Getting ahead of the PTSD thing
Dirty Mick sends us a link to the story of Jason Edward Prostrollo, 25, a veteran who was shot by police in a stand-off in Scottsdale, Arizona early Saturday.
The incident unraveled just after 4 a.m. when a 35-year-old woman called police reporting that her boyfriend was in a fight with another man who had a knife.
While police were responding to the couple’s residence near 136th Street and Via Linda, they received another call allegedly prompted by the same suspect.
The caller was a cabdriver who said a male customer held a knife to his throat and forced him to drive back to the neighborhood where he was picked up, from which the first call came.
When police arrived, they called the female victim and her 50-year-old boyfriend out of the house. Both victims were unharmed.
The suspect shortly followed with the pool cues in hand, Clark said.
Apparently, what happened next; the police released a dog, “Raider”, on Prostrollo at the same time that another police officer fired two shots, one round hit and killed Prostrollo and the other wounded Raider, who, by all accounts, is recovering nicely.
Some of Prostrollo actions as described in the media could lead folks to think that Prostrollo was a victim of PTSD, but Dirty Mick writes to tell us that Prostrollo has been a little nutty since high school and that this has little to do with his military service or his deployment to the war against terror. Dirty Mick must know the guy because he’s going to the funeral along with Operator Dan.
So, this is a preemptive move to warn any journalists who are doing a Google search for background on Prostrollo, that we can put you in contact with people who will dispute your claim that Prostrollo suffered from PTSD and died as a result of his military service.
Category: Media, Veterans Issues
Sad all-around! Don’t mean to be Monday morning qb, 9 officers and no shotgun w/ rubber bullets either? Wind won’t stop those…
Just chiming in to remind folks – you all have the freedom to say whatever you want on here. Freedom of speech and all that.
Also reminding you that this is an open forum- like Alex pointed out – we’re not eavesdropping on a private conversation.
And one more point – his family IS reading this. All of it.
~another cousin
That sounds similar to a “Raiders of the Lost Arc” seen, twirling a sword to provoke a fight and just shoot him. Yikes! So sad for his family & friends and I know this won’t bring him back as the City of Scottsdale has very deep pockets. Own them!
@#47, yeah, none of the others involved managed to get themselves stabbed, whacked in the head with a club or anything, how inconsiderate of them. Someone should have stepped up to get injured. What, no rubber bullets? No stun gun, no taser. No one tried to talk to him? Or maybe they did. Maybe, none of the police cars driven to the scene had a shotgun with “rubber bullets” or bean bag rounds.
Only one officer fired? What, why the hell didn’t everyone unload on him, what were they thinking? In one scenario, if more than one officer fires, they’re all wrong, in another, if only one fires, they’re still all wrong?
Oh goody–and another of the “I hate cops” crowd pipes in.
Newsflash, “cuz”…if one of my relatives pulled something fucking stupid like this, knowing his prior history, I sure as shit wouldn’t be defending his behavior.
Rather, I’d be taking a good hard look at myself and wondering why I didn’t reach out or get him the help he obviously needed a LONG time ago.
His death is tragic on many levels, and the last guy here wants to turn it into a case of the litigation lotto. No wonder cities are 1–going broke, 2–have out of control crime rates.
Your ball.
UpNorth–forget it. There are people who hate cops regardless. Mister “But He Was Such A NICE Boy!” pulled the psycho card once too often.
And frankly, kids, if you pull a knife or a gun (or any weapon) on someone in a drunken/drug-fueled rage, you can pretty much turn in your “nice” card. I’ll throw the bullshit flag on that one.
Actually, it is rather difficult for family & close friends to comprehend the actions of a “loved one” that for all intents & purposes in their eyes & minds was regarded by them as a saint. Case in point. Many years ago, a close friend and partner pulled up behind a vehicle in which the driver was A) intoxicated and B)had a heart attack. Friend turned on emergency equip, radioed in his location. While checking out vehicle & driver, another drunk driver struck both.
Family of second driver swore up & down in court and the local print news “What a nice, honest, hard working individual so & so is”. Facts were, second driver was a known wife & child abuser to the District court, had priors for DUI, aggravated assault and an “attempted” armed robbery beef.
We spent a fair number of hours recovering my friends remains from the body of the patrol car. My friend was buried with honors in a plot in his hometown cemetery, while Mr Congeniality caught a stretch in the state pen and was recently released. That family swore up & down along with friends what an outstanding guy he was and had real difficult time viewing photo’s & vid of the scene.
