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Could have been much much worse. Google “Calhoun traffic stop suicide”.
article (with video embedded)
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/201001260430/NEWS01/1260306(one video – actual suicide and events after edited out)
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/section/videoNetwork#/Local%20News/Police%20footage%20of%20the%20Cook%20traffic%20stop/49764928001/50678324001/64041929001another video (this one shows deputy’s reaction after the shooting but cuts out the part where the BG re-deploys his gun and points it at his own head)
http://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/1996706-Mich-man-commits-suicide-after-traffic-stop/
Driver kills himself after police stop carTrace Christenson • The Enquirer • January 26, 2010
A Battle Creek man shot and killed himself after a Calhoun County deputy stopped his car for a traffic violation early Monday morning.
William Cook, 23, of Battle Creek, held a stolen .45-caliber handgun to his head and pulled the trigger at the end of a two-minute standoff with the deputy, according to Capt. Matt Saxton of the Calhoun County Sheriff Department.Saxton said the 10-year deputy, whose name was not released, stopped Cook about 3 a.m. at the intersection of Wagner Drive and Roosevelt Avenue on the south side of Bailey Park in Pennfield Township.
Saxton said the officer made the traffic stop because of erratic driving, and when he approached the car, Cook told the officer his license was suspended. The deputy also smelled marijuana from inside the car and Cook admitted he had been smoking the drug.
The deputy asked Cook to step from the car, but Saxton said as Cook got out, he reached into his waistband and pulled out the handgun, which had been concealed. The deputy saw the gun and pushed away, Saxton said, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Saxton said Cook then pointed the gun at the officer.
“Cook told the deputy to put his hands on his head,” Saxton said.
Cook didn’t say he would shoot the deputy but that he didn’t want to go back to prison. He was on Calhoun County Circuit Court probation for a weapons offense. [Deputy found this out prior to extracting]“He said, ‘I’m just going to go home and put a bullet in my head,'” Saxton said. “They continue to talk and the deputy remains calm while the subject talks about going home to kill himself because I can’t go back to prison.”
Saxton said as the deputy tried to talk Cook into putting down the gun, Cook then pointed it at his own head. [Cook had already put his gun away and then re-deployed it.] The deputy took that moment to move to cover to the passenger side of his patrol car, which was behind Cook’s vehicle.
The deputy continued to talk to Cook, telling him to put down the handgun. But then, Cook lowered the gun, pulled back the slide, placed it at the side of his head and pulled the trigger.
Cook was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputy was treated at Battle Creek Health System for a knee injury he sustained when he stumbled.
Saxton said the handgun was reported stolen in Hastings.
The entire incident was captured on a video recorder mounted inside the patrol car, Saxton said.Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or [email protected].
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