Not Just Kids Anymore. 45 Year Old With Toy Gun Killed By Police

Jul 10

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“I thought I was doing the right thing.”  That is what Barbara Buckley of Brockton, Massachusetts said after police officers killed her husband.  Her husband of 20 years, Douglas Buckley, had been drinking. Barbara went to the police station about 12:30 a.m. on July 2, 2015, hoping they could intervene and take Douglas to the hospital. Barbara said that she told police that Douglas probably would not go quietly, but that he had no weapons, only some BB guns.

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Barbara and Douglas Buckley. Family photo

Two officers arrived on the quiet block where the Buckley’s live, and saw Douglas outside of the house carrying what appeared to be a rifle. According to a statement from Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, Douglas dropped the rifle, reached to his back and pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them. The officers opened fire, shooting Douglas in the right lower abdomen. He was taken to Signature Health Care Brockton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 a.m.  

Douglas’ sister,Tara Fitzgerald, said that the police shot Douglas just moments after arriving at the house, and that he was climbing over a fence into the front yard when they fired.

“How was he pointing a gun while climbing?” she asked. “I think they were very excessive and should be held accountable.’’

The fence was laying on the grass in pieces, and there are also bullet holes on the side of the house.

Tara said of Douglas, “He was a family man. A good husband and father. He didn’t deserve this.”

As Barbara Buckley felt fresh grief over her husband’s death, that same morning, her 22-year old son, Jesse Fernandes was arrested for assault and disorderly conduct. Family members say that after Jesse returned home from the hospital after Douglas died, that the police punched Jesse in the face, breaking his jaw. Jesse pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was released.

The District Attorney’s office is investigating the shooting.

More on this story on the Boston Globe.

R.I.P. Douglas Buckley

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Posted on 07/10/2015, in Cases, Cops Gone Wild, Douglas Buckley and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 29 Comments.

  1. Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 3:20 pm

    I have mixed feelings about this one, Xena. The police may have responded badly, but what the heck is a grown man doing acting like an idiot??!!

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    • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 4:26 pm

      Linda,
      As Jamie Fox once sung, “blame it on the alcohol.” When considering the words of his sister, he dropped the rifle when seeing the cops and was climbing over the fence to get back into his front yard when the cops started firing. She says that he could not be pointing a gun at the cops while climbing over the fence.

      So, there are some questionable things and hopefully, the investigation will clear some up. For example, was a toy gun other than the rifle found on the scene and where? In his hand, next to his body, in his waistband?

      His wife says that she told the person at the police station that he had BB guns. Is this another situation like what happened in Cleveland when the guy told 911 that the gun the kid was pointing might not be real, and that was not communicated to officers?

      Many questions and hopefully, his family will get the truth.

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      • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 5:25 pm

        I hope so too, Xena. Right now, there are just too many inconsistencies in the story. My siblings learned early on that, if they made their lies match, I got it every time. And the biggest liar of all? My own mother! Her main goal in life was hanging on to her meal ticket, She didn’t care who she threw under the bus as long as her marriage wasn’t threatened..

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        • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 5:50 pm

          Linda, I would not say “inconsistencies” because so much information has not been released. We simply do not know.

          Sorry to hear about your family, but happy to know that you have overcome some of the heart bruising and are able to share about it.

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          • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 6:02 pm

            I hope you don’t charge by the hour for my psychotherapy sessions, Xena, because I couldn’t afford you!

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    • Two sides to a story | 07/11/2015 at 8:55 am

      Last I looked, being stupid shouldn’t be a death sentence. If you truly love your family, don’t call the cops to solve your problems! It’s a an unpredicatable and often deadly solution.

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  2. shannoninmiami | 07/10/2015 at 4:20 pm

    My god this is so unreal! The way its laid out, or how you wrote it, it just brought me there!!
    They’re destruction & grief & terror & death, that’s what the police represent now. That’s what they bring with them when they come around.

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    • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 5:30 pm

      Not disagreeing with you here, Shannon. However, I just finished reading this story which made me feel good about SOME, not all, police officers:

      http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/10/officer-pays-for-diapers-after-mother-attempts-to-steal-them/21207994/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl20%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D1887246012

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      • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 5:47 pm

        Linda, there are cops who do good things and if you remember, we reported here on one who could have, but didn’t shoot a guy who gave him reasons to be shot. Most recently, I reported on cops in Chicago and Hartford who are doing good things.

        The “bad cop, good-cop” is actually an insinuation made by White Supremacists who, on their perception of race, want to divide citizens to give the impression that only Blacks and “white guilt idiots” are “cop haters.” Their referring to us as such is a false accusation. Hating that innocent people are killed PERIOD does not acquaint with hating the killers. Having compassion for the families of those who lost their loved ones is not hating cops. Expecting that law enforcement meets the high bar of their profession is not hating them. Expecting accountability is not hating anyone. What it does is express disappointment in the system that allows the lack of accountability. It expresses disappointment in the system that allows the living to testify on behalf of the dead when the dead cannot defend themselves. It expresses disappointment in a system that does not properly train, and is out of touch with communities.