Grief can either shield or open wide, peoples eyes.
Thanks for the offer sparky but I don’t like balls.
Apparently you do because you’re swallowing the police’s version of the story as if you….well nevermind.
This afternoon the SPD changed the official excuse for escalating to lethal force. Now they’re saying that the deployment of the K-9 WAS their attempt at non lethal force. Quite a departure from the “Tasers don’t work in the wind” excuse. Perhaps someone in the SPD (using their crack investigative techniques) discovered that their story would not fly because *gasp* ….The wind was CALM when they shot Jason. I can see it now: “Well gosh gooly gee Goober… the wind wasn’t even blowing that night.”
@ Balls: Cost – result, a million in training / resources of taxpayer money in one location (9 AZ-POST officers), resulting in 1-shooting a pool cued man to death 2-shooting a police k-9.
He should have been brought in and charged, period.
I wouldn’t put much stock in anything the cops say or any reports they release, the police will do everything to justify this shooting which probably could have been avoided. And to that butthole yit yas the cops don’t put their asses on the line everyday they sit on them 8 hours a day and make 70k a year to do so, so you can spare us all the bullshit police sacrifice and service argument. I got news for you if you’re sleeping in your own bed everynight you aint making any sacrifices..
@41 This guy Flagwaver is full of shit, every week he claims to be something new a martial artist a war hero, he took his own boots of his feet to give to some other joe that didn’t have them, give it a rest dude
My, my, you do seem to have issues with those in authority, don’t you cock? “70K a year” to sit on their asses? Seems you suffer from a severe case of salary envy. And, authority envy.
@62 I don’t have any of those things, I am simply stating facts or observations I have made over the course of my life I could care less about authority I guess thats why I am not a cop but authority being abused in the military or civilian law enforcement is a pet peeve of mine.. I also never liked how cops like you harassed vets because you didn’t have the courage to serve
Really, never served? How about you, I doubt you served, those of you who go on blogs and harass vets and cops because you didn’t or don’t have the courage to serve.
You got to,yet again, display your authority issues. If you’re really a vet, you ought to take advantage of the DVA and get some psychological help. Otherwise, use your medicaid card to get that help.
Shot the dog?
Must’ve been one pretty bad scene to start shooting before the dog’s done its work.
RE: #63
Consider how militarized the local police departments are. The New York cops now have the capability to take down an airplane. The Swat teams are so heavily armed that some of their stuff rivals some military outfits. Night vision, surveillence, body armor, tanks, helicopters, communications, etc. Some agencies are testing their own drone aircraft for Christ’s sake.
And as for any possible revolt against such force?: How on earth could a “well regulated militia” (like the obscure one that won us our liberty 200+ years ago) compete against ANY corrupt state when the state’s firepower is so grossly disproportionate to the citizenry? In NYC, a shotgun requires a criminal backgound check, a license, and registration of the gun iteslf. Not to mention the $300 + for the permit fees.
Like George Carlin joked in his “Carlin on Campus” show: “The government has flamethrowers. I guess we’re fucked if we ever have to go up against the government”.
@#47. “I’m done with you”. Some of us kinda figured you weren’t a man of your word.
“In NYC, a shotgun requires a criminal backgound check, a license, and registration of the gun itself. Not to mention the $300 + for the permit fees”. So, if you don’t like it, quit whining and do some work and get the law changed.
wow when did this become a marathon? To say that this guy acted rashly seems to be an understatemnt we’re all willing to accept (even Alex) did the cops over react? Its possible, but really I’d need more info before I decided. In the Pima country Sharif’s case, I saw one of the sloppiest door charges I’d ever seen. Privates could do better blindfolded. In this case, thus far I have seen nothing to suggest he did not act rashly and an officer feeling threatened made a split second decision. Should the officer have grabbed the Taser? Probably. But again I will not begrudge someone the right to make a decision of lethal force (the only sure way of putting someone down) if they feel it is warranted at the time.
I also want to point out that back when Angel Dust, or PCP was a drug of choice a policeman could empty a whole mag into a guy and he wouldn’t go down. This drug is pretty rare now a days, but back then. . . you get the picture.
“Some of “US”?” Really?
