I have learned with dismay although with absolutely no surprise, that the family and survivors of a woman shot and killed by a Wyoming state trooper near Gillette 2 years ago, are suing, because among other things, they claim the state trooper, all 130 pounds him, was less than of proper stature adequate enough for the job. You gotta be kidding me.

Speaking from the lofty stature of 6’10” and over twice the poundage of the trooper in question, you can’t have it both ways! Often in court, I was accused of being “too intimidating!” Once, a particularly theatrical lawyer had me stand up and walk over to the jury to prove how intimidating I was! When several of the jurists failed to shiver in fear but instead, rolled their eyes and smiled at me, I could see they too, thought the trick was about as clever as the O.J. glove thing. So today, at the risk of instilling such fear that you loose your breakfast, I must pass along the truth of an antiquated and misleading belief that the bigger, the better, in the world of law enforcement. This is, today, a profession of brains—not brawn. I know this from watching recruits in my days as an academy instructor, form little droplets of perspiration on their foreheads—not from physical training—but from my written tests!

True, I rarely had to look up at a suspect in my day, but I have breached doors and arrested scoundrels with not only smaller men, but women too, of quite diminutive or petit proportions; all of whom, (when it was needed), could and did with courageous calm, swell up to about 6’3” and 200 pounds of sheer toughness, clearly worthy of complete obedience and respect . They even scared me and I’m not ascared of nothin’!

To suggest that a state trooper is somehow bound to fight it out hand to hand with an enraged, rather robust woman branding a quite deadly metal baton (forcible taken by her from the trooper, by the way,) by somehow overpowering her physically, is to look past (or ignore) the basic duty of any peace officer, to stop criminals and crime in progress quickly by whatever means is necessary to overcome any resisting force. I got news folks. The only thing that overcomes a deadly threat from a deadly metal baton, is an even more deadly threat from a 180 grain bullet.

While this tragic and sad case was no doubt thoroughly investigated from every possible angle both internally within the WHP and by DCI, I knew it would just be a matter of time before this lawsuit presented itself, when some over-zealous attorney could envision his third of any settlement, paying for a cabin in Jackson, a new boat or at least a nice set of golf clubs. My only surprise was that the suspect’s father, a former trooper himself, allowed this to go forward. Grief does things to folks. While clearly, my loyalties and benevolence will always be with the trooper, my heart does reach out the the suspect’s family here as as well. While nothing can relieve their grief, a lawsuit, simply drags it along and keeps it alive even longer. For what?

The trooper in this case, from everything I’ve read or learned about this case, was not only legally justified, morally justified and physically justified in shooting this drunken, exceptionally strong, enraged and combative woman, he was acting honorably and compassionately, pleading for the woman to drop her weapon even as she beat him across the head with it, before he feared for his very life and had to make the decision all cops dread—the decision to shoot. Taking any longer probably would have been fatal to this trooper. He did the right thing, as awful as it is.

In the years following this or any other justified use of police force, the community—in this case the state of Wyoming—must step forward to embrace and stand beside the trooper in question, to clearly show the trooper, his family, the rest of the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the world, that Wyoming stands behind her troopers who gallantly carry out their sworn duty—an oath given before God—to never run, never sway, never back down. To serve their constituency without equivocation. To be soldierly, in the face of death.

And if God forbid, that threat comes, be it in the form of a vicious dog, a child, a grandparent or even an enraged, intoxicated woman; to end it. By whatever means necessary.

And, to return home to their family. Alive.