Lessons in coping, triggered memories haunt law enforcement officers cleared of shootings

ORLANDO, Fla. — "Drop it! Shot fired!"

"I'm calling from Clermont, I have an unwanted house guest..."

Reading transcripts of 911 calls or dash camera videos helps to tell the story of what it's like to respond to calls, but living through it on a daily basis is an experience unique to law enforcement officers.

9 Investigates reporter Daralene Jones spent months reviewing law enforcement officer-involved shootings in Florida. In the course of her investigation, three Central Florida officers from different branches of law enforcement agreed to speak with her on-camera about their actions.

One of those officers is Lt. Rob Vitaliano, a deputy with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Vitaliano was part of the SWAT team. One day, he responded to a call about a mentally ill man threatening deadly violence.

"He had snuck into the shadows and he came around to the side of the residence and he came out of the shadows to the back of the residence with the gun pointed straight at us," Vialiano said to Jones, "The comments he was making to our 911 dispatchers, it was evident he would take someone's life and even his own life."

Our review of the shootings focused on a 10-year period between 2007 and 2017. We found about 590 fatal shootings. Those that gain national attention involve white officers killing blacks, raising concerns about racial profiling.

In Florida we found a majority of the shootings reported to the state involve white officers killing white suspects; only 8 percent of the shootings were of blacks and the rest were listed as 'other.' However, those listed as white might not be Caucasian. The data did not represent Hispanics because they are not considered a race but an ethnicity when uniform crime data is gathered for the FBI.

Further review of the data WFTV collected showed black law enforcement officers in Florida killed 29 black people and 20 whites; white law enforcement officers in Florida killed 144 blacks and 319 whites.

"I had the feeling I was going to be dead."

One of those white law enforcement officers is Sgt. Timothy O'Brien. A veteran of the Lake County Sheriff's Office, he shot and killed two people in two separate calls in 2015. The first incident happened that April. A white man who had recently been released from a mental health facility lunged at him with a knife during a domestic call. In July, a black man suspected of a violent home invasion walked out of a home in Mascotte with a rifle.

"I've seen what those rifles can do. It's the thought that crossed my mind...I had the feeling I was going to be dead," O'Brien shared with Jones.%

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He also admits to being haunted by nightmares about the shootings, three years later.

"I was stubborn for a while. I should have gotten some help sooner, but I didn't realize how it was affecting my wife."

We did not ask the three law enforcement officers we spoke with to share their medical records with us and they did not speak about any diagnoses.

The National Alliance on Mental Health cites studies that report between 7 percent and 19 percent of law enforcement officers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The National Center for PTSD defines it as a mental health problem some people develop after experiencing an isolated traumatic event, like combat, a car accident, a natural disaster or a life-threatening situation. It can also be brought on by ongoing trauma, like repeated physical or sexual abuse.

Another study, focused on the day-to-day duties and events in law enforcement, found 15 percent of male law enforcement officers had PTSD; 18 percent of female officers were diagnosed with it. For perspective, that same study listed the PTSD rate of New Orleans police officers following Hurricane Katrina. It was 19 percent.

"I'm not exactly sure how I'm coping."

Lt. Channing Taylor with the Florida Highway Patrol says certain calls will trigger reminders of a traffic stop that changed his life.

"I'm not exactly sure how I'm coping. I think I'm doing more compartmentalization," he shared with Jones.

With the bullet still lodged in his body, Taylor returned to work. %

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"A lot of people do that self-medicated (thing) with alcohol and that was one thing I wouldn't want to do," he said.

A 2013 report published by the National Alliance on Mental Health directly addressed concerns for the mental health of the men and women who carry a badge. Commissioned in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, it encouraged law enforcement officers to seek help when needed and to form peer groups for support in the line of duty.

Sgt. O'Brien spoke candidly with Jones about seeing two different therapists to get help, and said he continues with treatment to this day.

"I've shed enough tears in front of my friends, my family," he said, "(I'm) not embarrassed about it. (I) think it makes you a stronger person."

Lieutenant Vitaliano told Jones he still thinks about the people he calls the true victims - the loved ones left behind.

"Faith is a big part, huge. I can tell you, right now, I wouldn't be here without that," he said.

Cox Media Group