Deer Poaching - Wildlife Officer Shot
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Zbone's Link
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/sheriff-3-arrested-after-wildlife-officer-shot-while-investigating-deer-poaching-complaint-in-clinton-county/ar-BB1c5WxF?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds
Three people were arrested after a wildlife officer was shot in Clinton County Sunday, according to the Clinton County Sheriff's Office. The incident took place around 4 p.m. when the Sheriff's Office received a call from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Communications Center saying a wildlife officer was shot and needed assistance.
The Sheriff's Office said wildlife officers were investigating a deer poaching complaint in near Macedonia Road when Kevin Behr, a 25-year veteran Wildlife Investigator, was shot. Behr was airlifted to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He is currently in stable condition, the Sheriff's Office said. Three suspects were taken into custody. Brian Liming, 49, was charged with weapons under disability, no deer permit and hunting without permission. Thomas Davis, 35, was charged with aiding an offender. Brian Achtermann, 36, was charged with not having a hunting license and no deer permit. The Clinton County Sheriff's Office is continuing to investigate the case and will hand it over to the prosecutor's office once it's done. If anyone has any information on this case, they are encouraged to call the Clinton County Sheriff's Office Detective Division at 937-382-1611.
See the irony here?
Law Enforcement will certainly prosecute a shooting if it’s one of their own. I don’t know the details but, since it isn’t attempted murder, I’m assuming it was an accident. Just a little weird they’ll sure throw the charges out there but when a common guy gets shot, seems like charges are hard to find.
All they had to do was say it was a Black Lives Matter demonstration and they'd be home free. They would probably have to loot and burn a few buildings, but what the heck.
"See the irony here? Law Enforcement will certainly prosecute a shooting if it’s one of their own. I don’t know the details but, since it isn’t attempted murder, I’m assuming it was an accident. Just a little weird they’ll sure throw the charges out there but when a common guy gets shot, seems like charges are hard to find."
Anti law enforcement are we ! Sure jumped on that fast with limited info !
WV Mountaineer=Antifa/BLM? Hmmmm
There's a whole lot of missing information in that story.
They should prosecute. We increase charges if racism is a factor, charges ought to be increased when a uniformed officer is attacked. It is definitely a hate motivated crime from what we are seeing lately, IMO.
The story doesn't say he was attacked. If he was they would have more serious charges. Almost sounds like he accidentally shot himself while questioning them but, as I said, there's a lot of information missing from the story.
Zbone's Link
A little more info:
"Officials have not said who shot Behr, but the Ohio Division of Wildlife confirmed Behr was shot "by a suspect.""
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/12/21/ohio-wildlife-officer-shot-during-clinton-county-poaching-investigation-3-arrested/3988417001/
If that’s the case, I’m all for it. As I would be involving anyone. As it was, there was nothing to ensure that.
FWIW, I’m as law enforcement friendly as there is. You can take that to the bank.
Then why would you denigrate them assuming a "common guy" being shot wouldn't get the same level of investigation?
I've met kevin a couple times and he seemed like a really good guy, I wish him a speedy recovery. I'm interested in the rest of the story, the article is a bit short on details.
I’m going to say this and be done. First, everyone take a breath. If you are too dumb to read the link and realize that it wasn’t an attempt to murder the man, then I can’t help you.
Second, there are threads here every year where hunters accidentally shoot other hunters and never get charged. That is most definitely a possibility in this instance too.
Have a merry Christmas
There was an incident where I used to live that could have ended up in a disaster. Wardens were try to catch night poachers in the mountains nearby. One officer decided the best place to hideout was down range from the road. The poacher saw what he thought was a deer and shot. Fortunately he missed the warden. I asked the warden that was speaking to our group why would you hideout down range from where a poacher would be? He got real indignant and yelled Everywhere we are is downrange from shooters!!
