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BART police on Wednesday defended the decision to send in a group of detectives and officers rather than the SWAT team to conduct a probation search of a Dublin apartment, an operation that ended tragically when one of the transit agency officers accidentally shot and killed a sergeant who was his supervisor.

At a news conference at BART headquarters, Police Chief Kenton Rainey did not provide details on what led to the death of Tom "Tommy" Smith, the 42-year-old head of the detective bureau.

But he said five BART police detectives, two uniformed officers and an Alameda County sheriff's deputy had converged Tuesday afternoon to search a one-bedroom apartment belonging to 20-year-old John Henry Lee. The robbery suspect was already in custody, having been arrested Thursday after allegedly leading San Leandro police on a chase to Oakland in a car stolen from a BART lot.

The officers, Rainey said, were hoping to recover stolen laptops and other property from inside the unit at the Park Sierra Apartments at 6450 Dougherty Road.

But for some reason that police have yet to explain, a plainclothes detective that sources identified as Officer Michael Maes shot and killed Smith at about 1:45 p.m. The only people inside the apartment at the time were cops.

Rainey declined to say whether the detective who fired could have mistaken Smith for a suspect, or if the gun could have accidentally discharged. Officials said the shooting was under investigation by several agencies.

But Rainey defended the decision by his officers to conduct the search without a SWAT team, noting that the suspect was behind bars. The chief said BART police officers, like their counterparts in agencies around the state, are qualified to do probation searches.

"Our officers are trained to conduct this type of incident - going out, doing a probation search of an individual who was wanted for committing crimes on BART property," the chief said. "He was in custody. This is not uncommon for law-enforcement officers to do follow-up investigation and try to recover stolen property."

He added, "They're supposed to practice good officer safety and in accordance with their training - and I'm very confident in the training that our personnel have received to make sure they're prepared to deal with these type of encounters and situations, because you never know what's on the other side of the door."

Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the agency that has jurisdiction in Dublin, said the officers went into the apartment through an unlocked front door. Noticing that is was unlocked, he said, they may have inferred that the unit was occupied and gone in under a heightened concern for safety.

"They did exactly what was normal," Nelson said.

Rainey did not say Wednesday whether the shooting was captured on visor cameras that BART issued to all officers up to the rank of sergeant. Uniformed officers are required to wear the cameras, and it is optional for plainclothes detectives to wear them, he said.

Smith, who joined BART as a teenage cadet before working his way up through the ranks, leaves behind his wife, Kellie, who is also a BART police officer, and their 6-year-old daughter. He has two brothers in law enforcement - one an Alameda County sheriff's deputy, the other a Newark officer.

"Tommy was a great law-enforcement officer, but even a better son, brother, husband, father and friend," Rainey said. "He touched many lives in a positive way. Both professionally and personally, he will be sorely missed."

He said Smith was a "great guy" with a "can-do attitude. Very, very supportive of his personnel. Just a really, really happy guy, family man."

The investigation is being handled by the Dublin police force, a division of the sheriff's office. All eight officers who were at the apartment have been interviewed, Nelson said.

Maes has been placed on administrative leave. Without identifying the officer, Rainey said he had met with him Tuesday night and reassured him, "We will get through this together as an agency."

His voice faltered as he added, "We're in shock, disbelief, we're numb. We're grieving, and please give us some time."

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Originally posted by 90GT510:
BART cops don't need guns its been proven time and time again.

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