Officer charged with murder (Accused of shooting fleeing man in back)

The Courier Journal ^ | March 6, 2004 | JASON RILEY

[SLB]

Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel announced the indictment of Detective McKenzie Mattingly. "Just because you have a badge on your chest does not give you the right to just shoot anybody at will," Stengel said.

A Louisville Metro Police detective who shot and killed a fleeing 19-year-old suspect in January was indicted yesterday by a Jefferson County grand jury on charges of murder and wanton endangerment.

[SLB]

Attorney General Greg Stumbo "gave us a lot of hope and confidence" with their attention to the case, and he also cited the support of the Rev. Louis Coleman and Mattie Jones of the Justice Resource Center. "They stuck with us," he said.

FWIW - Louis Coleman Jr is currently a guest of the Hardin County Detention Facility for carrying a concealed weapon by a convicted felon, possession of crack and assaulting a police officer.

[DefCon]

"...Accused of shooting fleeing man in back..."
- - -
John Kerry got a medal for that !

[NutmegDevil]

From the headline, I thought this was a John F'ing Kerry story.

[jocko12]

GOOD SHOT.

[Voice in your head]

"For example, in a similar case in November 1989 a white Jefferson County police officer shot and killed a fleeing black teenager, who was unarmed. The officer, Larry Bush, said he shot John 'Jay' Lewis, a 17-year-old restaurant employee, when Lewis put his hands up to his chest. Two grand juries declined to indict Bush."

He must have known it was coming, because they usually don't put their hands on their chest until after you shoot them.

[SLB]

Thought you all might need some reading this morning.

[robertpaulsen]

"Newby ran, and Mattingly fired his gun four times, striking Newby three times in the back and killing him."

I suppose the "wanton endangerment" charge was brought because he was 3 for 4. A tighter grouping would avoid bullets endangering innocent civilians.

Wanna bet if the fleeing, armed and dangerous, drug dealing felon were white he merely be a statistic?

[SLB]

Wanna bet if the fleeing, armed and dangerous, drug dealing felon were white he merely be a statistic?

I never bet on a sure thing.

[dasboot]

POLICE CHIEF Robert White has said that Mattingly and Newby were struggling over Mattingly's service handgun when the weapon discharged during an attempted undercover drug buy just outside a liquor store and small grocery near 46th and Market streets on Jan. 3. Newby ran, and Mattingly fired his gun four times, striking Newby three times in the back and killing him.

Most important: Did the officer IDENTIFY himself as police, or DECLARE the bad guy under arrest prior to the struggle for the service firearm? If so, the shoot would be justifiable under the common law and statutory "fleeing felon" rule of many states. (including uber-liberal Massachusetts' laws)

[JimRed]

Step 1: make fleeing from the police a felony.
Step 2: pass a federal Fleeing Felon Act.
Step 3: if they stop, arrest them.
Step 4: if they run, shoot them.
Step 5: If they survive, penalize the LEO's marksmanship.

End of discussion. (end of rant)

[toddst]

If this officer is found guilty all it means is the community was ready to throw someone to the black "leadership" wolves.

After a struggle with an armed felon this officer did exactly the right thing. Louisville will lose police officers to other communities over this one IMO.

[Spok]

"If so, the shoot would be justifiable under the common law and statutory "fleeing felon" rule of many states.
(including uber-liberal Massachusetts' laws)"

Actually, the traditional 'fleeing felon' rule has been modified. Some states have a laundry list of 'forcible felonies' that justify shooting a runner, while other states require that the bad guy present an imminent threat to public safety, i.e., the serial killer type. The SCOTUS has said there are too many nonviolent felonies that shooting to apprehend suspects violates due process, such as check writers, felony theft, embezzlement, etc. More 'feel good' legislation from the bench without a Constitutional basis.

[umgud]

I heard a story where two officers were chasing a suspect who had already fired at them, but they didn't shoot him because they didn't feel right in shooting him in the back while he was running away from them. The perp eventually spun around and killed one of the officers.

The perp in this story was also armed and had just had a confrontation with the officer. It wasn't as if the cop came upon an unarmed and scared perp just trying to get away.

[SLB]

Louisville will lose police officers to other communities over this one IMO.

Yep. We used to loose police officers to Jefferson County, now they are seeing the L'ville cops being hung out to dry more and more. They are now going to Bowling Green, Nashville or Lexington.

No body has picked up on the young Coleman who is still in the Hardin County jail. He was offered a plea bargain last week with a 12 year sentence. No word on accepting it yet.

[robertpaulsen]

"The shooting calls attention to state and federal “fleeing felon” laws, which outline that deadly force is appropriate when a person is fleeing the scene of a crime."

" Under Kentucky law, an officer can use physical force, including deadly physical force, when he or she is preventing the escape of an arrested person."

" Russell Weaver, a law professor at the University of Louisville, said the two key facts in the Newby case are Newby’s struggle with Mattingly's weapon and his flight from the scene. If it is ultimately determined that Newby tried to grab Mattingly’s weapon, “that could suggest a willingness to use force,” Weaver said. “But his flight could mean he tried to break it off.”"
-- snitch.com/000701.html

[festus]

Pin a medal on the cop. Tell the force to do this another 500 times this year and I bet all the fleeing during arrests will drop like a rock.

I mean if I read the article right the man was fighting with the cop and trying to get his revolver then the guy gave up and started to run.

I vote we put the corpse on public display on the corner it happened on with a banner over it that says, try to attack a cop and you will look like this.......

And now a rousing chorus of Toby Keiths Whiskey for my men an beer for my horses......

[Prodigal Son]

Step 1: make fleeing from the police a felony.

Oh come on man. I've run from the cops before. I can't picture making it a felony if some 14 year old kid who was smoking a joint in the woods gets rousted by the cops and runs. Further, I can't see giving the cop the automatic go ahead to shoot everybody in the back that runs from them. A kid smokes a joint in the woods, gets rousted and now it's a death sentence. A little harsh in my opinion.

[RonPaulLives]

Yes, I have mixed emotions about this story. But I have had a feeling all along that Officer Mattingly was going to get taken down. The event in question happens on January 3 and the grand jury indicts on murder on March 5?? Why can't justice work this fast when its the street criminals charged?

Here is the official web psge that was set up to support Officer McKenzie:
Save McKenzie.com

And here is the website that was set up to support the Louisville Police:
Citizens for Fair Treatment of Police