“Your” forum is posted on the world internet you idiot. A google search for my cousin’s obituary shows this forum on the 2nd page. We saw you dogging our dead family member, a marine, a son, a brother. You might not have liked him but, we, his family loved him. His father, another serviceman, loved him and was proud of him. We saw you saying that his deserved to die.
Now you’re acting like this is some private righteous ex-military civil-service forum? Those of you who call yourselves “brothers” and then trampled on Jason’s grave – in view of his family – should rot in hell.
@Alex: Seems to me that the reason your family members are seeing/ reading this blog is because YOU are directing them to it. Ive had friends and family members die in the past and I have NEVER had to go find an obit by using google. How about this, rather than come over here and piss and moan about how people over here are “dishonoring” your cousin you and your family step back and take a long hard look at yourselves. Was it apparent that he had problems before, during, and after his service? Had he done some really stupid things in the past? What did YOU and YOUR family do to help Jason? If anyone in your family was truly concerned with Jason and his behavior than why didnt any one of you attempt to get him into some sort of treatment? People generally dont just go off the deep end one day and threaten people with knives or pool cues so I would hazard a guess this wasnt the first time that Jason did something that he shouldnt have.
By no means am I defending the police officer that shot your cousin. The truth will come out. What I am sick to death of is the media, friends, and family of every veteran who goes out and gets himself killed because of his bad behavior trying to blame it all on the service and their PTSD.
RIP Jason Prostrollo, you were a great friend and brother… Operatordan, DirtyMick, Scaredofjason.. you make me sick!
Alex, my name is Philip Daniel Quintana. I am a former Tempe, Az firefighter. (FOIA available) I’ve been on scene when crazy things have happened where PD had no choice but to protect themselves. Have you? Having trained in Tae Kwon Do for a number of years, a pool que can be used as a ‘bo’ (staff) a very dangerous weapon. I once used my Mcdermott to take down an a-hole who pulled a knife at my local watering hole. Unless you’ve “been there, done that” you really don’t have much to say that means anything. That you lost a friend, relative, lover or whatever, I am sorry but who brought this upon himself?
Continuing to whine about it all here is pretty absurd. But everyone knows that. Continuing to mutter about it being a public forum is also absurd. It only exists because someone pays the bill for it. That guy owns it and makes the rules.
Maybe you don’t feel comfortable here, Alex, because you are not one of us. Throwing tantrums and demanding things will continue to be just about as effective tomorrow as they were yesterday.
Welcome to the real world.
We all understand that you are grieving the loss of a family member, and are therefore willing to cut you some slack. But not much. Your inability to accept your loss really isn’t our problem, even though we do sympathize with you.
It sounds like you need much more than we are able to give you. But, we have listened to your anger anyway. Be grateful.
All I have to say to “dirtymick” is if I see you at his funeral I will spit in your face right before I knock you out! Call your dirty cops if you want cuz your gunna need them to pull me off of you, or shot me like they did Jason!
And whoever wrote this fucking article is a peice of shit! Between you and the press making him look like a horrible crazy person makes me sick to my stomach. All he left in this world is his memory and you are trying to bash it! You and Operation Dan and Dirty Mick and yat yas and all your stupid fucking names should go fuck each other of your board with your life, don’t go bashing a dead kid cuz he is not here to defend himself!
And @Alex, amen brotha!! Fuck these assholes! We know what a good person Jason was! That old man was prolly beating his girlfriend he was pissed about it and defending her. The neighbors even said “we were surprised that they shot this young man, but we are not surprised it happened at this house”. They had previous domestic violence calls from that house. I know he was a good person and didn’t deserve this at all. Fuck Scottsdale police and all these dumb dirty mick characters. They obviously were not friends of his and are bashing him now that he’s gone.
RIP Jason- you are dearly missed by many! </3
^^oopps that was me, that was ment TO @dirtymick and @alex
As evidenced by #74, middle school is out for the day.
Watch out kids, we got us a badass over here…
Wow, now we’ve graduated to internet tough guys and threats. /yawn
Bottom line…make all the excuses for someone else’s bad behavior you want. If your friend was such a great guy he wouldn’t have been shot by da po-po, or at least his chances of such would have been greatly reduced.
Take that however you want.
@74 lets not waste our breath brother.. we know who these clowns are.. none of our agression to ignorant comments and circumstances will bring jason back.. Lets just mourn our friend and brother..
@#80- Mouse asshat. MSM smeared the rest of us….
