Posted on 03/16/2011 6:38:06 AM PDT by marktwain
The friendly-fire shooting that cost a Long Island cop his life was a point-blank blunder that started when a retired cop with no business at the scene yelled, "Gun," an official said yesterday.
Geoffrey Breitkopf, 40, was shot and killed Saturday by an MTA cop responding to a call at a Massapequa Park house where Nassau police had killed a knife-wielding Satan worshipper.
The MTA officers were assisting county cops with mop-up duty when Nassau County Special Ops Officer Breitkopf arrived in a car with his partner, according to Nassau County Police Benevolent Association president James Carver. BREITKOPF - Slain by cop. BREITKOPF Slain by cop.
As Breitkopf walked toward the house in plain clothes with a rifle slung over his shoulder and his badge around his neck, an unidentified retired NYPD sergeant from the neighborhood -- milling around outside -- cried out, "Gun!" Carver said.
One of the MTA cops tried to wrestle the rifle away, while the other, Glenn Gentile, fired a single shot, hitting Breitkopf in the side, Carver said.
Gentile and his partner were then trying to handcuff the dying officer on the lawn when his hysterical partner ran over and cried, "He's one of us," according to Carver.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Hey, if it was the EXACT SAME situation and the guy was a citizen, they'd be giving each other medals.
And an officer dressed in plain clothes appearing at the scene carrying a rifle?
Sad outcome but it seems we have a scapegoat selected already.
Well meaning or not, the fact is, the guy interfered with an ongoing investigation and incited the shooting of an on-duty officer with an ill-advised call.
As the first paragraph in the story said, the guy had no business being there. If someone (particularly an on-duty cop) dies because of the actions of someone who has no business being there, the interloper should be at least charged with involuntary manslaughter, IMHO...YMMV.
“And this is where the boot-lickers take objection. It doesn’t matter that the cop was in no REAL danger. He just has to SAY he was in danger to blow the citizen away.”
The “shoot the guy with the gun” reflex is so ingrained that pulling out your wallet in the vicinity of police officers can get you shot (ask Amadou Diallo (sp?)
County police have already dealt with the loony-tune (they killed him) . . . Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police arrive on the scene to help "mop up" (whatever that means) -- presumably this took place somewhere near an LIRR station in Long Island, or I can't imagine why these guys would be involved . . . another County cop shows up in plainclothes on the scene with a rifle slung over his shoulder . . . a retarded retired NYPD cop who is a spectator at the scene yells, "Gun!" . . . at which point one of the MTA cops shoots and kills the cop in plainclothes.
You can't make this sh!t up, can you?
I don’t care what ScannerMan yelled. Was he their commanding officer? Do they just routinely grab guns and shoot people based on whatever someone happens to yell, or are they trained to do their f**king job the right way?
“Even with the moron yelling GUN they still had no reason to shoot him. What if he really had been a civilian with a rifle slung over his shoulder? Since when is that enough cause to shoot?”
Several things we know:
1. Nothing will happen to the ex cop.
2. If you or I were the ones that yelled gun we would be charged with murdering a police officer.
Very sad that this officer was killed.
If there is an underlying theme, it is that the NY culture assumes that a firearm is bad, in and of itself. So much so that several people here considered the possession itself to be a mortal threat.
3. If you or I were the one carrying the rifle the cops would have no regrets over blowing us away.
A lot has changed in forty years. When I was a kid we would walk through town with rifles to go plinking after school and we were never stopped or hasseled by cops. now they would have the swat team chasing you down and you would be arrested for disturbing the ‘peace’. Even in the town where I live now Pop. 1,200 I was told by the local State trooper that there were complaints that my 15 year old was seen walking down the street with a ‘Gun’. It was a BB gun!And some busy body got his skivvies in a knot about it. Gotta get out of this State.
Point blank is where the vertically curving flight of the bullet crosses the line of sight, which is a theoretical straight line. Since the bullet will cross that line twice there are 2 point blanks, minimum and maximum.
Where each point blank is along the line of sight depends on how far above the bore the sights are and tha ballistics of a particular round. Minimum point blank is not neccessarily very close to the muzzle.
>>Even with the moron yelling GUN they still had no reason to shoot him. What if he really had been a civilian with a rifle slung over his shoulder? Since when is that enough cause to shoot?
>
>Several things we know:
>1. Nothing will happen to the ex cop.
>2. If you or I were the ones that yelled gun we would be charged with murdering a police officer.
That’s funny, because I instantly thought “what if every time the cops showed up somewhere, like say ‘domestic disturbances’ someone were to yell ‘Gun!’?”
too many gunmen and not enough training.
Similar to the execution of Erik Scott at the Costco in Las Vegas.
In this instance, seeing that the distance of the shooter to the target was about the distance across an ordinary LI front yard, I’d say the ‘point blank’ I used and the one you defined are about one in the same..............
Maybe not in criminal court, but I am reasonably certain that the deceased's family will have a case in civil court.................
What you said.
If he weren't, everything would be OK?
Come to rural Idaho...it is normal to see a kid riding his bicycle with a .22-250 across the handlebars. Nobody gets excited.
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