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Unarmed Army reservist shot dead by NYPD cop while reaching for drill at traffic stop
The Daily Mail Online ^ | October 5, 2012 | Emma Reynolds

Posted on 10/07/2012 6:36:02 AM PDT by Uncle Chip

An NYPD officer yesterday shot and killed an unarmed Army reservist as he went to pick up a drill after they stopped his car.

Noel Polanco, 22, was fired at when he cut off the police car near New York's LaGuardia Airport, after they shouted at him to put his hands up, a witness said.

Passenger Diane DeFerrari insisted Mr Polanco never even took his hands off the wheel and the police had acted out of 'road rage.'

Tragedy: Noel Polanco, 22, was shot dead by a police officer as he drove two passengers home from the bar where he works

Horrified: Passenger Diane DeFerrari, who worked at the Ice Lounge bar with Mr Polanco, said he was not given a chance to put his hands up before police shot him

Officers who had given terrifying chase in an unmarked vehicle screamed, 'Put up your hands!', and then shot Mr Polanco a split-second later, she said.

'It was simultaneous,' she added. 'There was a pop and Noel gasped.'

After the shooting, Ms DeFerrari, 36, said she and a backseat passenger, an off-duty NYPD officer, were ordered out and told to put their hands on the car. 'The cop said, "Your friend just shot himself",' said Ms DeFerrari. 'I didn’t dispute what I saw because I was afraid. They wouldn’t let me look at him.'

The officer riding in Mr Polanco’s car, 29-year-old Vanessa Rodriguez, was waving her police ID out the window just before the shooting, sources said.

Detective Hassam Hamdy insisted he pulled the trigger after Mr Polanco, from Queens, reached down for something that turned out to be a yellow-and-black power drill, a source told the Daily News.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: newyork; nypd; polanco
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The story as reported across the pond.
1 posted on 10/07/2012 6:36:13 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

Poorly written and contradicts itself. Were both hands on the wheel or was he reaching? Why would he reach for a drill? Guessing he was drunk and unsure of everything else.


2 posted on 10/07/2012 6:44:42 AM PDT by sakic
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To: Uncle Chip
"...Officers who had given terrifying chase in an unmarked vehicle..."

There is a thematic inconsistency in this story, which makes me take none of it seriously. Earlier it said: "...was fired at when he cut off the police car near New York's LaGuardia Airport..."

Was it a "terrifying chase" or did he just cut them off and they took umbrage at the perceived slight?

I will assume that even if the car was an unmarked, they had lights that were used during the "terrifying chase". In any case, it sounds like the cops were jacked up on adrenaline after the chase, and the guy they shot reached for something in a bag when ordered to show his hands.

And why would he be reaching for an electric drill? Does that seem odd to anyone else?

3 posted on 10/07/2012 6:44:54 AM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: Uncle Chip

“Second witness: An off-duty police officer and friend of Mr Polanco and Ms DeFerrari’s was riding in the back of the Army reservist’s car”

OK, that should clear up what really happened.


4 posted on 10/07/2012 6:45:58 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: sakic

You and I both saw the same thing when we read it.

I don’t even know if this is applicable, but if he was indeed “reaching for an electric drill”, why would he have done that? Because he wanted them to think he was reaching for “something”?

It is typical fare for The Daily Mail, if I recall correctly.


5 posted on 10/07/2012 6:47:10 AM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: Uncle Chip

“Noel Polanco, 22, was fired at when he cut off the police car near New York’s LaGuardia Airport, after they shouted at him to put his hands up, a witness said.”

As written, this has the police (in an unmarked car) shouting at the driver of another car, apparently in motion, to “put his hands up” before the victim “cut off the police car” at which point he was shot.

This makes no sense whatsoever.


6 posted on 10/07/2012 6:49:57 AM PDT by John Valentine (Deep in the Heart of Texas)
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To: Uncle Chip

I wonder if the real story will ever come out. With the Reverend Al involved, one must wonder about the background/actions of the driver. Some accounts make the cop the bad guy, and others give one pause. All I know is that if a cop has his gun out and gives me an order, I’m following the instructions, right or wrong and will sort it out later - while still sucking air.