I let the game wardens put robo deer on my property and they catch people with muzzle loaders, shotguns and bow and arrow. They told me one guy with a bow was in the back of a pickup truck. The driver stopped and the guy shot an arrow. He missed and shot a second time. Missed again and that is when the warden arrested him. I never did find the arrows. One time two girls stopped and tried to chase the buck because they were afraid some one would shoot it.
More of that needs to be done.
My game warden friend told me about one guy who shot twice at a robo deer out the window of a truck, nothing happened, so his buddy swore at him, grabbed the rifle, and shot too. My friend said he and his partner were doing everything possible to stifle their laughter so the shooters wouldnt hear it..
The guys that set up on my property put the robo deer in a woods road, where it can be seen from the road. One warden, in one of those suits like snipers wear, hides in the bushes. The other is in another woods road, or my back yard with the truck. They have radio communication. The guy in the bushes can make the deer switch it tail and move it's head. I listened in the truck one time and the guy in the bushes told us a vehicle was coming. Then he said they were slowing down and sticking a gun out the window. Then you hear the shot. The warden in the truck drives out of the woods road and turns on the lights. He normally doesn't have to chase them. The wardens know that every one they stop is armed. When the two of them are both in their truck and they stop someone, one goes to the vehicle they stopped and the other stands behind their trucks door. You wouldn't want to mess with the ones I know because every year they have practice with the state police. Naturally they have a shooting contest and the state police have never come close to the wardens. BTW they had to have a new Robo deer since the one they were using got shot to pieces.
A local archery club used to have a shooting contest with law enforcement. Officers have never won or come close.
WV Mountaineer you are making a lot of assumptions about an incident you know none of the facts about! I can tell you that with 25 years experience in the criminal justice system it is not uncommon to not charge a suspect (s) with felonious assault or attempted murder until it is determined by expert medical personnel that the victim will survive his injuries. This prevents the suspect(s) from pleading guilty to a lesser charge only to have victim succumb to his injuries at a later time. Under double jeopardy the suspect(s) could not be charged then with murder. A second reason that comes to mind also is that the officer could not tell investigators which suspect shot him. In that case investigators need to process the evidence before rushing to judgement on who fired the shot. Blue Lives matter and we should all be thankful there are men and women willing to put their lives on the line each day to make this a safer place!
"If you are too dumb to read the link and realize that it wasn’t an attempt to murder the man, then I can’t help you."
What if you are dumb enough to read the article and assume it was an accident?
Justin and I seldom see eye to eye, but having debated him for years he has never been anything other than openly supportive of LE. I believe his posts here are being taken in the wrong context.
Grasshopper, I suspect the fate of the victim will be known well before arraignment date. If it was an obvious attempt at murder, it doesn’t take death to use that one. And, I imagine that has a stiffer sentence then anything they have been charged with as well. Matt, read this and apply it as well. Frank, I always thought we saw things pretty much the same. And, I can assure you my posts are being taken out of context. Except with Matt. He’s special.
I know nothing of the incident, but pertaining to whether or not charges are filed depends on an entire check - list of denominators - but very often the two mitigating factors to be considered are “intent” & “negligence”. This will often determine the difference from an incident being ruled “an accident” or “a crime”.
This article says they believe the shooting was unintentional and that the warden was close to a decoy deer. https://local12.com/news/local/clinton-county-wildlife-officer-shot-while-investigating-poaching-complaint-kevin-behr-thomas-davis-brian-achtermann
WV Mountaineer you are more than likely correct that the incident was not an intentional act to kill the officer. That will be determined with a thorough investigation. But what you don’t realize or at least have not mentioned is that even if there was no intent to shoot the officer the suspect that fired the shot was in the commission of a crime. If you read the ORC that opens the suspect up to being charged with various felony or misdemeanor assault charges. The Initial arraignment is most often held within a few days of the incident which is not enough time to know whether the victim could die from complications like an infection or even something like a stroke related to the injury. So even if the act was completely unintentional the suspect(s) could face charges like negligent homicide, manslaughter etc.
I do indeed realize all that and said as much above. Very plainly. I also said the shooting was indeed a crime and should have been treated as such. You just missed it apparently.