If Guilty

[RetiredGySgt]

If this guy is guilty I hope he gets the max. We can NOT tolerate police that do this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070521/ap_on_re_us/airman_shooting

 

[Birdzeye]

I have to agree. From the details provided, I can't decide whether the officer is guilty or not; it sounds like he was not dealing with a passive individual so I don't discount the possibility that he can convince the jury that his actions were justifiable.

If he is convicted, however, he should get the max. Police officers are supposed to protect, not abuse, the public, and the bad apples in their ranks should be dealt with harshly, IMO.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Ya, hopefully there are witnesses ( impartial) that saw the events. Film can be misleading. And conditions can be chaotic in situations the police deal with.

It doesn't LOOK good. It appears he ordered the man to stand then shot him THREE times. The jury, I hope, takes their job seriously.

The defense lawyer playing what appears to be semantic games isn't gonna help I would think.

 

[Birdzeye]

I hate to say it but the defense lawyer is doing his job. Unfortunately for the jury, if the case against the defendant is very strong, the defense lawyer will probably follow the adage, "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit."

At least that was my experience as a juror in a trial where the case against the defendant was pretty strong.

 

[Diuretic]

If this guy is guilty I hope he gets the max. We can NOT tolerate police that do this.

Quite right. But I have to say in a country saturated with firearms you have to expect this to happen. I'm not minimising the Deputy's alleged actions, just trying to point out that there is going to be a heightened apprehension on the part of cops to being attacked by a person armed with a firearm.

 

[hjmick]

The video and accompanying audio are very damning. This was all over the local news here when it happened, aired and re-aired for days with varying degrees of analysis. As a one time candidate for the police force and supporter of their efforts to keep us safe, all I can say is, it doesn't look good for the cop.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Quite right. But I have to say in a country saturated with firearms you have to expect this to happen. I'm not minimising the Deputy's alleged actions, just trying to point out that there is going to be a heightened apprehension on the part of cops to being attacked by a person armed with a firearm.

Bullshit. It is amazing we don't have wild west shoot outs all over all the time.... I mean conservative estimates are well over 200 million firearms are owned legally in this country. More to the point, he DID NOT have a firearm... EVEN more to the point, if he had one, why would he wait till he was nearly helpless on the ground to try and use it, not when he came out of the car, and was not lying prone on the ground with a gun pointed at him?

I suggest YOU have no knowledge from which to make the above statement.

 

[Diuretic]

Bullshit. It is amazing we don't have wild west shoot outs all over all the time.... I mean conservative estimates are well over 200 million firearms are owned legally in this country. More to the point, he DID NOT have a firearm... EVEN more to the point, if he had one, why would he wait till he was nearly helpless on the ground to try and use it, not when he came out of the car, and was not lying prone on the ground with a gun pointed at him?

I suggest YOU have no knowledge from which to make the above statement.

Ask a cop in the US what his or her attitude is regarding being prepared for a confrontation with someone who may have a firearm. A cop in the US who approaches a situation without being prepared to confront someone who is armed is a negligent fool. I'm lucky, I can assume that a person isn't carrying a firearm, although I'm not stupid enough to waltz in and think they're not, US policing has taught us much about operational safety (you have probably the most effective cops in the world when it comes to armed offender response).

That mindset, always expect the person to be armed, may well have been in this Deputy's mind at the time, it may well have prompted him to respond in the manner he did. But of course that's just speculation.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Ya, we have hundreds of dead and wounded speeders, shot by cops after ( apparently) telling them to get up from a prone position. It is an epidemic in this country.

And of course we have Dodge City shoot outs in all those States with concealed carry laws too.