Posted on 12/15/2010 6:28:43 PM PST by marktwain
The 35-year-old Long Beach man killed in an officer-involved shooting Sunday was holding a pistol-grip water nozzle, not a gun, Long Beach police officials said Monday.
Two officers responded to a 911 call at 4:40 p.m. Sunday from a neighbor reporting an intoxicated man holding a "six-shooter" in the 5300 block of East Ocean Boulevard in the upscale Belmont Shore neighborhood.
"The officers had a position of cover and were observing the suspect while other officers were en route," said Sgt. Dina Zapalski, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department.
Zapalski said Douglas Zerby had been sitting on a stoop playing with what appeared to be a weapon and pointing it at objects as if it were a gun. He extended his arms and pointed in the direction of an officer. Police said they did not have time to make their presence known or to tell Zerby to drop the weapon before opening fire because they believed he was a threat.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I agree wholeheartedly, There was a time about 40 years ago when I respected the Police, Now I would Never believe anything a cop ever said.
This young man had nothing but a garden nozzle with a squeeze lever...
AMEN and AMEN!!!!!!!!!
The vic’s fault for thinking he could get drunk and play with a water nozzle on his own property....
Our fault for thinking this is still the country we grew up in....
Compared to what we have today, they lived in paradise.
I also agree, cops nowadays are out of control. And I worked with cops for many years.
Interesting.
Yeah. That is mistake number 1.
I still work with a lot of retired cops on a regular basis, and they are the good ones for the most part, and most if not all agree with me on this and a lot of things.
I have mixed feelings on that. Growing up in the 50's and early 60's you would never hear about a cop killing unless it was in your neighbor hood. One of my good friend's father was a police captain. We heard some horror stories about cops. We knew who were the mean ones and which would help you out. If there was a wife beater, she couldn't call the cops. She had to work it out herself or with the help of her family. And Lord help you if you were of the wrong color.
Thank You ! Finally a voice of reason.
Good olde SeeSac, Defender of the Blue Line.
Lots of Paperwork on this one.
This story opened up a whole new level of understanding why Russians love vodka... and reaffirms my suspicion that alcohol-production would be an excellent investment for the troubling times that are ahead.
I have mixed feelings on that.
Ya do?
Did the cops look like the military in the 50s and treat free people like escaped enemy?
Ever hear of a drive-by shooting in the 50s?
How about government in debt to the tune of 15 trillion?
Remember Charlie Manson?
In today's America we've got Charlie Manson crimes *daily* and much worse....
In today's America, we've been over run with tens of millions in this country illegally...
I could go on and on, and on, but I'm bumming myself out.
So an innocent citizen is gunned down by trigger-happy cops on private property who can't even take the time to announce their presence and you state something so curt and insensitive? Shame on you.
Shouldn't you be watching Hawaii 5-O or NCIS or some other cop groupie show, Wiggins?
You bet...Just trying to get their reports to be consistent, and explain how they thought a garden nozzle was a gun will take 20 or so pages...
Add another 8 pages explaining when standing behind walls and pillars with shotguns, the didn't have time to say, "Police, drop the gun"
It is a no hassle way to get their union contract benefits fulfilled.
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