Swat members storm barricaded Michael Lester in Auburndale
Bartow, Florida – Auburndale Police Officer Stacey Lee Booth (now West) had no idea that her life was about to change when she came to the scene of what she thought was a domestic dispute. The man who changed her life plead no contest to attempted first-degree murder of a police officer in the shooting of Stacy Lee West on September 2, 2011.
By pleading no contest and taking a plea deal he, Lester, was able avoid life in prison. Moments after the trial West said she was happy to have it over.
On September 2, 2011, Michael Lester and his wife were engaged in a dispute at their home located at 413 Diamond Ridge Drive in Auburndale around 10:00 p.m., which turned physical. Their 8-year-old daughter called 911 but hung up once Telecommunicators at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center (ECC) answered the call.
Telecommunicators, per standard operating procedure, called back to the number from which was dialed, two times. The first time, the call went straight to voicemail. The second time, the 8-year-old girl answered, and she told the Telecommunicator “nevermind” and that everything was okay.
While she was still on the line with the PCSO Telecommunicator, her mother took the cell phone and began talking to the Telecommunicator. She told them everything was okay and that nobody needed to come to the house. She added that she and her daughter had already left but that her husband was still in the home.
Per standard operating procedure, an officer was dispatched to the home to ensure everyone there was okay. The Telecommunicator also relayed to Lester’s wife that an officer was responding.
When APD Officer Stacy Booth (now West) arrived on-scene and walked up to the front door, she was struck by a barrage of bullets through the front door by what is now known as an SKS assault rifle, with 7.62 X 39 MM rounds. Officer Booth (now West) was struck in the right wrist area, the holster of her gun belt where her agency-issued firearm was (rendering it inoperable), and her lower abdomen.
Officer Booth (now West) fell to the ground and dragged herself to the residence next door, located at 419 Diamond Branch Road.
The garage door of that residence was opening, due to the fact that the residents there, Jose Acosta and his wife, Mabel Placeras, had heard gunfire and were raising the garage door to go outside and see what the commotion was. Officer Booth (now West) dragged herself into the safety of their garage.
Immediately recognizing that there was an officer who had been seriously injured, Jose and Mabel closed the garage door and called 911. Although there was a language barrier, they conveyed as best they could what was happening at their home.
Meanwhile, Officer Booth (now West), in extreme pain and duress, was able to direct back-up officers and EMS via her radio to the scene, warning them several times that the man inside the home at 413 Diamond Ridge Drive was armed and was shooting through the front door. Because the PCSO ECC dispatches for PCSO, Winter Haven PD, and Auburndale PD (among others), units from all three agencies immediately responded.
Officer Booth (now West) was wearing her agency-issued bullet resistant vest. However, the rounds that struck her hit her in areas of her body not protected by the vest.
Officer West now will not be able to perform as an officer again. Her hip and arm have been damaged to the point that she will never be able to use a firearm as she once did.