Posted on 01/16/2014 7:48:02 PM PST by Arthurio
An 18-year-old mentally ill boy who was killed by police was 'shot to death like dog', a close family friend said today.
Keith Vidal was already restrained by two police officers when a third officer shot him in the chest on Sunday after allegedly saying 'I don't have time for this'.
The officer was preparing to fire a second shot when he was grabbed by the victim's step father.
Vidal, who was having a schizophrenic episode, did not pose a threat to any of the officers - who had been called to help by his family, friends said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535424/Fury-schizophrenic-teen-Keith-Vidal-shot-dead-Southport-Police.html#ixzz2qckt79Rw Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I did not offer a theory of the incident. I merely asked you if you will be impressed if the government yet again clears itself in such an incident. I for one am not very impressed by self-clearing.
Again, armed cops in superior numbers killing a single, unarmed suspect. Don’t really care about the circumstances, the suspect was UNARMED. Officers are supposedly trained to handle such situations without resorting to lethal force. Please don’t lecture me regarding ‘doped’ up suspects, their ‘amazing’ strength and other such ‘facts’. I have worked for many years with Peace Officers, felons, mental patients, and the ‘crazed’ druggies and not once did I witness or hear of officers killing a nothing-to-lose violent felon, a physically wild mental inmate/patient, or a doped up violent addict. I have seen on numerous occasions well trained officers subdue all of the above persons without death as a result. But then I keep forgetting that inmates and mental commits have one thing that the general public doesn’t-—legal right to officer protection. At this point and time I trust a convicted felon more than a cop for you see I am fairly certain what a felon will do, a cop not so much anymore and that makes them very dangerous.
Wow... I have many such experiences, including my psycho x-step-father.
Never heard it put that way, but you're absolutely correct....
When local government lost its power to the center
Mentally ill? The kid must have barked at the cop.
May Keith’s soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Prayers for his parents during this traumatic time.
So was Trayvon Martin.
Nice try. Different case, no cops involved and George(alone) was fighting for his life after having been attacked. None of the cops in recent shootings were fighting for their lives, were they??
Just wondering Why would you typically without hesitation side with law enforcement? I know for a fact that just because someone goes to church every Sunday does not make them a good person. Likewise just because someone has decided to be a cop and is given a badge doesn’t make them infallible. When I was a kid I was naive and thought as much just like most kids but now I know better, especially after the last few years when so much has come out on tape. As for the Kelly tape I cannot imagine what it would be they saw that we did not. There is a 33 minute video/audio of the whole incident. The coroner came out and testified it was the cops actions that killed him. One of the cops afterwards admits he “smashed his face to hell” with the butt of his stun gun. His nose was so shattered it broke bones in his skull BEHIND his nose. How many cops were piled on one homeless guy (I am sure he didn’t have access to great nutrition or exercise equipment/weights)that couldn’t have been that strong. 5 or 6 cops? And you mean to tell me they could not find a way to get the handcuffs on him other than beating him to death while he was crying for his daddy and saying sorry sir and telling them he couldn’t breathe? Ramos put gloves on and said he was going to F him up. BEFORE the guy did anything out of line. Matter of fact, did they have cause for arrest in the first place? That’s besides the point. I’ve followed this case closely and remember when it first came out 2 years ago. The not guilty verdict has haunted me the last couple of days.
Somewhat off topic, but in the headline, the word “mortified” should surely be “horrified?”
Mortified means embarrassed, more or less.
Sorry but the last part of that is just nonsense. What do you think we have in the ER Succinylcholine Dart guns? Man I wish, I’ve had occasion to use one on more then 1 occasion.
Actually
1 maybe. Or maybe just a couple of overweight 50 year old women
2 leathers can only be put on once you have control, usually by having 6 or seven people, usually some security, nurses AND cops.
3 see above.
They needed bouncers, not police.
I wouldnt count on it. The Thin Blue Line nearly always circles the wagons for one of their own. Hey, remember the COPs are allowed to lie...so why not in court for one of their own?
The PD investigated the actions of the PD
and could find no wrong doing by the PD.
Naturally, bootlickers don’t see anything wrong with that.
On any given case, I initially will side with law enforcement until I’m persuaded otherwise. Thats just me. I find that most cops are just like us; hard working, honest, family men. And most criminals, well, criminals.
As for the Kelly Thomas jury, I don’t know what they saw or heard either, but they were in there and I wasn’t.
So, what was your reaction to the O.J. Simpson verdict? Rodney King? Just wondering.
My reaction to the OJ verdict was one of disbelief and frustration. After that I didn’t think TOO much about it because I just reconciled it to the fact, as you do now, that the jury knew/saw/heard stuff we didn’t. (I didn’t see the whole of the televised trial)I remember thinking at the time that the evidence I did see against him removed any reasonable doubt, regardless of the focus on the “glove don’t fit” theory. As for Rodney King incident, I can’t offer an opinion. What year was that? I think I was a young mom at the time and didn’t have in depth awareness of that case. I do hear black people making comments that now us white people understand where they were coming from, and admitting that even this beating was worse (of course cause this guy actually died:( They’re saying this kind of thing has been happening to the black community for a long time it just never got the media attention.
I think that the O.J. jury didn’t see nor hear any evidence. They decided long before the trial ended, likely shortly after it started, that guilty or not, they would not convict a fellow black man. Although I have no idea why the two whites and the one Hispanic went along.
Rodney King, career criminal, had it coming. Got it delivered and under 30-minutes. Then after the acquittals of the officers that were charged with beating him, the animals residing in the L.A. Zoo rioted for two days, burned down their own city, looted, killed, and maimed innocents. Rodney went on to become a millionaire but never became an honest citizen. Just the richest criminal in the hood. He continued to break the law, get caught, but because of the riots, never tried or held in custody. Finally he died by drowning assisted by his cocaine, pop and alcohol intake. What a civil rights hero!
Mr. Kelly should have been in a mental hospital, against his will if need be. What he was doing on the streets is beyond me. There are thousands of mentally ill people living on the street that should be locked away. For that I blame his parents. For his death, I blame the cops. Did he have it coming? Probably not. Did the cops go overboard? Probably so. But I don’t have any inkling of what the black folks go through, seeing how my community doesn’t as a rule or a point of pride, raise whole generations of young men to be criminals and therefore the the targets of law enforcement, or as you would call them, “pigs”.
No, “I” wouldn’t call the police pigs. Though yes, I do have a mistrust of them these days. Furthermore, I don’t like the violent urban black culture any more than you do but this pervasive culture of aggressive, violent police crosses color boundaries, I don’t agree with you that anybody “has it coming” when the thing that comes is vigilante justice on the part of law enforcement. They should be there to enforce the law, detain and bring in criminals, it’s up to the court, the people, to deliver the punishment.
And the mentally ill are on the streets because of lack of resources available to help them and laws that prevent the involuntary hospitalization of non-minors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.