Man attacks state trooper with chainsaw

[zombie-a-go-go]

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man was shot and killed by police Monday after he ignored pepper spray and officers' commands and attacked a state trooper with a chain saw, authorities said.

At least 13 bullets struck William Henkle after state and local officers who had surrounded him opened fire, police said.

Henkle, 40, allegedly struck Trooper Michael Hartzel in the shoulder, lower back and buttocks with the saw. The trooper was treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released.

Henkle called 911 early Monday and said he was having a heart attack, but when police and an ambulance arrived, he was outside the house with the chain saw running, said Capt. Kenneth Hill, commander of the state police barracks at Wyoming.

About 10 state and local officers formed a semicircle around Henkle and ordered him to drop the chain saw, but he revved the saw and refused to put it down, Hill said.

Police said they used pepper spray, then fired when Henkle lunged at Hartzel.

[Redsland]

I haven't heard a good angel dust story in a while.

[westofyou]

I haven't heard a good angel dust story in a while.

me either.. makes you long for Mork and Mindy and the Knack.

[zombie-a-go-go]

If you want to pick the worst possible weapon to try and wound someone with, going with the chainsaw wouldn't be a bad choice (apart from water balloons or stuffed animals ro something, nayway). If you swing a chainsaw at something, it'll just bounce off - it cuts through wood (limbs, etc.) through abrasion, like a high-speed piece of sandpaper.

[Johnny Footstool]

I'm glad the cops finally brought Leatherface to justice.

[TRF]

If you want to pick the worst possible weapon to try and wound someone with, going with the chainsaw wouldn't be a bad choice (apart from water balloons or stuffed animals ro something, nayway). If you swing a chainsaw at something, it'll just bounce off - it cuts through wood (limbs, etc.) through abrasion, like a high-speed piece of sandpaper.

yeah, but it's scary.

if you want to scare the crap out of someone a chainsaw ain't a bad choice.

[RedsBaron]

yeah, but it's scary.

if you want to scare the crap out of someone a chainsaw ain't a bad choice.

Yeah it's scary, but bringing a chainsaw to a gunfight ain't a good choice.

[RFS62]

Sounds like suicide to me

[creek14]

If you want to pick the worst possible weapon to try and wound someone with, going with the chainsaw wouldn't be a bad choice (apart from water balloons or stuffed animals ro something, nayway). If you swing a chainsaw at something, it'll just bounce off - it cuts through wood (limbs, etc.) through abrasion, like a high-speed piece of sandpaper.

It scares me a little that it sounds like you are speaking from experience. :

[GAC]

It scares me a little that it sounds like you are speaking from experience. :

He use to practice on his sister's Barbie dolls! :MandJ:

[zombie-a-go-go]

It scares me a little that it sounds like you are speaking from experience. :

Ah, the spoils of a misspent youth... :MandJ:

[RedFanAlways1966]

Ignored pepper spray? Would have been nice if these officers would have had a taser gun to use. Might have avoided having to kill the suspect.

Kind of makes me wonder why 10 officers needed to shoot at one suspect who seemed to be an easy target? How about two officers with guns aimed at the suspect's lower legs?

Oh well... the suspect's family will probably win a few million in a lawsuit.

[Red Heeler]

Ignored pepper spray? Would have been nice if these officers would have had a taser gun to use. Might have avoided having to kill the suspect.

Kind of makes me wonder why 10 officers needed to shoot at one suspect who seemed to be an easy target? How about two officers with guns aimed at the suspect's lower legs?

Oh well... the suspect's family will probably win a few million in a lawsuit.

It does sound like rather excessive use of force by the officers. It's not that hard to stay out of range of a guy weilding a chainsaw. Like you said, a bullet or two to the knees should have been sufficient if less-than-lethal weapons were not available.

I watched a news segment about Tazers the other day. I can't remember where, but some jurisdiction stopped using them because they caused heart arrest in 2 people. While that is tragic for those 2 people, how many more would have been shot to death had the Tazers not been available?

[REDREAD]

Oh well... the suspect's family will probably win a few million in a lawsuit.

Kind of doubt it.. The suspect actually made contact with the policeman with the saw. The police should have an easy time justifying deadly force.
Particularly, as long as one juror has seen "Scarface"

[CougarQuest]

Very likely, this agency did not have Tasers. Since the article states they used Pepper Spray, a Taser would have been the first option, not Pepper Spray.

I'm not aware of a single police agency in the USA that trains any patrol officers to shoot at legs or arms. They might in the movies, but not in real life. In fact, in International Training I've been involved in, every agency from the US trains at body mass, while other nations trains for head shots if the person is not moving (I might add, don't mess with the Brazilian National Prosecutors). When "it hits the fan", it's hard enough to hit body mass, much less very movable body parts.

At scenes like this, no one officer is 'assigned' to be the one to shoot if the situation dictates. It's the responsibility of every single officer at the scene to protect innocent citizens and the other officers. A fraction of a second could mean death of an innocent person.

This sounds like "Suicide by Cop". He couldn't bring himself to kill himself, but he wanted to die and was going to push the cops until they had no choice but to shoot him. Based on statistics, there will be a couple of these cops that won't be able to handle what they just went through. They'll leave police work within a year.