3098

And make sure everyone has their story straight.

3099

I got you, fam

image

/s ?

3100

In a completely predictable “stunning new twist”, it turns out the cops were probably lying:

3101

This case seems a bit more complicated to me. It does seem that at the point she was shot, the teen did not have a weapon. However, there is some question as to whether she was shooting the weapon out of the cab during the car chase - it would have been kind of insane for the father to drive 1 handed and shoot an AR one handed, backwards. They do it in the movies but…

I’m not saying I know what happened but I do believe this needs to be looked at carefully, including a review of the body cam footage. The good news is the CA AG is involved in the investigation not the local Sheriff/PD, under CA’s new police investigation law, so I have at least some hope for a reasonable investigation. My opinion of the CA AG is actually pretty good.

Bottom line: this is one where I’m not ready to make any conclusions and want to see what the evidence is. There is at least some possibility she was an accomplice not a victim. I know that sounds crazy but the influence of a parent can be very strong.

I’m in an official “wait and see” posture on this one.

3102

Yeah, “wait” for the police to say something, and “see” how their obvious lies come crumbling down at the slightest bit of investigation and scrutiny.

3103

I’m specifically waiting for the CA AG, not the local police. In CA we have a fairly new law mandating State AG investigations of police shootings of unarmed people. This case, along with that LA in-store shooting-dressing-room case, will be test cases for the new procedure. I’m willing to give the CA AG a chance on this, subject to skepticism of course.

3104

Speaking of the “dressing room shooting”, of young Valentina Peralta Orellana, I looked up the status. Apparently the state AG has not released a report and it’s been 9 months so that’s worrisome. According to the timeline article I found, the local police should be wrapping up their internal investigation and convening a use of force board now (which, again, is way too long).

I did not realize the delays were so long or that so little info was available. That actually increases my skepticism towards the police and AG. I was assuming things would work better b/c I have a good opinion of the AG’s office and the CA state DOJ. Perhaps that was overly optimistic.

3105

It looks like since the law was implemented in July 2021, the AG’s office has resolved zero of these cases:

3106

OK that’s disheartening. It looks like they’ve got cases “under investigation” ranging from recent to 14 months old. I had expected better from the CA DOJ. That almost certainly means the investigations would make the local police look bad and there’s some kind of BS going on. I don’t believe for a second it takes 14 months to investigate this sort of thing. 14 days in many cases. 14 weeks, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe, but not 14 months.

Edit: I guess in theory the alternative is the investigations would clear the police but would look weak to criminal justice reformers, so the DOJ is delaying to avoid political embarrassment. That’s theoretically possible, I suppose. I guess if we see a bunch of these investigations reported as closed right after this year’s elections we will have our answer (one way or the other). CA DOJ you disappoint me.

3107

Good news! The review will finish up a lot faster. It seems there is no body cam footage.

Police lacked body-worn cameras during shootout that killed California man and his teen daughter (eastbaytimes.com)

3108

What about police car dash cams? They MUST have those, right? I am beginning to feel Le Sigh of Disappoint coming on.

Part of my thing is I had this fantasy that technocratic solutions like bringing in “neutral” agents like the CA DOJ could help over come local police bias. But it’s not looking so good, in terms of actual investigative output.

3109

‘Lacked’ is such a blame-free passive verb. Poor police, they wanted body cameras, but they lacked them. It’s a shame!

3110

The cameras were absent

3111

There, FTFY

3112

The kids in the car survived and the officer got fired, but they still charged the driver with felony assault. SAPD fires its rookie officer who shot, injured 17-year-old

3113

Felony assault against who? The burger?

3114

Am I missing something in the video?! Why did the cop react that way? The kid looked surprised and then looked like he was starting to get out of the car like he was ordered. Did the cheeseburger not respect the cop’s authoritah?

3115

That is an insane video. The sequence of events makes no sense. The whole opening the door with no warning is crazy, but the one that really gets me is that I see no basis at all, even of the “arguable” kind for the police officer to draw his gun and fire. I mean, WTF?

3116

If the cop had an AR instead of that silly popgun of his, he could have slaughtered the kids and stopped that car. They he could have handcuffed the car and taken it to jail.

What a disturbing video.

3117

It shows the sclerotic nature of American political system that the ultimate result of the George Floyd protests is almost absolutely no systemic change.

Saying police need supporting but also that police need regulating is literally too many thoughts to hold in the American political system’s collective mind.