While a member of the Memphis Police Department's Organized Crime Unit remained in critical but stable condition Friday after being shot by a fellow officer, MPD Director Toney Armstrong attributed the incident to a "split-second decision" made in the face of apparent danger.
Willie Bryant, 32, was accidentally shot in the back Thursday when the OCU executed a search warrant at 589 Arrington near Thomas in North Memphis. He was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, where he underwent surgery. Details on the nature of his injuries were not available. Bryant was recovering in The MED's intensive care unit Friday.
Officers knocked and announced their presence at the home, but forced entry after receiving no response other than the sound of people running, according to a police affidavit. They were "apparently attacked by a vicious dog" once inside, Armstrong said.
Bryant was wounded by a shotgun blast intended for a Cane Corso, a large and muscular Italian dog breed. It was unclear how Bryant ended up in the line of fire. Armstrong said it's unknown where Bryant was in "the stack," a tactical formation used when breaching buildings.
"You're relying on people to make split-second decisions, and sometimes things just go bad," he said. "And that's what this is. It's a situation that went very, very badly."
Armstrong said the identity of the officer who shot Bryant will not be released, but noted the two are close friends.
"You can't even imagine what he's going through right now," Armstrong said of the officer.
Five people inside the house were initially detained and questioned in the bust, which yielded about 16 grams of crack cocaine, a small amount of marijuana and five handguns. One of the recovered guns was capable of firing armor-piercing rounds, according to Armstrong. Officers also recovered three bullet-resistant vests similar to those worn by MPD officers.
Lazarus Johnson, 33, and Charles Cross, 37, were each charged with possession of cocaine with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell, possession of marijuana, and possession of a firearm with intent to commit a felony.
Johnson admitted to selling crack cocaine at the residence, according to the affidavit, and also told police he was armed when they went inside.
Initially, Cross was only detained. He was arrested when he allegedly made a hand-to-hand drug transaction near the house with investigators still on the scene.
Data was not immediately available on how often officers have used their firearms in dog encounters. Armstrong said that officers are prepared to handle the animals appropriately, but that dogs present a greater safety risk in operations like Thursday's bust.
"We do have a level of training that we give our officers for attacking dogs," Armstrong said. "But you have to understand in these particular circumstances, a lot of these guys -- a lot of drug dealers, a lot of guys that arm themselves in these houses -- use dogs for protection ... Our officers have to take the necessary precautions to keep them from sustaining any type of injury."
An officer being harmed in such a preventive action, he said, makes Thursday's shooting even more heartbreaking.
Bryant is the ninth officer to be shot in Armstrong's 18 months as MPD director.
"It's that phone call that you never want to get," he said.
Copyright 2012 - The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
