by Travis Mateer

I grabbed the image above from this KGVO article about police taking a man into custody after CFS took his kids.

Since this incident came on the heels of a certain coroner’s inquest I attended last week, I thought it might be illuminating to do a compare and contrast analysis of what Missoula POLICE did differently than Missoula SHERIFF DEPUTIES in these two scenarios.

For the full version of what the man did to get state authorities involved with his children, go to the KGVO link. Here’s the short of it: alcohol.

After alcohol turned Alen Roach into a risk serious enough to warrant state intervention, this happened (emphasis mine):

“Officers went to Roach’s residence,” Arnold said. “As they approached, they observed Roach’s front door was partially open. Officers then observed Roach in the doorway holding a semi-automatic rifle, similar in design to an AR-15. Officer quickly retreated, took cover for their safety, and requested additional units.”

According to court documents, an officer observed Roach brandishing the rifle and believed a gun fight was about to take place.

So, what do police normally do when a man with a gun is about to engage in what they think is going to be a gun fight? Here’s what happened in THIS particular case (emphasis mine):

“Officers lost sight of Roach, but Roach walked toward the area where officers were taking cover, still brandishing the rifle,” Arnold said. “Officers gave Roach commands. Roach complied, put down the weapon, and was taken into custody. After Roach was taken into custody, officers continued their investigation and learned additional details about what took place after the children left CFS, and some of Roach’s comments he had made to his children and CFS employees. This case is still under investigation with Missoula Police Department detectives.”

Yep, Alen Roach has ZERO holes in his body after being on the precipice of going Rambo on law enforcement. Cool.

In contrast, Johnny Lee Perry received at least ONE major hole in his body from a bullet fired by a Missoula County Sheriff Deputy.

Is the difference in these two scenarios the TYPE of law enforcement responding?

Maybe astute readers can help me identify any other differences between Alen Roach NOT being dead after threatening law enforcement with a long gun, and Johnny Lee Perry most definitely being dead after playing around with a machete for half an hour.

Since I like tackling these topics with different tools, here’s a guitar-accompanied version to today’s post. Stay tuned tomorrow for more info on the Face Your Freedom rally happening this Saturday