Undercover police work is inherently dangerous, as anyone in law enforcement will attest. Even when the undercover officers have plenty of training and experience, even when the scenario has been appropriately scripted, even when backup officers are at the ready - something can go wrong. In a flash, the situation can go from controlled to deadly.
That is what happened Thursday evening in Largo.
Largo officers had planned that night to arrest a man they suspected was selling drugs in the city. An undercover officer arranged to buy drugs from suspect Leroy Brown at the Sunoco gas station on Clearwater-Largo Road. She was wearing a wire so officers listening nearby could hear when the transaction was completed and move in for the arrest.
According to the Largo Police Department, undercover officers already had purchased drugs from Brown on four occasions without problems. There was no reason to believe that the last buy would be any different.
But something went wrong. Just as the undercover officer was stepping into Brown's car to make the buy, Brown hit the gas, crashing his car into a taxi parked at the gas station. The officers who were listening heard the commotion, knew the officer was in trouble and moved in quickly. According to police, Brown sped toward officers standing in the parking lot and they felt they were in jeopardy. Two of them fired, hitting Brown three times. He died shortly afterward. The incident also left two officers injured.
The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office will rule on whether the shooting was justified. The Largo Police Department also will do an internal affairs investigation.
But another agency will investigate as well. Largo police Chief Lester Aradi called Sheriff Everett Rice from the scene Thursday night to ask the Sheriff's Office to investigate the shooting. Aradi showed good judgment in doing so. The two Largo officers who fired at Brown, Joe Coyle and Paul Amodeo, are detectives. They also are veterans who have been with the department a long time. If Aradi had not called in outside investigators, other Largo detectives would have been the ones to investigate their own longtime colleagues. The investigation would have been tainted by that conflict.
There is no indication at this point that the shooting was not justified. However, the Sheriff's Office investigation, as well as the Largo department's internal investigation, should examine whether officers moved into harm's way as Brown was trying to leave the station. Shootings in Oldsmar and St. Petersburg occurred when officers moved in front of a suspect's car. Several police agencies have since emphasized to their officers that they should not step into the path of a suspect's car.
The investigation also should look at whether it was appropriate to try to make the undercover drug buy in that location: a gas station parking lot where there were customers, gas pumps, heavy traffic passing on Clearwater-Largo Road and the potential for innocent bystanders to be hurt.
