Foley Police Officer Cleared In Off Duty Shooting

The Foley Police Department has cleared its officer who shot a man outside a Pensacola bar.
According to Police Chief David Wilson, Officer Marcus Wiley was using self defense when he shot Johnny Cloud two days after Christmas. Cloud was yelling racial slurs at Wiley and threatening him with a knife.
Chief Wilson says Wiley repeatedly told Cloud to drop the knife and even identified himself as a police officer before he pulled the trigger.
Doctors are keeping Cloud in a medically induced coma.
The Escambia County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the shooting.

Below is a copy of the release from Foley Police:

Officer Maurice Wiley has been cleared by this department in the off-duty shooting of Mr Johnny Cloud in Pensacola, Florida on December 27, 2008. This investigation revealed the following: Maurice Wiley had just arrived to meet a friend at the Boomerzzz bar in Pensacola at approximately 2:30 am. Within about 15 minutes of his arrival, some white males started using racial slurs. Officer Wiley asked them to stop using those words and he was then threatened by Mr Cloud. Mr Cloud continued to use racial slurs toward Officer Wiley. Mr Cloud called him the "n" word and threatened to go get a gun from his vehicle. At that point Officer Wiley tried to leave the establishment.

Johnny Cloud then confronted him in the parking lot and attacked Officer Wiley with a knife. Several witnesses gave statements that Officer Wiley continued backing away from Mr Cloud while telling him to drop the knife. Mr Cloud continued to come at him thrashing with the knife then Officer Wiley drew a 22 pocket pistol and identified himself as a police officer and ordered him to drop the knife while continuing to back up. This did not stop Mr Cloud who continued to come at Officer Wiley with the Knife. Officer Wiley used self defense when he then shot Mr Cloud in the upper body to stop the knife attack. Officer Wiley received Critical Incident Stress counseling and has been returned to full duty once the investigation was complete. We do not know the status of Mr Cloud.

Chief David Wilson
Foley Police Department