Posted on 06/27/2007 6:22:28 PM PDT by CAWats
SAN BERNARDINO - A former sheriff's deputy on trial for shooting an unarmed suspect at the end of a car chase softly cried this afternoon as his attorney pleaded one last time with jurors to acquit him of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm charges.
Ivory J. Webb Jr. wiped tears from his eyes as his attorney, Michael Schwartz, finished his closing argument during Webb's trial in San Bernardino Superior Court.
In the final words of that argument, Schwartz compared Webb to a bird trapped in a cage, and asked jurors to allow the former deputy to return to a normal life, to return to his family.
"Do the right thing," Schwartz said. "Set him free. Not guilty on both counts."
Webb is charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm in connection with the Jan. 29, 2006 shooting of Elio Carrion. Carrion was the passenger in a Corvette that led Webb on a high-speed chase. The chase ended when the driver crashed on Francis Street in Chino, prompting Webb to hold the car's two occupants at gunpoint. A nearby resident caught the subsequent shooting on tape. The tape appears to show Webb shoot Carrion as Carrion complies with the deputy's orders to get off the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailybulletin.com ...
He shot a man who was lying on the ground 3 times, and you want to let him off?
More like a bird trapped by his own actions.
There is no excuse for *ordering* a suspect to stand up, and then shooting him when attempts to comply. Most especially when he tells you he is complying. That’s what happened in this case.
I doubt he could pass the entrance exams, physical and especially the mental/intelligence part.
If the man is that delusional he should be locked up in a mental institution for at least as long a time as he would have served for the crimes.
This scum cop needs to face the same fate as his victim, with that video playing in his cell every night, all night long until the moment they stick the needle in him.
He was lying on the ground, following orders.
In addition, that has little to do with what transpired later, during the actual shooting.
Yeah. There’s no way to explain it away. He needs to suffer the same verdict he leveled on his victim.
I am not arguing that he should be returned to duty as a police officer. He is clearly not up to it. But there’s a difference between permanently removing him from police work and sticking him in a prison full of barbarians.
With the very high risk level that many police officers face on a daily basis, and the very modest pay that they earn for that risk, I just think we should be careful about creating the impression that becoming a police officer may be a ticket to a long prison term and financial and personal ruin, for mistakes made when an officer is panicked and in fear for his life. If we’re not careful, we’ll have nothing but evil-intentioned career gang-bangers staffing the police forces in our large cities.
We’re already seeing the effects of the “always blame the officer” mentality, when we have officers like this one, who clearly aren’t up to making correct, quick decisions when under great stress. I think the driver of the car, who was presumably a friend of the passenger, should be taking a much bigger share of the heat here. But for the driver’s clearly deliberate criminal act, none of this would have happened.
Trouble is, police officers nowadays have often seen so many vicious thugs "moaning in pain and imploring" somebody -- usually as a result of their gang-banging or mugging/robbery attempts -- that the human factor of it is not a big deal to them any more.
I thought by definition, all police brutality was by whites against blacks.
...and why hasn't this been the lead story on the MSM?
Cheers!
When I watch the film, I know if I was the film shooter, I would have dropped the camera and put a .45 in the cop. Yup, that's right, the cop! You have the right of self defense against ANYBODY, even cops. Just ask Randy Weaver. If Weaver and his family killed 9 cops that day, he still would have been not guilty. He was attacked by the US Marshals and they got shot. That's also the reason the border patrol agents are in jail for shooting a dope dealer. If they could prove the guy shot first, they wouldn't be in jail. I'm for a pardon, but that's how the law works.
“...for mistakes made when an officer is panicked and in fear for his life. If we’re not careful, we’ll have nothing but evil-intentioned career gang-bangers staffing the police forces in our large cities.”
Cold blooded killer or officer panicked...where is the panic in the video? Are you volunteering to be the passenger in the next vehicle he stops? Your defense of this apparently rogue cop is difficult to comprehend.
BTW, my son is a seasoned deputy sheriff, and also a marine (once one, always one).
Police officers have a tough job and often have reason to fear for their lives. When I first read the story my inclination was to give the cop the benefit of the doubt. Just because someone is a military veteran doesn’t mean they are a saint, especially when drunk and keeping bad company.
Then I watched the video. I cannot find any excuse for ordering someone to get up and shooting them as they comply... then as the man lay there groaning from the wounds telling him to shut the f*** up. The officer may have been adrenaline charged, but the actions on that video look and sound like thoughtful malice.
He's lying scum and the army is not scum. Why would you want a POS like this endangering real heroes?
No, I've already said I don't think he should be returned to duty, as his ability to make correct decisions in a high-pressure situation has been to shown not to be up to the standards required of a police officer. And he should be exposed to civil liability to the man he shot. I'm just not convinced he belongs in the criminal category.
However, there's precious little danger that I'd ever be a passenger in a vehicle whose driver was leading police on a high-speed chase. Maybe if I'd just been abducted, but otherwise no way. I simply don't associate with people who do things like that, and that policy has no doubt contributed to the fact that I've never been shot -- by a LEO or anyone else.
Panic is not always obvious. Heart rate, skin temperature, etc. tell a lot more about whether someone's mind is in a state of panic, than anything visible or audible in a video recording.
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