7 posted on 10/07/2012 6:55:12 AM PDT by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: rlmorel
Most likely this was a planned hit on a cop wannabe by a regular cop who didn't like his (former?) cop girlfriend riding around with the guy.

That's what it looks like on the surface ~

8 posted on 10/07/2012 6:55:18 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: rlmorel
So, earlier, one of the cops planted the drill on the floor of the wannabe cop's car so it'd rattle around loose when he drove home from work.

Then, when they did their stop and squat in front of the guy out on the freeway he'd be distracted ~ which he was ~ then he could be shot easily on some pretext.

This one ain't over!

9 posted on 10/07/2012 6:59:19 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

the dead army guy worked 2 jobs and would pick up his neighbor from work along with supporting his mom/brother. the cop (killer) had 2 judgements against him of around 250k plus each.. thats not a small amount. this was a bad cop.


10 posted on 10/07/2012 6:59:35 AM PDT by GreaterSwiss
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To: sakic
Poorly written and contradicts itself.

It probably does because the police version contradicts itself.

This is what was first reported by NY Daily News:

"The officer riding in Mr Polanco’s car, 29-year-old Vanessa Rodriguez, was waving her police ID out the window just before the shooting, sources said.

Later the same source reports that she was asleep in the backseat the whole time until the shot goes off.

So then which is it???

11 posted on 10/07/2012 7:01:41 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

I always reach for my drill when a cop pulls me over. /s


12 posted on 10/07/2012 7:03:52 AM PDT by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
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To: Fresh Wind
I always reach for my drill when a cop pulls me over. /s

Yeh but that's only because you know the drill.

13 posted on 10/07/2012 7:06:58 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

This whole topic is boring.


14 posted on 10/07/2012 7:08:38 AM PDT by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
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To: muawiyah

I will say this: I have looked at several accounts of this incident from a variety of sources with differing perspectives and biases.

Bottom line is that an unarmed driver was shot by police and the only excuse offered by the police is that he was going for his blue and yellow drill.

As much as I want to sympathize with the police and as much as I detest Al Sharpton, I have to say that this can’t possibly be a justified shooting, based on the underlying facts as conceded by all sides.

From that point, it only looks worse and worse for the police. There really isn’t a positive spin to put on this fiasco.

“The police chased (us), “sticking their middle fingers at us and screaming obscenities,” said 36-year-old Diane DeFerrari, a bartender who sat in the passenger seat of Polanco’s car.”

and

“DeFarrari told the New York Post that with rifles drawn, the police officers pulled over the vehicle and ordered Polanco and his friends to put their hands up. But in an instant – before Polanco had time to take his hands off the steering wheel – he was shot dead.”

and, from the NY Slimes:

“On Friday evening, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly visited Ms. Reyes (the victim’s mother) at her Corona home to express condolences.”

Anyone ever hear of a Police Commissioner personally visiting a bereaved and expressing condolences in any case of a justified shooting?


15 posted on 10/07/2012 7:09:14 AM PDT by John Valentine (Deep in the Heart of Texas)
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To: Uncle Chip
Pretty obviously both ~ she'd been asleep, the hassle started, she got up, waved her ID and the killer fired. Roughly that sequence would make sense.

More than a koinkydink these guys pulled out on the highway just as the cops came along ~ it was a set-up ~ mob-like in its execution!~

16 posted on 10/07/2012 7:12:53 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Fresh Wind
This whole topic is boring.

There fixed it.

17 posted on 10/07/2012 7:17:14 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

LOL! That was so bad it was funny!


18 posted on 10/07/2012 7:22:29 AM PDT by winner3000
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To: Fresh Wind; Uncle Chip; All
This whole topic is boring.

You might find FR members who support, indeed vigorously defend, Cops who beat the crap out of innocent women who are too "uppity", to be more interesting reading...

19 posted on 10/07/2012 7:25:49 AM PDT by Tuanedge (Warriors victorious in a hundred battles, flee when a tiger enters their tent.)
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To: Uncle Chip

Actually, the cops fixed it when they plugged the guy.


20 posted on 10/07/2012 7:26:58 AM PDT by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
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