LeDuff: Detroit police's simulated purse snatching goes awry
Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 06/18/2013 6:11:10 PM PDT by Wanderer99
DETROIT (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a 7-year-old girl during a chaotic search for a murder suspect that was recorded by a reality TV crew.
Loud voices could be heard in the jury room a few hours before jurors threw in the towel and were dismissed. They sent three notes, the last one indicating they still couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on the third day of deliberations, despite encouragement from Wayne County Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway.
Joseph Weekley, a member of an elite police squad, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
He was accused of being "grossly negligent" in how he handled his submachine gun as his black-clad, masked and armed unit stormed the Detroit home to capture a suspect in May 2010. Police threw a stun grenade through a window, and Weekley was the first officer through the door.
He told jurors that he accidentally pulled the trigger during a struggle with the girl's grandmother, but Mertilla Jones denied interfering with the gun. Weekley was not charged with intentionally shooting Aiyana.
(Excerpt) Read more at xfinity.comcast.net ...
This worthless cop goes after a "murder" and ends up doing an unimaginable amount of damage...and this is just the case caught on camera.
and I'm supposed to give up my firearms to the state and put 100% of my trust in them?
“and I’m supposed to give up my firearms to the state and put 100% of my trust in them?”
The trust is optional, obedience is mandatory.
Just another imbecile SWAT, Navy SEAL wannabe.
The only thing shocking about this is that it doesn’t happen more often.
I remember this case. It was pretty obviously “sexed up” for the cameras. I would be happy if they’d charged the producers of the TV show as accessories.
This crap of playing about with people as if they were props has got to stop.
Probably thought it was a dog. Understandable.
some beautiful 7 year old was a TV prop for these freaks. If that was my daughter, I’d personally kill the entire crew, the cop, and slaughter the entire police department...or die trying.
Yep. Adding drama to an already dangerous situation is just plain stupid,
How about the morality of doing all of this on a “reality TV show” ? Heads should roll on this.
If he wasn’t ready to kill or destroy a target in front of him, why was his finger in the trigger guard area?
The little girl who was killed was black. Here's her photo from the Edmonton Journal version of the story:
And I presume that most of the jury are black, and maybe the prosecutor is black. So the race card would have gone in all directions. But what on earth were the Detroit police thinking of, doing a swat raid for a reality TV show?
“Officer safety” was apparently achieved for the “black-clad, masked and armed unit” of which Weekley was a part.
Can’t have enough “officer safety.”
Other parts of the operation might not work well, but, “officer safety” is paramount. Especially for “black-clad, masked and armed unit[s].”
Where did you get that?
Joseph Weekley
and the family hasn't sued the TV show out of existence yet???
Pretty harsh, but I can’t say I’d really blame you.
There were several Freeper threads on it at the time.
Chicago has about 800 murders in a good year. It had 3.5 times the population of Detroit that year ~ yet Detroit had had 350 murders by May when this happened.
The cops are always nervous on these forays into the neighborhoods tracking down the bad guys because Detroit is bad, real bad, so bad you wouldn't go there even with an automatic weapon fully loaded and ready to go off in your hands.
This guy has to live with that the rest of his life ~
OK, the small photo gave that appearance, but the large one you post certainly doesn’t.
[sincerity, fairly deep] Only the police and military have the proper training to be trusted with guns. [/sincerity]
“This guy has to live with that the rest of his life ~”
Oh please! Like that will really impair his ability to enjoy his fat pension. The guy murdered a 7 year-old girl and will most like get off and probably will even get his job back with back pay. If any body should be banned from having high capacity mag and full auto’s it’s cops as they are way way too trigger happy and the only thing that matters to them is “officer safety”.
what a pathetic comment....
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