Police release report in friendly fire shooting
Today's papers gives you a story on the final police report into the January shooting in which four Baltimore police officers mistook their colleague for a civilian and fatally shot him outside the Select Lounge.
The shooting, which killed Officer William H. Torbit Jr. and one his attackers, stunned a city and left the police department reeling. The report -- more than 1,100 pages -- describes the chaotic moments that night in which 42 bullets were fired.
One officer standing off to the side recognized Torbit and screamed, "Stop shooting, he's one of us," as did a deputy police major. An officer who fired, realizing after what she had done, cradled the dying Torbit in her arms, and could then be seen crying over him on the street.
Many questions remain -- among them, did Torbit, while lying on his back, fire up into a crowd of attackers after or while they were dispersing due to another officer's pepper spray? A commission is still looking into the event and could recommend changes in the department's rules and regulations.







