Lubbock police explain lethal force policy, officer-involved shooting protocols

Earlier this month, Lubbock police responded to a reported domestic disturbance with a man who was allegedly intoxicated and damaging property at a home in east Lubbock.

Police say the man, 39-year-old Eliseo Montalvo Padilla III, refused to follow the responding officer's commands, drew a handgun and fired at the officer. Despite what police said was the officer's attempt to use a non-lethal tactic on Padilla -a stun gun - that effort failed and the officer responded by firing shots at him. Padilla was critically wounded and now faces multiple felony charges while the officer was placed on paid administrative leave, as per department policy, while the incident was investigated.

It was the third officer-involved shooting of the year — one less than the city saw in 2023, but an outcome that police say they make efforts to avoid.

After any officer-involved shooting, many questions from the public are raised, including if the use of force was necessary, if something else have been done to avoid the use of force, among others.

With that in mind, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal took those questions to the Lubbock Police Department to gain a better understanding of how the department trains officers when using deadly force in certain situations.

How many officer-involved shootings have there been in Lubbock?

There have been three officer-involved shootings so far in Lubbock in 2024. One was reported on June 4 and another on June 23. The third was on Aug. 8. All three came as officers responded to reported disturbances involving armed suspects.

Dig deeper: Police offer details after 1 injured in officer-involved shooting in East Lubbock

According to LPD, Lubbock saw four officer-involved shootings in 2023, one in 2022, zero in 2021, and 3 in 2020.

What is LPD's policy on the use of lethal force?

Chapter 6 of LPD's general manual states that "it is the policy of the LPD to value and preserve human life. Officers shall use only the force that is objectively reasonable to effectively bring an incident under control, while protecting the safety of officers and others."

The manual goes on to state officers should only resort to lethal force after all other means have been exhausted and "may use any tactic or weapon available in emergencies when reasonably necessary to protect themselves or others from imminent serious bodily injury or death."

The manual further states that there are five authorized situations where an officer can use their gun:

• "When deadly force is justified according to policy."

• "During range practice, officially sponsored marksmanship events, legal hunting, or LPD-approved testing."

• "To destroy animals threatening public or officer safety or that are seriously injured."

The two other ways were not released due to the Texas Attorney General allowing them to be redacted via in a ruling on an open records request from 2020.

According to LPD, deadly force can not be used if the threat of the person's actions is to themselves or property.

What dictates LPD's lethal force policy?

LPD Cpl. Jared Flood said Chapter 9 of the Texas Penal Code dictates what officers can and can not do.

"All these courses, our policy, they all circle back to chapter nine of the penal code, which tells us when you can and cannot use force and when you can and cannot use deadly force," Flood said.

How many hours of training do officers have to go through?

LPD Lt. Brady Cross said officers have to complete a thousand hours of training in total while in the academy before working with the public.

"When the public thinks of the police, you think of a guy with a badge and a gun, so that is the paramount of what we can do is pulling that trigger," Cross said. "So all that 1,000 hours, really all comes together to teach about this chapter nine."

Flood said that officers are put into five different scenarios during training that allow them to practice how to use varying degrees of force during different circumstances or if the situation calls for force to be used.

"Consider you're standing in the middle of a circle, then you can reach out and grab whichever force option is appropriate in that situation," Flood said. "You don't have to start with verbal commands and then increase to weaponless tactics, and then go weapons tactics, and then go deadly force. You can use whatever force is appropriate."

What happens when an officer-involved shooting occurs?

According to LPD policy, the protocol is that after shots have been fired, the officer must notify dispatch and request EMS for injured persons, even if they appear to be dead.

"Once the officers called that shots fired, and the subject can be safely approached, they begin life-saving measures," said LPD Lt. Misti Snodgrass. "Every officer that's showing up is assisting with that until EMS arrives. And then, once EMS arrives, we let them take over."

From there, the officer must remain on scene until a supervisor arrives with the officer having to do the following:

• Protect their firearm as evidence.

• Not to discuss the firing of the weapon with other officers or witnesses without supervisor approval unless necessary for officer safety.

• Review their audio and video recordings, LPD policy and state law before making reports or giving statements.

"Before an officer gives a statement, before they put anything on paper, we make sure they have two to three sleep cycles before we ask them to come in and recount everything that's going on," Cross said.

During this time, supervisors are tasked with staying "with the officer to provide assistance, discuss the incident, and drive the officer to the police department as soon as possible."

A watch commander will alert the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit, Office of Professional Standards, and Public Information Officer, along with the police chief and all assistant chiefs. They will also arrange to have the Crisis Team Coordinator or other Crisis Team members respond to assist the officer.

From there, the officer is placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation and will be referred to a psychological service.

"It is made sure that they are ready to come back to work, that you're not just coming back because you say you're ready," Cross said. "We're going to make sure ready."

Where are the investigation findings published?

When someone dies in an officer-involved shooting, it is classified as an in-custody death and must be reported to the Texas Attorney General's Office within 30 days.

The full report can be found at oag.my.site.com/cdr/cdrreportdeaths.

What non-lethal force can officers use during situations?

According to LPD policy, officers are allowed to use the following less-lethal force options:

• Weaponless tactics.

• Chemical agents.

• Tasers.

• Impact weapons.

Cpl. Flood said that officers undergo 16 hours of training on how to use a Taser, specifically looking at "how the Taser operates and how the effects of Taser affect different people."

What resources does LPD provide the officers, public after a shooting?

During officer-involved shootings, Snodgrass said mental health professionals, LPD's peer team, and Critical Incident Stress Management Team are activated, and services are provided to the officers and everyone else involved, down to the police chief and the public information officers.

"We've also got our chaplain program, so if they need more of a spiritual outlook," Snodgrass said. "There's no domination related to the chaplain program, they just have that extra training in the religious side of things."

Families of the officers are also provided support during this time as well.

As for other persons involved in the OIS, the family is offered Victim Assistance Team; however, Snodgrass says most of the time, the family turns down the service.

How often does LPD review its lethal force policy?

Cross said the department and law enforcement as a whole is developing in using less-lethal force during certain situations; however, the public is also changing.

"While we evolve and change, also at our core, we're not changing because we're guided by chapter nine," Cross said. "So what that tells to me is that society and public is changing. And so when you see an increase in shootings, know that the police department is training and doing everything we can to reduce that, but at some point, we're reacting to what this other person is doing to us."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock police lethal force policy, officer-involved shooting protocol