I hope you assholes have changed your minds and are planning on staying home tomorrow… Otherwise i would LOVE to see you reveal yourselves.. But you wont, you hide behind a computer screen and berate jason, but tomorrow, im sure you will act
Like you were his bestest friend. You assholes… RIP jason, just happy to know he knows who his true friends are.
Aroberts, thats just great that you have never had to google an obituary, unfortunatly jason had so many fucking friends, that most of us live out of state, so guess what, i googled the info to find out when and where i can go to say goodbye to my friend, and i came across this shit. Just imagine how many other people have!? Im just jealous that they didnt waste their time arguing with a bunch of idiots.
The discussion on this blog is a prime example of the public’s knee-jerk reaction to tragic news. The original and well-intentioned post here sought to dissuade the media from drawing the apparent connection between Jason’s military service and personal struggles. Since that isn’t the discussion posters here seem to want to have, as they prefer to decry the SPD’s use of force and discuss Jason’s life story, we should let those issues be vetted. Much of the debate on this and other sites has focused on a full spectrum of trivial details, so let’s iron out what’s irrelevant when considering if Jason should have been killed that night. 1. Jason’s honorable service / fighting experience / jump training / parties he attended when he was 17 / how he likes to wipe his ass… all worthless commentary when considering use of force. 2. Jason’s demeanor / character / past episodes of violence… unless officers responding on scene have reviewed a detailed history of this info, it could not have affected their judgment. 3. The concept of “escalation of force”… there’s no such thing. Officers, and civilians, for that matter, aren’t required to step from verbal commands to control techniques to OC to gun, or whatever other configuration you can imagine. You use what is both REASONABLE and NECESSARY. 4. Who you are… nobody cares. We needn’t stop there. I’m sure there are plenty more useless topics to bring up but for the sake of keeping this brief, let’s refrain. So what IS important when considering SPD’s use of force and Jason’s death? 1. Who shot… a Lt. with 19 years on. No one else. 2. Why they shot… police had multiple reports of a subject threatening with a knife. A subject appeared from a residence with two sticks. No knife. Unless we’re assuming the officer couldn’t tell the difference between a knife and two sticks, the reports of Jason having a knife just became all but irrelevant until the officers can see one. 3. When they shot… the officer fired two rounds while a handler simultaneously released a dog. Now,… Read more »
Friends of Jason, I wouldn’t bother arguing with the guys on this site, insulting veterans that they deem unworthy even though they never met them is what these guys live for. They all think their service is better than everyone elses even when the large majority of them are pogs or never saw combat.
Dave–maybe you missed the upthread comments that some of the regular posters here HAVE met Jason? Some were even friends?
Again, it’s sad that he had to meet his end this way, but blaming SPD for what were HIS demons is not the way to go. Admit it, if it hadn’t happened then, it was only a matter of time. People here have detailed many instances of similar situations where he lost control, threatened people with weapons, and the like.
When people like that keep rolling the dice, eventually they come up losers. I’m saddened that he didn’t get the help he so obviously needed, but relieved that no innocent lives were lost at his hand.
Wow….I came across this looking for his obituary. I have never been more disappointed in the VETS on this blog that are trashing Jason. I am a proud American and because of Marines like Jason you have freedom of speech. With all the hate you have towards him/facts about how he was a fuck up I wonder why you didn’t take his life yourselves…. You have it wrong..it is not because of actions like what Jason did that give Vets a bad rep. It is assholes like you!!!!! Oh and I fact checked that by reading this stupid open forum blog…yep certified assholes.. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Karma is a bitch only if you are so I can’t wait to hear a blog about you when you meet your maker!
@87- You knew Jason, YOU should have been there for him. Only two of the regulars here knew him, and they tried to help him straighten out whenever they could. They failed. I don’t doubt for a second that a few of his full-time “friends” encouraged that behavior, because they enjoyed having an unpredictable drinking buddy to add spice to their parties. You may have been one of them, for all we know.
On a national scale, Jason is a talking point the media will use to smear all of us vets as crazies. In this aspect, he’s no more a brother to me than you are. We served in different services at different times, and though I never knew him, his death could directly impact the way my neighbors, co-workers, and relatives view me. It’s important that blogs like this nip that crap in the bud. As a community, we have a hard enough time countering the crap spewed from Hollywood for the last 40 years. In addition, Napolitano came out with that DHS report a few years back that warned about returning vets becoming terrorists, and we’ve been fighting that meme becoming a mainstream thought in the media as well. It’s hard to counter.
