Posted on 07/13/2010 3:47:06 AM PDT by marktwain
Edited on 07/13/2010 4:51:40 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas Metro police on Monday identified the three officers who shot and killed an armed man outside a Costco store in Summerlin.
They are Officer William Mosher, 38, a five-year veteran of the department, Officer Joshua Stark, 28, who has been with the department since September 2008, and Officer Thomas Mendiola, 23, who joined the department in March 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5vegas.com ...
Whenever I hear about a cop needlessly shooting others I remember Columbine HS. The armed cops sat outside while the unarmed students were inside; the cops cared more for their own safety than that of anyone else. During their hours of cowardice, a teacher bled to death.
When the students finally left the school, they did so in front of cops who trained their weapons on the innocent. Wow....I was impressed....not.
When cops get together, you can count on their stories getting together as well. As Columbine showed, they care for themselves more than anyone else.
I want to hear the 9-1-1 tape and see the Costco surveillance video that supports the Costco employee’s version of events.
NOT to excuse the murder of Mr. Scott, but this would be an active and potentially confusing situation to enter as a LEO. Add to that the poor job most people do communicating to 911. Again, this DOES NOT excuse the (apparent) unjustified shooting of Mr. Scott, but it does add a level of complexity. The tragic irony is that the victim likely had the training to properly handle the situation whereas the LEOs obviously didn't.
This sounds like typical cops shoot first, cover up later.
Honestly, until a few cops get personally bankrupted or hung in cases like this, nothing will change.
I hope those officers have consciences so guilty, that they can’t sleep. I hope they are tormented for taking an innocent life. It’s not Christian of me to do so, but that’s the way I feel. They need to be FIRED, pronto.
As posted on another thread:
We need fewer cops on taxpayer dole and more citizens carrying. Crime rate would be down and fewer wrongful shootings would occur.
“His death seems premeditated”
Cops in general don’t take kindly to ciitzens carrying weapons.
I know personally about 5 cops and you are 100% correct.
They are thugs and have a street gang mentality and would roll you and beat you mercilessly for next to nothing.
Protect & Serve? YEAH RIGHT.
I would not want their job but I increasingly don’t trust cops. I believe they are being taught to distance themselves from treating the public like people and more like animals to be controlled.
The cops are so spooked that a traffic stop can turn out to be a life ending experience.
Frankly, it is feeling like we live in a police state. On the roads I travel there are not too few but too many cops and they all seem to be looking for someone to hassle. The more normal and innocent the better. No need to deal with the felons, hit on someone easy.
Criminals don’t like competition.
But Costco also has part of the blame for inciting the situation. Witness reports are starting to come forward that confirm what we all suspected. Some liberal twit Costco employee saw his concealed handgun, got into an argument with him about it, and called the cops to report a crazed gunman in the store.
Giving Costco a hard time about it will persuade them, and other businesses, to make clear to employees that IT IS OK FOR CUSTOMERS TO BE ARMED.
The fallout from this is going to run far and wide. Use of deadly force has HUGE ramifications, for all involved. The lives of the officers' families is probably ruined too - not to the same degree or the same way, just saying that the social damage has significant reach.
Of course, girlfriend, parents, siblings, etc. I lost a fried to a shooting. He was a customer in a 7-11, shot in the back by thugs during a robbery. These cops deserve the same opprobrium that one gives to a thug. Maybe worse, because it appears these officers are lying in order to save their jobs.
Whenever I hear about a cop needlessly shooting others I remember Columbine HS. The armed cops sat outside while the unarmed students were inside; the cops cared more for their own safety than that of anyone else.
Same thing happened at the "Gun Free Zone" called Virginia Tech. The gunman was on the loose for over an hour and the cops did nothing. After the tragedy it also came out that the head of campus police had testified against a bill to allow students to concealed carry on campus. Needless to say, his position didn't change any.
The only people cops "protect" are their own. And the only thing they "serve" is themselves, out of your wallet.
Remember - to 99% of cops we are civilians not citizens.
They refer to us amongst each other as civilians.
The militarization of local police departments has had awful effects on society. Just look at how many cops interact with the public. Its like a master-servant relationship.
Exactly. The cops’ only function is to write traffic summonses and respond to events after the fact to write a report and collect OT.
“Several witnesses at the scene say that Erik Scott never acted confrontational or touched a weapon when he was shot.”
From the article;
“Officers confronted the man outside the store. When ordered to get on the ground, police said he reached for his gun, and the officers opened fire”
When I was a cop, I had a situation similar to this except it was a traffic stop on a murder suspect. We had been told that he was armed. When I told him to slowly exit the vehicle with his hands raised and empty, he did so and did not get shot and he wound up being not guilty or even charged with the murder we thought he had comitted. Had he exited that vehicle with anything in his hands or made any quick movements, I would not have hesitated to shoot him. At the end of the day, IF one of us was going home alive, it was going to be me.
I respect the mafia too.
It's not just LEO's (and I think most of them are okay, this incident isn't "the norm," and accidents, errors in judgment are part of the human condition), the legal and political systems are also morally bankrupt. Mind you, I still respect them, for the same reason I respect the mafia - they have superior force.
And here’s the thing there are no customers who were witness to him “tearing up the place.” (i.e. it’s an unsubstantiated accusation.)
I’m guessing that the videos, if released, will be QUITE damning of the Costco clerk AND the police.
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