A Sugarloaf Shores woman who was walking on Front Street during the police shootout last July, told police that she had been terrified by all the shooting and questioned the need for firing shots with innocent pedestrians nearby.
But, according to a signed statement by Toni Marie Busick, a police officer's response was to say, "That's life"— and to ask her how much she had to drink at dinner.
About Midnight on July 22, police officers fired at least eight shots— or more— at a fleeing pickup truck on Front Street headed toward busy Duval. Two months after the incident, Police Chief Buz Dillon still refuses to answer questions about what the officers were shooting at— and whether or not they hit anything.
But KWTN reported last week that as many as a dozen officers may be disciplined on charges ranging from wrongful discharge of firearms to improper chase procedures. Internal affairs hearings are reportedly underway.
"We were walking out of A&B Lobster House on Front Street after dinner and we saw a truck speeding toward us with two cop cars chasing it," Busick said. "The truck almost hit us— so we moved closer to the windows of the shops.
"I saw the truck go into the parking lot of the A&B— and, then, three more cop cars came. When the truck came out of the parking lot, it hit one cop cars in the front. That is when I heard five or more gun shots, in a row, sounding the same. I never saw any officer on foot nor did I see the driver of the truck as the windows were up.
"Once I heard the gunshots, I became very scared and I was pulled onto a bench by my friends. We all huddled together until we saw the truck and all the cops leave."
Busick said an officer returned to the scene about 15 minutes later.
"I was very upset by the gunshots," she said. "I felt that I was in danger."
She estimated that she had been about 15 feet from the shooting. She said that the shooting was especially traumatic for her since her husband had recently been shot to death.
"The officer wasn't sympathetic," Busick said. "He spoke down to me with a nasty attitude and asked me how much I had to drink at dinner. I told him I had one drink, but that had nothing to do with why I was upset and crying.
"I don't understand why there were shots fired with innocent pedestrians walking down the sidewalk. But I was told by a detective that sometimes happens and its life."
In an early report to the City Manager and City Commissioners, Dillon said— possibly in an effort to soften thee impact of police officers firing shots in conjested Old Town— that a man in the truck had a gun and was shooting at officers— and that his men were only returning fire. But after the cops couldn't find a gun, that story was apparently abandoned. Last week, KWTN reported the charges pending against the couple in the pickup truck. They don't include firing at officers.
Stay tuned. KWTN continues to be the only newspaper covering this story.