test. I would love to see his results. Only a dumb person would say “Ya, let’s kick in his back door at 11:30 at night and make sure he’s okay. What could go wrong?” Imbeciles.
Make no mistake. The homeowner HAD. EVERY. RIGHT. TO. RESPOND. WITH. A. FIREARM. Every right. Officer LeFevers shot and killed an innocent man who was acting under his God-given right to defend his home. I don’t believe anything that Officer Lefevers says at this point, because he will naturally be trying to spin the narrative in his favor.
Officer LeFevers, in your incompetence you killed an innocent man that needed your help. Instead, he got your bullet. Screw you for escalating a welfare check to murder.
Your outrage is understandable, but we don’t have the right to either make up facts or ignore facts that don’t fit our narrative. And please save the batshit crazy stuff for reddit.
This may be why some states say that the homeowner has a duty to retreat. Also, its not unheard of for firemen to receive a housefire call from a neighbor, while the homeowner of the burning house is asleep.
I don’t believe any state requires a homeowner to retreat in his own home, but once the cop identifies himself, the homeowner’s right to defend his home ends.
According to my bar review lecture, no state requires retreat inside one’s home. Not that you need confirmation.
I fail to understood why the “concerned” family members did not take direct responsibility for ensuring that Mr. Allen was ok prior to calling the cops. They should be charged with an accessory to his murder with the cop. Lesson learned: I hope my brother-in-law who lives in the DC area and cannot get my 93-1/2 yr. old mother-in-law to answer the phone, will not call the cops for a “welfare check” in the future, but will instead, allow me the courtesy of going to her home first since I live only 10 miles away. For I have her “welfare” in mind, on a day-to-day basis. Shame to live that long and get blown away by a cop.
Morons see things as simplistic absolutes, that if someone made a choice that was less than optimal, or in retrospect appears poor, they are not merely guilty of the poor choice, but should be punished with extreme prejudice for an outcome caused by an independent intervening event.