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        • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 6:06 pm

          I’d sure hate to have the single digit IQ of these White Supremacists! I’d have to resort to diapers and sucking my thumb!

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          • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 7:39 pm

            Haha Linda. They can now wipe their butts with the confederate flag.

            Liked by 1 person

          • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 8:06 pm

            I can’t believe it, Xena! No sooner did SC agree to take down that hideous flag than Republicans in Congress start insisting that it be raised in National and State parks! WTF is wrong with people??!!

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          • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 10:44 pm

            Linda, I wish I had an answer for what is wrong with people. I’ve seen lots of comments from people asking how people would feel if the Nazi flag was allowed to be publicly displayed in Germany. That’s the comparison that should hit home for America.

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        • shannoninmiami | 07/10/2015 at 6:59 pm

          The police are ruining their own profession when they cover for another’s bad acts. Even if they’d secretly get the crooked cops out, they’d be doing themselves a big favor. The fact that regular citizens are talking about good cops/ bad cops should be a really big clue to the true professional police officer.
          All professions have ppl who don’t belong, but bad police, like bad doctors are too dangerous to have around.

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    • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 5:34 pm

      Shannon, have you noticed that some things involving and revolving about the killing of Douglas almost mirror what happened to Tamir Rice and his family? White Supremacists accuse Tamir’s sister of assaulting the cops. They blame his mom for not raising him right. They allege that the cop was justified in shooting first because he could not distinguish a toy from a real gun. (They omit the omission of the dispatcher that it could be a toy.) Like in all cases involving “thugs,” they mock that the family always makes excuses and say that their child, brother, cousin, friend, was a good person who was doing nothing wrong.

      When it comes to a man whose race was reported White however, they are silent. For my having a heart of compassion for Douglas’ family, and concern for police not trained properly, the White Supremacists who are on an agenda to defame this blog will still falsely accuse me of being a “hug-a-thug” “racist” who “hates cops”. (sigh)

      If Tamir was shot down in a matter of seconds, and Douglas was shot down in a matter of minutes for having a toy gun and posing no threat to law enforcement, the color of their skin is not the problem. The problem is that we do have law enforcement officers who shoot to kill too quickly.

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      • shannoninmiami | 07/10/2015 at 6:41 pm

        Some ppl are badge bunnies! They excuse police who shoot innocent ppl bcuz they’re hardcore groupies. they worship authority figures or ppl who have power, they can even imagine being one of them. But especially cops, becuz they seem more accessible to the regular ppl. And they pretend they can control their interactions with police since they may even know some cops& they haven’t been killed by them.

        But then there’s the racists. They don’t actually support police like that, they just support the killing of black kids. These losers resent the way police treated Zimmerman & Bundy when they broke the law. Just like Zimmerman & Bundy, they feel like they are above the law, cops work for them& as long as cops appear to be killing “others” they like them fine.

        You’re describing the racists.
        There’s no reasonable excuses for police murders so they attack the victim & anyone else. They never talk about what the police did wrong just the dead or injured victim.

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  3. yahtzeebutterfly | 07/10/2015 at 6:15 pm

    Tragic. I agree that if Douglas was climbing a fence after dropping the “rifle”, he could not have simultaneously been pointing a “hand gun” at the police.

    Good thing that the bullet holes at the side of the house did not penetrate the house….there could have been other people who could have been harmed by the bullets…a fact that police should keep in mind. (Makes me think of Darren Wilson whose bullet went astray into the side of an apartment building.)

    I wonder why his wife chose to go to the police station instead of using her phone to call them for help. Was she feeling it was to unsafe to stay at home with her husband?

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    • yahtzeebutterfly | 07/10/2015 at 6:21 pm

      Just read the Boston Globe article which answered my question….Douglas had threatened to burn down their house…no wonder his wife got out of there and chose to go to the police station.

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      • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 7:05 pm

        Bit by bit, the holes in the story are filling in. Domestic violence situations are a police officer’s worst fear, not to mention the abused victim’s.

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        • Xena | 07/10/2015 at 7:43 pm

          Domestic violence situations are a police officer’s worst fear, not to mention the abused victim’s.

          That is a truth. Those intent on doing harm can be of an emotional state where they care not for their own protection. Rage is a horrible emotion.

          Liked by 1 person

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      • Linda Andersen | 07/10/2015 at 7:07 pm

        Bit by bit, the holes in the story are filling in. Domestic violence situations are a police officer’s worst nightmare, not to mention the victim’s.

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  4. yahtzeebutterfly | 07/10/2015 at 10:26 pm

    In the news video at the link below the reporter says that Douglas’ house smelled of gas. That would be consistent with the report of Douglas threatening to burn down their house.
    http://www.wcvb.com/news/brockton-man-shot-and-killed-by-police-on-thayer-street/33950408

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