I was going to add this to the old “Ferguson” thread, but I figure this happens often enough that it deserves its own thread. Here’s our first incident:
The cell-phone video is pretty damning, though the filming woman “looks away” just before they shoot the guy. An earlier report indicated that although the officers were wearing body-cams, they were deactivated. The convenience store’s surveillance footage was confiscated by the police.
Of note, the police were there because someone had called in that Sterling had been threatening someone else with a gun, so they at least had some reason to believe he was armed and dangerous.
We had a police shooting two weeks ago here in town and the Police Chief used the body cam footage to justify the shooting. I think cops who turn their cameras off don’t realize that in a justified situation the cameras may be their best friend.
I haven’t jumped on this shooting as it seems to have several red flags indicating that the cops may have had reason that the guy was armed and dangerous, yet what footage there is doesn’t indicate that.
Not to be the terrible white guy in the crowd, but you suppose if he had done what the cops asked he would be alive?
And the store owners story doesn’t clear much up. The cops thought he had a gun, the audio shows that. They had been told he had a gun by the 911 dispatcher. They did find a gun on him, unless there is evidence it was planted.
Also the cameras coming off doesn’t seem too far fetched in a fight. It’s not like they are nailed onto the cops.
I am just not ready to go all “cops are killers” mode without some better evidence. If I am wrong I will admit it.
“Open carry of firearms in Louisiana is permitted without a permit, as long as the user is of at least 17 years of age and legally able to possess a firearm under state and federal law”
And this is just the worst form of victim blaming. I’m sure your next post will be about how he was “no angel”
I think the issue with this kind of thinking is that even if the answer is “yes”, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility that this was an unjustified shooting. He’d also be alive if he didn’t step out of the house that day. So why ponder the question?
While his actions (or inaction) are related to the incident, the cops’ actions are what’s relevant to whether this was unjustifiable homicide.
Because it adds to the mind set of the cops. They are told he has a gun and then he refuses to cooperate. Apparently none of the witnesses deny that.
And I don’t think it is irrelevant if the victim’s own actions lend credence to the cops belief that he was dangerous.
As for it being an open carry state, maybe this demonstrates why that is a shitty idea. It puts even a tougher burden on the cops if the guy is more likely to be armed.
Resisting arrest (assuming that happened here) can reasonably be charged as a crime, but I don’t see how it should be a death sentence. If said resisting involves presenting a serious threat to the cops, that would be relevant justification for the shooting, but not resisting alone. In that case, it would be the threat, not the resisting, that is the justification.
Your question implies that any resisting justifies a shooting. That’s ridiculous.
In this case, from the video I saw, I’d frankly be pissed as hell if I was the partner of the shooter. Guy shot at point blank range with other cop inches away, since the other cop essentially had Sterling pinned.
How does this not blow back on the NRA? With all the rhetoric about ‘only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun’ and the insistence on ‘right to carry’ for citizens in public (be it open or concealed).
Oh. But they’re black.
Honestly, I can’t wait for some well meaning, law abiding, gun toting, white NRA member to get blown away by a black officer to see how that plays out.
