Veterans For America

Kevin Johnson, USA Today

Shortly after Wayne Williamson returned to Texas from an 11- month deployment to Iraq as an Army reservist, he began jumping at virtually every unexpected sound.

Although his attorney says his reactions were perhaps classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Williamson told no one, including his supervisors at the Austin Police Department, until March — after he opened fire on an unarmed suspect during a brief foot chase.

The suspect was not hit, but one of the three rounds struck a parked van, narrowly missing two children inside. The shooting cost Williamson his job, and prosecutors are reviewing whether his reactions were criminal.

“In hindsight, everyone believes he should not have fired,” says Tom Stribling, Williamson’s attorney. “His assessment of the threat level was wrong. He was assessing (the incident) as if he was back in the military, not from a police officer’s side of it.”

Police and mental health authorities say Williamson’s case represents an increasing concern about thousands of returning reservists. Unlike other part-time soldiers, they resume duties that sometimes require the use of lethal force under conditions very different from the combat zone.

In Austin and at most civilian police agencies, officers generally can use deadly force only when there is a threat of death or serious harm to the officers or others.

For those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, lethal force is a central part of the mission. Rules governing its use vary where enemy attacks are constant threats.

“You can’t just put people back in these jobs, give them their badge and gun and expect that things are going to be fine,” says Stephen Curran, a Maryland psychologist who counsels officers. “Getting back into the flow of things is a challenge (for returning officers). Most make it, but there are others who come back with problems.”

Of particular concern, Curran says, are the long-term effects of prolonged and close-range exposure to blasts from mortar fire or improvised explosive devices. Even when there is no apparent physical injury, repeated exposure can trigger symptoms similar to concussion, which can substantially alter victims’ ability to concentrate.

“Recovery time can be a year or more,” Curran says of the condition, which is not easily diagnosed.

Although thousands of officers served in Vietnam, the Iraq war differs because of the urban combat and the military’s unprecedented reliance on reservists, who routinely are dispatched to the front lines there and in Afghanistan.

“With the Reserves, there was no prior expectation that they would be called to a combat circumstance,” says Audrey Honig, chief psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The department, which has about 500 deputies and civilian employees subject to military service, established a mandatory “repatriation” program in 2004 and has since expanded it.

The four-day program requires officers to meet with department psychologists, and supervisors closely monitor them for at least a year. Officers assigned to patrol duties spend their first days back with another officer in vehicles usually manned by a single officer.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Cmdr. Gil Jurado says the department added the program’s fourth day last summer after questions surfaced about two prior use-of-force incidents involving deputies who served as reservists. Both deputies were disciplined but remain on the force.

In one case, Jurado says, the deputy explained his decision to fire his weapon by using a military expression that he was “laying down cover fire” rather than firing at a specific target.

Jurado says department regulations require deputies to choose specific targets when using potentially lethal force. After the two incidents, the department began testing returning officers’ responses in various use-of-force scenarios.

In Tucson, police psychologist Mary-Wales North says the department’s reorientation activities include a debriefing by a department psychologist before and after deployments. Returning officers spend about two weeks training on the shooting range and get refresher courses on high-speed driving.

In Austin, where Williamson is appealing the department’s decision to fire him, police officials say the officer’s actions could have ended in tragedy.

The March 14 chase started shortly after Williamson and officer Chris Davis responded to a report of a fight involving two men.

Initial reports suggested the fleeing suspect may have been armed with a knife. A department report later concluded that neither officer saw a weapon during the pursuit.

Williamson fired two of the three rounds as the suspect ran through a crowded shopping center and officer Davis was “in the line of fire,” the report says.

One of the rounds was found lodged in a parked van with two children, a 14-year-old and a 4-month-old, sitting inside.

“It is pure luck that none of officer Williamson’s shots struck the children,” the department report says. “Several patrons of the shopping center were outraged that officer Williamson was shooting his gun into the parking lot.”

The report by Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo discounted Williamson’s claim that his Iraq experience clouded his “overall judgment” because Williamson had never informed military authorities of his problems.

Williamson did not respond to requests for comment made through his attorney.

Austin requires all officers to undergo recertification training after prolonged absences from duty, including deployment for military service, Detective James Mason says. However, there is no program tailored to reservists returning from combat.

The Williamson incident and concerns raised by other departments may change that.

“Given what’s happened, there may be at some point in time,” Mason says.