Posted on 07/30/2007 11:08:32 AM PDT by Abathar
GARY, Ind. -- A teenager shot to death by an officer as he fled a burglary scene may have tried to pull up his sagging pants, causing the officer to mistake the movement for a reach for a weapon, according to newly filed court documents.
In a motion to dismiss a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Vincent Smith Jr.'s father, the city of Gary suggests the 16-year-old was shot as he was reaching down to hoist up his drooping pants and sprint away from Officer Levi Randolph.
"Police officers have to make a lot of split-second decisions," said city attorney Donald Levinson. "The law does not say you have to wait until someone shoots at you (to act)."
The city's motion includes photographs of Smith's body, his underwear clearly riding above his jean's sagging waist, laying in the alley behind a house he was apparently burglarizing.
Randolph, who was indicted in March for the Jan. 15 shooting, faces up to eight years in prison if convicted in the killing.
The officer claims he thought Smith was reaching to pull a gun as the teen walked out the back door of the house. Randolph said he fired at Smith but missed when the teen reached toward his pants before sprinting through the backyard.
Randolph said that after Smith scaled an 8-foot fence and dropped to the ground, he turned toward the pursuing officer and again reached into his pants. Randolph fired again and struck Smith behind the left ear, killing him instantly.
In both cases, Levinson suggests in his filing that Smith was gathering up his sagging pants in anticipation of sprinting away.
Low-hanging pants that wearers must frequently hoist have become a hip-hop fashion statement popularized by rappers. Sagging pants are said to have their roots in prison culture, where inmates were often issued ill-fitting pants and belts were banned.
Douglas Hobson, an attorney for Vincent Smith Sr., said police training should better prepare officers to make split-second judgments to prevent shooting suspects who pose no threat.
"You've got to know there is a gun or something that is going to hurt someone. If these kinds of excuses justify something like that, then we've got a long way to go," he said.
Oh well, I tried to be a good little liberal for a change, but it just ain't happening here.
Ditto
If you dress like a thug, don’t be surprised when the police treat you like a thug.
Thinning the herd.
Gee, I feel just terrible,TERRIBLE about this.
Sometimes there’s nothing like a good belt to keep you alive. (Pun possibly intended)
"You've got to know there is a gun or something that is going to hurt someone. If these kinds of excuses justify something like that, then we've got a long way to go," he said."
Yep, he donated to Republican causes last year, I can just tell....
What's the point of walking around holding your pants up with one hand?
We need to get this info out to the gangsta-rap culture quickly! It will be so much easier for the cops to know who is the bad guy and who is packing.
Tight pants = criminal with gun
I think being shot at once by the police would have convinced me to stop running?
My thoughts exactly.
“The law does not say you have to wait until someone shoots at you (to act).”
Does that apply to me or only the police? There would be a whole lot fewer of these punks if open season with a bounty were declared.
“Randolph said that after Smith scaled an 8-foot fence and dropped to the ground, he turned toward the pursuing officer and again reached into his pants. Randolph fired again and struck Smith behind the left ear, killing him instantly.”
He turned toward the cop and was shot behind the ear? OooooK.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha etc!!
Maybe he was burglarizing the house so he could get money to buy a belt....
I’m sure the police officer feels terrible.
Having said that...
Here lies Mr. Baggy Pants (1991-2007)
He was shot dead in the street
his trousers down around his feet
He hemmed and hawed, his pants he pawed
but he couldn’t run before the cop ‘drawed’
He lies on his face now, butt to the sky
cursin’ the fact he didn’t wear button fly.
Mr. Baggy Pants is dead.
Bravo!
What's the point of walking around holding your pants up with one hand?
They can conceal more stolen merchandise.
I was at the grocery store one day. One of the courtesy clerks came out to the lot to round up shopping carts. He had to do this with one hand, because the other one was holding up his droopy drawers. Me and my kids were laughing hysterically as we drove away. It was one of the dumbest things we’d ever witnessed.
Actually it comes from the bighouse. This is how “Wives” display their goods to their potential”Husbands”.If you get my drift!
He’s double guilty: He’s guilty of the theft and guilty for causing a death in the commission of a theft.
Gary, Indiana!
What a wonderful name,
Named for Elbert Gary of judiciary fame.
Gary, Indiana, as a Shakespeare would say,
Trips along softly on the tongue this way—
Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary, Indiana,
Let me say it once again.
Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana,
That’s the town that “knew me when.”
If you’d like to have a logical explanation
How I happened on this elegant syncopation,
I will say without a moment of hesitation
There is just one place
That can light my face.
Gary, Indiana,
Gary Indiana,
Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome, but—
Gary, Indiana,
Gary, Indiana,
Gary Indiana,
My home sweet home.
“Depends on where the exit wound is. If it was behind the other ear then it’s ok, if it came out his right eye socket then there may be some questions to answer. I think if that was the case the lawyer would have been all over that point in court.”
There is still no way to shoot someone facing you behind the ear, even from the side.
Last weekend I came around a bend and nearly ran a whole chorus line of the baggy pants/oversize white t-shirt gang down.
I laid on my horn and locked the breaks, and one of them tripped over his pants trying to get out of the way.
BAM, face first, both hands trying to pull his pants up so he could run, no hands to break the fall...
I gotta admit, my whole day brightened up after that. Oops... I mean, that was terrible.
I heard it was so they could wear a second set of clothes underneath. That is, drop the recognizable apparel, and look “normal” after the whatever crime or malfeasance they had just participated in.
We are fortunate that no humans were injured.
Bad shoot.
What's a Hungarian?
A well-endowed man from northwestern Indiana.
I’m waiting for the saggin britches to catch on with the thong wearing chicky set.
Are you one of those guys that pretend that one can only commit suicide with a pistol by using an index finger to pull the trigger, rather than holding it backwards and using your thumb........yes?
What's the point of walking around holding your pants up with one hand?
It emanates from the gang 'culture' which adopted it as a means of hiding weapons.
Similarly, the "hoodie" sweatshirts help to hide their identities.....it's become such a problem in the UK that not only hoods but HATS are no longer allowed in pubs because they block the view of the CCTV cams.
Great Britain Now pubs ban trilbies (Pub chain bans HATS because they obscure faces on CCTV cams)
Another nice trick....the gang-bangers put turned-out fish hooks into the inseams of their pants so when they are arrested and patted down, it will rip the hand of the arresting officer.
Such lovely people. If they dress like a gang-banger and make the slightest, most vaguely threatening move, shoot them.
And shoot them again until your magazine is empty.
I wonder how many yutes would drop this look if they knew that what they were really doing was advertising their availability for anal sex?
Maybe MTV should do a public service campaign to get this information out. (I know, like THAT'S going to happen.)
Darwin’s underpants.
At my school we tell them regularly, doesn’t seem to bother them.
The Beagle is making sounds like a criminal defense atttorney.
just wondering? Otherwise I think he aimed at center of mass and jerked the trigger a little bit.
Maybe some time at the reactive target range might help. One less parasite in society...yawn...back to scanning.
I think he would have been fine with just loose pants. The problem came with the burglary and fleeing from the police.
Good thing this cop wasn’t a border patrol agent. He’d be facing some serious time.
I read somewhere that in prison subculture it demonstrates that your “available”.
The penalty seems harsh but fair.
The penalty seems harsh but fair.
I've always been told that the baggy clothing was to assist in the hiding of firearms.
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