While headlines about police shootings continue to dominate the American news in 2015, such a tragedy was avoided during the early morning hours of Sept. 4 when police from the Santa Maria Police Department neutralized a knife-wielding man with a couple of beanbags instead of bullets.
According to SMPD Lt. James Ginter, officers responded to a family disturbance in the 1200 block of West Bethel at 1:30 a.m. where they found 22-year-old Michael Terrill of Santa Maria allegedly drunk and holding a 12-inch kitchen knife.
Ginter said that Terrill aggressively approached them as they were speaking to his mother, and he threatened to kill the police officers. The officers gave repeated demands to drop the knife, but Terrill charged the police and demanded that they shoot him.
Instead of shooting him, SMPD officers fired two “less-than-lethal” beanbag rounds into Terrill’s upper body, causing him to retreat inside the second story of his apartment, according to a police report.
At this point, police said that Terrill put the knife to his throat and refused to surrender. After several minutes, police talked Terrill into dropping the knife. Terrill was arrested a short time later and taken to Marian Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for minor contusions he received from the beanbag rounds.
“Fortunately they were able to use less-than-lethal force,” Ginter said.
After being discharged from the hospital, Terrill was booked into county jail on suspicion of felony threats against the officers.
This story contrasts from a situation in Lompoc last April where Timothy Xiong, an officer with the Lompoc Police Department, shot a 17-year-old boy after he charged Xiong with a 9-inch grilling fork. The teenager survived and Xiong was reinstated to duty.
SMPD officers used beanbag rounds last May to stop 36-year-old Deadrick Rollins, who police say was wanted for a suspected for felony hit-and-run and brandishing a knife.
This article appears in Sep 10-17, 2015.
