Dear Visitors,

Well I've come to post an article that was in the Orlando Sentinel today. It is in reference to a shooting regarding a Clermont Police Office named James Rooney. If I remember correctly, wasn't Rooney and his wife one of the people protesting about corruption in the Clermont Police Department? Seems as if Mr. Rooney has either issues with his short term memory or issues with not being able to tell the truth. When it comes to a shooting where you "felt the bullet wiz by ", a gun battle,having a gun flush against your head. Oh wait.....the suspect NEVER shot at him. The only shot was the one the suspect put in his brain after Mr. (I have a hard time saying officer because that demands respect) Rooney shot at him, called 55 men for back up, pulled out the helicopters. Seems like none of this is true? Is it? Chief Broadway, I am asking you. Did James Rooney lie (and I assume filed a report) with incorrect information? Is our "town hero" merely have mental issues regarding memory or is he an out and out lying, corrupt, and just one more unbelievable officer on your force? It's not like it's the first time he's been questioned about ethics is it? I read an article in the Sentinel where he was in trouble with things previously but is now back on the force. I truly hope someone comes out of this story a hero. Sad to think it may be otherwise. When can citizens start believing in our officers again? So many good people put their lives on the line and you hear a tangle of lies and it gives all officers a bad name.

auren Ritchie
COMMENTARY
10:26 a.m. EDT, March 31, 2013

First of two parts

Two gunshots crackled through the city park across from Clermont Elementary School just as parents began picking up their children at the end of the day.

Then came yelling and three more blasts, witnesses later told investigators. A skinny guy in black gym shorts high-tailed it over a chain-link fence and raced off between houses.

Witnesses watched the suspect disappear as Clermont Officer James Rooney stood on DeSoto Street screaming into his radio — "He's got a gun!" and "Shots fired, Lake!" — along with a frantic request for emergency traffic only on the radio.

Backup officers swarmed toward him, and minutes later, a breathless Rooney told a lieutenant, "He shot at me!" At various times, Rooney described the suspect firing at him across a picnic table, then crouching and turning after dropping from the top of the fence around William McKinley Park and hitting the ground. Rooney told a detective he felt the "wind" from one of the bullets as it went zinging past his chest just under his raised right arm.

Despite Rooney's detailed descriptions, his account of this running gun battle with the suspect proved completely inaccurate. The only person shooting was Rooney.

Forensic analysis later would determine that suspect Joshua Waldron, 21, fired only one round that day — the one with which he took his own life as 55 law-enforcement officers with a helicopter and K-9 descended on Clermont to hunt him down, according to a report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The only bullets Rooney could have felt or heard were his own as he pumped round after round from his Glock 23 at the running Waldron, causing bullets to ricochet off trees near homes and leaving one in the driveway of an apartment building.

The purpose of FDLE's inquiry was limited to providing information for the state attorney to decide whether anyone should be charged with a crime in Waldron's death. That was easily settled: No one should. The troubled young man — also the father of a 3-year-old boy — clearly shot himself Dec. 11 as he sat under a tree about three blocks from the park, just minutes after his encounter with the officer.

But the investigation raised far more questions for Clermont than it answered.

What really happened between Rooney and the deceased remains unclear. FDLE agents didn't try to verify contradictory accounts from the officer and statements he made that don't jibe with the evidence, saying it's not their job to do so. They didn't even ask Rooney to explain what made him erroneously conclude he was being fired on, sometimes when the suspect was less than 6 feet away.

FDLE said it's up to Clermont to determine whether the officer told the truth, followed rules and acted properly when he approached Waldron in a public park. Indeed, Clermont must get to the bottom of what happened.

It's important not only because a man's death is directly connected with an officer's actions. It's also critical because the community has a right to evaluate its law enforcement and decide whether the sort of "protection" displayed by Rooney, who declined to be interviewed, is the kind this growing community wants.

Consider that the encounter ending in Waldron's death began when Rooney, according to his own statement, told Waldron he couldn't smoke in a public park. That was harassment of the type residents have complained about for years in Clermont. Rooney, a 12-year veteran of the department, should have known that smoking is perfectly legal in city parks. No placards banning smoking are posted in the pavilion where Waldron was smoking, either.

Does Clermont want officers spending time hassling people about smoking in public? Really?

Rooney said Waldron was "very nice" and extinguished the cigarette with an apology. That's where the encounter should have ended but didn't. Rooney demanded that Waldron provide identification and allow himself to be patted down. Then everything went haywire.

Rooney said Waldron struck him on his forehead with the barrel of a pistol he pulled from his waistband, and a split second later, held it to his head, where Rooney claims he heard a telltale click, nearly always the result of a misfire.

However, none of the officers involved mentioned in their statements any injuries on Rooney's forehead, and Clermont Police Chief Chuck Broadway said he didn't notice any. FDLE's regional counsel, David Margolis, said Rooney was taken to the hospital with an elevated heart rate before agents could photograph him. They also missed a second opportunity the next day, when he gave them a sworn statement.

Margolis said firearms experts in the FDLE lab couldn't find evidence backing Rooney's dramatic tale of being saved by a misfire. None of the bullets showed a strike mark where the hammer of the cheap Saturday night special that Waldron carried should have hit the bullet. A misfire without a mark isn't impossible, but gun experts say it's highly unlikely.

Sorting out the facts and using them to guide law enforcement toward a greater respect for Clermont citizens is the job entrusted to Broadway, the department's new chief and a former FDLE special agent.

So far, Broadway is ducking and shuffling.

He said last week that Rooney, 36, followed all city policies and that he wouldn't be investigating further. Case closed. The department's operational rules, however, call for an internal investigation with a written report to be filed.

On Thursday, Broadway said he hadn't understood the question and would be opening an internal investigation. But his enthusiasm for the task was feeble. He repeatedly explained away Rooney's imaginary gun battle by saying that an officer under stress could "spontaneously utter different things" rather than be able to describe events that actually occurred.

Asked whether Rooney's accounts conflicting with the evidence troubled him, Broadway replied that the officer was under oath. Then, he said reluctantly: "Well, I could ask FDLE about the misfire. I will ask them."

Lame. This situation calls for a thorough investigation, and Broadway must step up and lead it. It is his job and his responsibility to act on behalf of the public, not to invent excuses for his officers. If he cannot do that, he must step aside. Too many questions remain unanswered.

On Wednesday, we'll look at what's known — and unknown — about Waldron's death.


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