OKC Police Recruit Trainer Testified Officer On Trial For Murder Did Not Follow Training

An Oklahoma City police sergeant who trained Sergeant Keith Sweeney, now on trial for murder, testified in court on Tuesday. He said Sweeney approached a suicidal victim aggressively and caused chaos. The witness gave his opinion about Sweeney’s use

Tuesday, October 29th 2019, 7:05 pm

By: News 9

OKC Police Recruit Trainer Testified Officer On Trial For Murder Did Not Follow Training

The witness gave his opinion about Sweeney’s use of force after watching the body camera footage of the deadly shooting.

Prosecutors called their 10th witness on Tuesday, a Sergeant with experience in training recruits, including Sweeney.

He explained that on scenes there is a primary officer who handles the call and backup officers. Two officers responded at the same time to Dustin Pigeon’s 911 November 2017 suicide call and Sweeney was the third to arrive.

The witness watched the police body camera footage of the shooting and said Sweeney responded with deadly use of force too quickly and rushed the situation. He also told the court the other two officers, who did not use deadly force, responded like they were trained to do.

The other witness to take the stand earlier in the day was a homicide detective.

Inspector Cris Cunningham and another detective interviewed Sweeney for the criminal investigation as seen in this video. Sweeney’s attorney said the statement he gave was voluntary and he had two FOP attorneys present.

“It’s a criminal case,” said John George, OKC FOP President. “So, they get treated the same kind of rights as a citizen would have.”

Prosecutors pointed out that Sweeney was able to view the body camera footage of the shooting prior to the interview and it came five days after the shooting.

“There seemed to be some questions of why it took so long, five days to do an interview,” said George. “But policy says you have to wait at least 48 hours, but it doesn’t have to be in any certain time frame.”

Sweeney’s defense is that he saw Pigeon holding what he thought was a knife. Investigators testified they never found a knife at the scene or on Pigeon.

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