Poorly announced sheriff’s training looks real, scares children
HENRIETTA – Upon hearing her grandchildren, who viewed the scene unfolding from a school bus window, had watched armed deputies at Eighth and Elm streets in Henrietta firing a weapon, a grandmother became concerned.
“The children on the bus were freaked out. My granddaughter didn’t know what was going on. This included gunfire, lights, sirens, like a whole, actual event going on, like something bad was going on. It kind of put everyone in a state of panic,” the grandmother, who declined to give her name, said last week.
Sheriff Scott Childers apologized for not notifying more people in advance of the training scenario for deputies.
“There was some miscommunication, no doubt about it,” he said, and added, “We do apologize for the inconvenience, and we certainly don’t want to scare children or any of our citizens. … We’ll make sure it’s not that way a second time.”
Childers said his office made calls about the training exercise, but missed the school district and bus company.
…