Knox County – Monday night, April 29, at approximately 9:59, a Knox County Deputy was driving down Wilbur Street in Vincennes when he was flagged down by friends of Ross A. Darkis, 42, who resided at 215 Wilbur Street. Darkis was intoxicated and was in possession of a handgun on his front porch. He had been arguing with his girlfriend earlier in the evening and was very upset according to his friends. Additional officers from Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Vincennes City Police arrived. Officers attempted to get Darkis to surrender his weapon, but he refused. Officers used a taser and a weapon that discharges a small bean-bag in attempt to diffuse the situation, but both non-lethal weapons were unsuccessful. At approximately 10:25 p.m., Darkis raised the handgun he was holding toward the officers. In order to protect themselves and other officers on scene, several of the officers fired their weapons. Darkis was struck multiple times and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes where he was pronounced dead several minutes later. The identity of the Vincennes City Police Officers and Knox County Sheriff’s Deputy involved in the shooting are not being released at this time. No officers were injured.
The investigation is continuing.
DECEASED:
• Ross A. Darkis, 42, 215 Wilbur Street, Vincennes, IN
If the police don’t go to a persons house where they are alone and escalate the situation I bet Mr. Darkis is alive today. Don’t know if that’s for better or worse, it’s just the second time in my life that I’ve known a person that was drunk at their own home, alone and the police respond and the person ends up dead.
Maybe a different protocol could be used.
I bet if you read the article and saw the “s” at the end of the word “officer”, you would not have made a such a silly assumption that a lone officer caused the situation to end the way it did. I would think the use of bean bag rouinds and a taser shows multiple attempts to end this without shooting him. Maybe if the drunk man with the gun would have listned to their order to put the gun down instead of pointing it at them, he would be alive. Under your line of reasoning , you might as well blame his friend who flagged the deputy down and told him what was going on. I feel bad for you that you have known two people who have been in that situation, but I can assure you, cops don’t drive around looking for people to shoot. Maybe your friends should have used a different protocol.
Inquiring mind is spot-on in his/her analysis.
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