TodayCarlisle police officer shot and wounded man Saturday
The incident happened during what police call a “violent domestic attack” in a parking lot.
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Robert B. Scheib, 24. Photograph courtesy of the Carlisle Police Department.
A man who was shot and wounded by a Carlisle police officer Saturday is recovering today as the investigation of the incident continues, according to Carlisle Mayor Kirk Wilson.
Speaking at a press conference Sunday, Wilson and Police Chief Stephen Margeson said they believe the use of force Cpl. David Miller used in firing a single shot at Robert B. Scheib was justified.
Describing what prompted the shooting as a “violent domestic attack,” Wilson said Scheib, 24, of Windy Hill Road, Shermans Dale, had been driving recklessly through the Carlisle Commons shopping center parking lot with a woman on the hood and windshield of his van.
“At any speed it’s an unsafe act,” Wilson said.
Police were informed of the situation about 10:15 p.m. when a 10-year-old boy called 911 and reported that he was inside Scheib’s 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan. His mother, a 30-year-old woman from Dillsburg, was on the hood of the van, he said, and Scheib was trying to break the windshield from inside with his fists and then a screwdriver.
“There was an argument between the two,” said Margeson, noting that it’s not yet clear precisely what prompted the argument. But, he said, both became emotionally upset, and the woman was apparently trying to keep Scheib from leaving while her son was in the van.
“She actually jumped up to protect herself from being run over,” Margeson said when asked how the woman ended up on the hood. Scheib drove around the back of the complex with the woman on the hood and windshield, police said, and as two marked police cars surrounded him, stopped in front of Wal-Mart.
There are reports, Wilson said, that the boy asked Scheib if he was trying to kill his mother, and that Scheib replied, “If anybody’s going to be dying here tonight it’s going to be me by police.”
The boy got out of the van when Scheib stopped, police said. With the woman still on the hood, her hand reportedly caught between the windshield and the hood, Scheib refused to follow police orders to exit his vehicle and tried to flee the scene, Wilson said, backing up and repeatedly ramming an occupied cruiser that was behind him.
Margeson said the extent of damage to the cruiser is not yet clear but that it was pushed back about 30 feet.
“There were multiple people around,” Margeson said. “There were shoppers coming and going.”
The officials declined to quote exactly what Scheib told the officers, but Margeson said he made it very clear that he was not going to comply with their orders.
One man later told police that he had been planning to try to rescue the woman but backed off when he saw the officers show up, Wilson added.
At some point, the woman got off the hood, but was still in front of the van, Wilson said. Officer Chris Collare tried to subdue Scheib with a Taser through an open window, he said, but due to the small opening, that was unsuccessful.
“That was when Miller, fearing for his safety, that of the other police officers and a large number of bystanders in the busy parking lot, fired one shot,” the mayor explained.
The shot, Margeson said, hit Scheib’s left shoulder and went into his torso. Scheib was taken to Hershey Medical Center, police said. Hospital staff would not comment on his condition Sunday, but Wilson said Scheib was doing well enough that officers were interviewing him at the time of the press conference.
The last instance in which a Carlisle officer shot someone was in May 2003, Margeson said, and in that case the person also recovered.
“He’s weighing the use of deadly force versus what happens if I don’t use deadly force,” Margeson said, pointing out that the officer’s determination was that Scheib’s actions constituted the use of deadly force.
“After interviewing numerous witnesses and police officers, it is my opinion that Police Corporal David Miller used the force necessary to ensure the safety of police, as well as the many people in the parking lot,” Wilson said.
Both Collare and Miller have been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is complete and will undergo critical incident stress counseling, Wilson said, noting that is standard practice.
In addition to allowing time for an investigation by the department, district attorney’s office and county forensic team to issue a final judgement on whether the use of force was perfectly appropriate, Wilson said, the leave is also structured to give the two a break.
The woman, of Glenview Circle in Dillsburg, suffered leg injuries but refused treatment, Wilson said, and the boy was unharmed. Because Wal-Mart has just finished remodeling, Wilson said, the surveillance cameras on the outside of the store were not functioning at the time of the incident. He asks anyone who has photographs of videos of the incident to call the department at 243-5252.
Police are planning to file charges against Scheib, Wilson said, but it’s too early yet to say precisely what those will be. The department has not had previous experience with either Scheib or the woman, he added, and there is no indication that either of them was intoxicated.
