David Charles Dolby
May 14, 1946(1946-05-14) – August 6, 2010 (aged 64)
Who decides if a man has a Warrior's status ?

On Friday, August 6, David C. Dolby passed away suddenly in Spirit Lake, Idaho at the age of 64. Childless, Mr. Dolby had lived in virtual seclusion in the town of Barto, PA since the passing of his wife in 1997. Barto is so small and insignificant the Rand McNally Atlas doesn’t even list it in its appendix. Mr. Dolby’s passing went so unnoticed that even his hometown paper didn’t acknowledge it. His passing was announced by an organization to which he belonged. Evidently most felt Mr. Dolby’s death didn’t merit any notice at all and almost nobody gave it a thought. He apparently hadn’t done anything in his life to merit any special attention.... later this week a funeral service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery. There won’t be any press there and likely only a handful of mourners who had the privilege to know David Dolby. And there will probably be a few guys there that are fellow members of the organization that announced his passing: the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Awards Medal of Honor

Dolby's official citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, when his platoon, while advancing tactically, suddenly came under intense fire from the enemy located on a ridge immediately to the front. Six members of the platoon were killed instantly and a number were wounded, including the platoon leader. Sgt. Dolby's every move brought fire from the enemy. However, aware that the platoon leader was critically wounded, and that the platoon was in a precarious situation, Sgt. Dolby moved the wounded men to safety and deployed the remainder of the platoon to engage the enemy. Subsequently, his dying platoon leader ordered Sgt. Dolby to withdraw the forward elements to rejoin the platoon. Despite the continuing intense enemy fire and with utter disregard for his own safety, Sgt. Dolby positioned able-bodied men to cover the withdrawal of the forward elements, assisted the wounded to the new position, and he, alone, attacked enemy positions until his ammunition was expended. Replenishing his ammunition, he returned to the area of most intense action, single-handedly killed 3 enemy machine gunners and neutralized the enemy fire, thus enabling friendly elements on the flank to advance on the enemy redoubt. He defied the enemy fire to personally carry a seriously wounded soldier to safety where he could be treated and, returning to the forward area, he crawled through withering fire to within 50 meters of the enemy bunkers and threw smoke grenades to mark them for air strikes. Although repeatedly under fire at close range from enemy snipers and automatic weapons, Sgt. Dolby directed artillery fire on the enemy and succeeded in silencing several enemy weapons. He remained in his exposed location until his comrades had displaced to more secure positions. His actions of unsurpassed valor during 4 hours of intense combat were a source of inspiration to his entire company, contributed significantly to the success of the overall assault on the enemy position, and were directly responsible for saving the lives of a number of his fellow soldiers. Sgt. Dolby's heroism was in the highest tradition of the U.S. Army

In God We Trust

Police kill burglary suspect in Northlake; 2 officers wounded
August 19, 2010 11:51 PM |
Police in west suburban Northlake said their officers shot and killed a burglary suspect who pulled a knife on them Thursday.
Two Northlake officers were wounded by the knife-wielding suspect as they tried to subdue him, authorities said. The officers responded to a burglary in progress call in the 0-100 block of Armitage Avenue at about 9:27 a.m., Northlake police said in a news release. After getting a description of the burglar, officers quickly spotted the suspect, who led the pursuing officers on a six-minute foot chase through several blocks and several homes' yards, police said. When officers managed to stop the suspect in the 400 block of Haber Court and attempted to take him into custody, he pulled a knife and attempted to stab one of the officers, police said. The officers, who were injured in the scuffle, shot and wounded the suspect. The officers and the suspect were all taken to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in Elmhurst, where the suspect was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m., police said.

As odd as it seems, both cases worked their ways through the civil justice system simultaneously, some 3,000 miles apart; and, within a one-month period, your humble columnist traversed the nation and began the education process for two U.S. District Court juries. The Defense Strategy

In sum and substance, both were given 45-minute primers on what constitutes passive resistance or passive noncompliance, depending on the terminology of the respective agencies. They appeared to listen carefully to the definitions and examples of both passive resistance/passive noncompliance and the reasonableness of soft control techniques to counter that level of resistance. They were given specifics on how those techniques were designed to permit the application of handcuffs with minimal chance of injury if the subject ceased their passive resistance, or how they might escalate to take-downs and ground stabilization or higher levels of physical control techniques should he choose not to comply. They heard that although neither subject offered mechanical or physical energy enhancement toward the officer(s), their verbal noncompliance, body language and intimidating demeanor constituted resistance to what the court had already determined to be lawful orders issued by the officers.

They were also informed that officers are universally trained and taught that reasonable physical force is authorized to restrain, detain or subdue a resistant individual and/or bring an unlawful situation effectively under control. Apparently they listened well, because within one hour—both juries, some 3,000 miles apart—came back with verdicts exonerating the respective officers. One jury even asked if they could order the plaintiff to pay the defense’s legal expenses, something the defense in Florida began to initiate within two days. The Alaska jury didn’t make such a request, but it didn’t matter. There, provisions are in place for partial compensation when the defense prevails at trial.

Conclusion
What helped both defenses greatly were the reports authored by the respective officers. Without exception, their subject management reports were concise, yet detailed and complete. Their articulation of the events that occurred before, during and after the encounters was exceptional. This was especially remarkable because, in one case, the officer was deposed almost four years after the fact. None of the depositions contained any contradictory information from what was in the statements/reports filed after the incident. Both cases were helped by the highly competent defense attorneys retained by the agencies. I was fortunate to be retained during the early stages of the litigation and was able to consult frequently with the defense counsels.

The moral of the story? Don’t automatically discount even minor force applications that occur during what some officers might perceive to be mundane and routine arrests