Madison Police Department Facebook
Kevin Walsh, November 7, 2017
This series is based in part on the Madison Police Department’s Citizen Academy (now Community Academy), an annual program for the public.
The table below summarizes the Department’s use of deadly force over five years, from November 2012 to September 2017. Of the four cases in that time, I still had unanswered questions about Paul Heenan and Ashley DiPiazza that were addressed in the Academy Deadly Force session.
| Madison Police Deadly Force (2012-2017) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Description | Comments |
| Nov 9, 2012 | Paul Heenan Shooting | Dispatch call for “possible breaking and entering”, weapons unknown. Heenan found struggling with homeowner outside and then attacking a single officer, who fired shots 3 minutes after the dispatch call. Heenan was killed.1 |
| May 18, 2014 | Ashley DiPiazza Shooting | Dispatch call for domestic disturbance involving a weapon. Subject was found holding a gun to her own head inside an apartment. Negotiator and two other officers were attempting to speak from the apartment doorway. Officers fired shots 49 minutes after the dispatch call. DiPiazza was killed.2 |
| Mar 6, 2015 | Tony Robinson Shooting | Dispatch call to check on a person fighting with friends, jumping into traffic, and strangling a person; no weapon.3 Disputed claim of attacking a single officer at the top of a stairway.4 Officer fired shots 8 minutes after the first dispatch call. Robinson was killed. Autopsy showed signs of psilocybin mushroom, THC, and Xanax.5 |
| Aug 11, 2015 | Paul Heenan Settlement | $2.3 million6 |
| Jun 30, 2016 | Michael Schumacher Shooting | Dispatch call for a home break in. Suspect attacked a single officer with a pitchfork. Officer fired shots 3 minutes after the dispatch call. Schumacher was killed. History of mental illness.7 |
| Feb 22, 2017 | Tony Robinson Settlement | $3.35 million8 |
| Jul 10, 2017 | MPD Procedure Revisions | Deadly Force9 and Non-Deadly Force10 procedures were revised to emphasize protection of all lives, including individuals being arrested, and resolving conflicts through communication, crisis intervention and de-escalation. |
| Jul 14, 2017 | Ashley DiPiazza Jury Award | $7 million11, civil burden of proof was “preponderance of evidence” rather than the criminal “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Total $12.65 million and 4 killed since 2012. |
| Sep 15, 2017 | New MPD Back-Up Procedure12 | To emphasize protection of lives as above, and added waiting for assigned back-up to increase the safety of all involved. |
Paul Heenan
Paul Heenan was an unarmed, intoxicated person entering the wrong home, and fighting first with his neighbor, and then a police officer. Officers are trained to approach high risk situations such as stolen vehicles, burglaries in progress, and robbery alarms with guns drawn, even if there is no current information on weapons. This is because of the “reactionary gap” or delay between seeing a gun and drawing your own.
