*IN THE LINE OF DUTY* OFFICER DOWN

[Lady Cop]

Sat. morning, she's critical. young Officer, only on the job a year.
Sheriff Judd, who i admire, said it best regarding taking this chickenshit shooter alive: "We don't decide whether to use deadly force. The suspect decides whether we use deadly force.''

AUBURNDALE Florida

A police officer is in critical condition after she was shot in Auburndale Friday night.

Sheriff Grady Judd said law enforcement responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at a home in the Diamond Ridge subdivision shortly after 10 p.m.

A child had called to report that her parents were fighting, but a short while later, Judd said the child's mother called to tell police not to come to the home, because she had taken her daughter and was leaving.

However, Judd said police went to the home anyway to check on the situation.

Officer Stacy Booth was walking up to the house when Judd said the suspect, Michael Wayne Lester, fired a shotgun blast through the door.

Booth was shot in the abdomen and the arm. She made it to a nearby home, where she was able to radio for backup. Booth, 26, has been with the department since April 2010.

Deputies, officers and a SWAT team arrived at the scene and set up a perimeter around the house. The SWAT team fired tear gas into the home, then sent a robot inside the home and found Lester, who was unconscious.

Booth was airlifted to Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Police spokesman Chris Nelson said she is in critical but stable condition.

Lester was taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment related to exposure to the gas.

"He had one last chance to make a bad decision,'' Judd said of Lester. "But he made the right decision for his life and he is in custody. We don't decide whether to use deadly force. The suspect decides whether we use deadly force.''



Officer Stacy Booth