People with PTSD don’t turn into raging psychos at the drop of a hat, holding knives to people’s throat because they spent some time in Iraq. People with deeper issues starting prior to their military experience do that.
But by all means, continue to say Jason was a good, normal kid. Tell all of the people who knew him to come post some idiotic shit about us not caring about him here on TAH. The hard truth is that caring about his life was YOUR job. You failed. Now it’s up to us to care about his death, and what impact it will have to the vet community as a whole.
I’ve been to this house before. I think they should look into what triggered Jason’s behavior. If the police would have looked around they would have definately found an abundance of cocaine which Dan the owner keeps in a kitchen drawer. Also the 50 year old owner is known for picking up young guys and bringing them home.
He invites them over to play pool and will hustle them, offer them drugs and even make sexual advances toward them.
I’m just saying….
So now you’re going to deflect blame for someone’s bad behavior, Anon? Really?
So how do you explain every previous incident, pray tell?
Yall dont know shit..
Well then please, by all means, do enlighten us! Show us the error of our ways, please!
As Jason’s former girlfriend for years these negative comments make me sick. Jason was loving, respectful and treated me and all of his friends and family like royalty. He was a veteran, a friend, a brother, a son and an amazing intellgent person. You negative people need to get a life and let us mourn with some respect.
And Alex, don’t listen to these heinous people. We know how amazing your cousin was.
I sincerely hope that the assf_cks that slandered Jason all over this cowardly blog die in a fire.
Ah yes…the slander card. Pray tell, anon, do tell us what three criteria must be met for slander to exist?
And again, girlfriend, if he was such a wonderful guy, why hold knives to cabbies, etc? As I stated previously, you threaten people with weapons, turn in your nice card.
Sadly, reactions such as yours are not unique to those who have lost love ones of questionable character. But as I also stated previously, his death was indeed tragic but at least he took no innocent people with him.
Pretty sure the other couple wasn’t innocent…this is what they do. My guess is Jason reacted to sexual advances being made toward him from a disgusting old man! I’ve seen it happen before and I am surprised someone didn’t pull a knife on the owner long before this! How would you react? You might have wanted to protect yourself as well Sparky!
Ah, so we’ve gone from, “pretty sure” to “my guess is” in about 15 words.
Telling, indeed. Of course, you’re well aware of the fact that if you divulged the names of the couple (which you have no idea who they are, I’m pretty sure–see how that works?) you would likely end up on the shitty end of a defamation suit.
And the point being is others besides the couple (cabbie, for instance? Read the other comments upthread?) have spoken about him flipping out and having weapons pulled on them. How do you explain THAT behavior?
Finally, if someone is gay and comes on to me, you know what works real well, Scooter? “Sorry, you’re not my type.” See how that works? No threats, no weapons, no violence. You’ve SEEN it happen before, yet you haven’t gone to SPD about it? Really?
Yeah, I’m not buying your story or the excuses you make. Sorry. Sell it somewhere else.
What an interesting deal this has been. We somehow managed to go from making sure that the PTSD “diagnosis” was not abused in this case as it has been in so many instances to being threatened and verbally abused by folks too lazy, too high, or too something else to make any effort to stay on subject here.
Dang! Not sure I am being paid enough for putting up with this sort of stuff.
And for the record, many of us have been subjected to some sort of unwanted sexual advance. Not sure that I’ve ever read of, heard of, and certainly not personally responded by putting a knife to a cabbie’s throat! Guess the “friends” who failed to get help for their “friend” must believe that not only are the police lying, so is the cabbie, the couple, and any other folks who might have been around at the time.
None of the commentors here have claimed to have been there. So, does that mean that every opinion here is equally weighted? So, wishing death upon we who are simply opining about the “PTSD” diagnosis should correctly be seen as irrational, and in reality perhaps even a terroristic threat? Ya might wanna watch throwing around criminal threats as your proof of the cherebic nature of your “friend.”
Listen Sparky…This kid was out in the middle of nowhere…4am in the morning…I’m sure intoxicated and by himself. Why do you think a 50 year old man is picking up a 25 year old kid and bringing him home with him? Something had to have happened.
I don’t think “I’m sorry I’m not your type” is gonna cut it.
Yes I know the owner very well and I also know his MO.
He’s a very aggressive big guy…