Death Investigation Continues After Lakeland Police Shooting
Two officers were placed on administrative leave with pay.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER
Published: Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 11:55 p.m.
LAKELAND | Lakeland detectives say Albert Demetrius Davis armed himself with two knives Wednesday before he was shot to death by police.
Veteran Lakeland police officer Phil Smith shot and killed the 27-year-old at his home at 1434 E. Gary Road when he brandished a knife during a police search of the house. Officers arrived at the home about 8:15 a.m. after Davis' girlfriend, Heather Smith, told them she had been attacked.
Davis stabbed Smith, according to police, but at the time she told investigators she did not know her attacker. She gave them permission to search the home, and when they opened a closet door they found Davis armed with a knife, police said.
Sgt. Terri Smith described it Thursday as a steak knife with a heavy wooden handle and a blade between five and six inches long.
Davis dropped the knife, but made a "sudden move," according to police, and picked up the knife Officer Smith had told him to drop. That's when he was shot, police said.
Police said he used a different knife to cut Heather Smith. Detectives have the blade of that knife.
Heather Smith was treated at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and released Wednesday night. No one answered the door of her home late Thursday afternoon.
Police said the investigation continues and would not say whether they may pursue charges against Heather Smith because she didn't tell an officer at the hospital that Davis was her attacker.
The two officers who went to the home are on administrative leave with pay pending the completion of an internal investigation.
Police say the officers did what they were trained to do.
"The officers were attacked in close proximity in a small, cluttered room by a man armed with a knife. They had reason to believe that this man had already stabbed another person," Sgt. Smith said. "A knife is a deadly weapon. They had their guns drawn and did not have time to transition to the taser even if they had wanted to."
[ Shoshana Walter can be reached at shoshana.walter@theledger.com or 863-802-7590. ]
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