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County settles suit with family of David "Deacon" Turner
KGET Bakersfield News 17 ^ | Aug. 10, 2014

Posted on 08/19/2014 9:56:52 AM PDT by Mr170IQ

The County has quietly settled a wrongful death suit stemming from one of Kern's most controversial officer-involved shootings.

Los Angeles Attorney Gerson Horn said the county will pay $1.8 million to the family of David "Deacon" Turner, the former professional football player shot to death by sheriff's deputies in July 2011.

...

In March, there was a hung jury in the wrongful death civil lawsuit.

(Excerpt) Read more at kerngoldenempire.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: jbt
The case was big news a couple of years ago. Clearly, there was essentially zero justification for the police assaulting and IMHO murdering a fairly upstanding citizen who cooperated fully until they wore out his patience with repeated questioning in the hot sun with essentially zero evidence or probably cause.
1 posted on 08/19/2014 9:56:52 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: Mr170IQ

Oh, no, don’t you know we’re supposed to go along with the ‘Cops Are Always Right’ crowd?


2 posted on 08/19/2014 10:13:25 AM PDT by MeganC (It took Democrats four hours to deport Elian Gonzalez)
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To: Mr170IQ

At what point did he smack the deputy up the side of the head with a bag containing two cans of beer?


3 posted on 08/19/2014 10:13:31 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Only a specific Program, Plan, and Leadership will end the chaos of dysfunctional government.)
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To: Mr170IQ

Make that “probable cause”.

It’s appalling that these so-called cops who decided that this guy who started to walk away from them after they told him he wasn’t under arrest deserved a major beatdown, and then pumped a load of bullets into him after the beatdown got a little out of control/confusing, are still free to mistreat other citizens under color of the law, but the Cali taxpayers get stuck with the bill.


4 posted on 08/19/2014 10:14:42 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: Kenny Bunk

No evidence that that actually occurred, but it does seem likely that when they started clubbing his knees and elbows with their batons, the bags he was carrying went flying out of his hands. The beers might have hit the cop, or he may have been spooked by the sound of the beer can exploding on the pavement. That he turned around and started walking away, followed by the police clubbing his joints with their batons is not a matter of dispute.

The store security video might have showed some clarification, but after the police got their hands on it there was a six-second gap around the time of the gunshots.


5 posted on 08/19/2014 10:22:10 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: Mr170IQ

I suspect the jury heard all the evidence. What’s your explanation for a hung jury? If it was as lopsided as you state, wouldn’t that jury have convicted the officer(s)?

Do you think they’re in on a criminal conspiracy?


6 posted on 08/19/2014 10:26:36 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We'll know when he's really hit bottom. They'll start referring to him as White.)
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FR Needs Donors To Survive

Please Donate!

7 posted on 08/19/2014 10:30:53 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Mr170IQ
I'm emphatically not with the "cops are always right" crowd, but after a jury gets hung in a civil suit, and there is no re-trial, I am inclined to "fuggedaboutit."

Cases of the cops killing someone who was behaving within normal bounds are extremely rare. Maybe this was one of those cases. 1.8 million reasons to believe the county is paying them to make sure bygones remain bygones.

8 posted on 08/19/2014 10:31:26 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Only a specific Program, Plan, and Leadership will end the chaos of dysfunctional government.)
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To: Kenny Bunk

Something doesn’t add up here. Rather than figure out what it is, folks buy into the worst case scenario regarding the officers.

As a Conservative I believe in law and order. If a cop does something wrong, I want the guy hung out to dry. I do not however assume the worst every single fricken time.

I’m tired of reading through threads where participants act like they’re members of a criminal enterprise and hate the cops for opposing them.

Police officers have a job many of us couldn’t do. They deal with the worst of society on a daily basis. It’s a thankless job much of the time. They save countless lives. Some people rip them to shreds because they have no idea this takes place.

I will defend officers until it is proven they did wrong. I’ll remain skeptical even then. If a guy is going to stick his neck out as far as most cops do for me, I’m going to be inclined to have their back.

We support our troops because they go in harms way on our behalf.

So do the police.


9 posted on 08/19/2014 10:39:31 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We'll know when he's really hit bottom. They'll start referring to him as White.)
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To: DoughtyOne

The fact that the police department ruled the shooting justified is enough to convince some people that the police behaved correctly.

The fact that they could have just said ‘Ok, NOW you’re under arrest’ when he turned away, instead of applying a beatdown, is also obvious to anyone with a brain.

The fact that even these cops don’t accuse him of trying to assault them until they started clubbing him with their batons is also not in dispute.

There are minutes of non-erased security cam videos of him speaking calmly and respectfully to these police. They were questioning him about buying alcohol for a minor, which of course he denied.

Are you familiar with the facts of the case? I read quite a bit about it, and it was appalling. However, every cop out there can be completely secure in the knowledge that the department will always and invariably rule the shooting justified unless there is incontrovertible video evidence that the police are unable to destroy.


10 posted on 08/19/2014 10:49:48 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: DoughtyOne
Doughty, you know me!

Work as a cop? Before I even went near that neighborhood in Ferguson, I would demand 15 minutes of TOT artillery prep and a napalm run from my old AD1 squadron.

Now turns out that the copper in the case had a fractured eye socket ... which is basically a fractured skull! Then the kid charges him? What is also going unsaid here is that the PD is pretty sure he and that other kid were involved in a hammer attack on a hot dog vendor well before robbing and roughing up the Worthy Oriental Gentleman in the convenience store.

And now we are all supposed to feel sorry for the family's loss? Talk to me after they charge the cop with something ... which they will not. Yeah, there will be a civil suit ... and a settlement.

11 posted on 08/19/2014 10:53:17 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Only a specific Program, Plan, and Leadership will end the chaos of dysfunctional government.)
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To: Mr170IQ

Oops. Looking back at the details of the case, it was 12:45AM, not PM, and he obviously wasn’t being questioned in the ‘hot sun’. He had his 19-year old son with him, and David Turner was shot twice, and was pronounced dead two hours later.


12 posted on 08/19/2014 11:07:37 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: Mr170IQ

I appreciate the comments. No I don’t know all the aspects of this case. I still believe the jury had all the evidence presented to it.

Please explain why a jury could review the facts as you state them and couldn’t convict.

You present a compelling case of clear police abuse and murder.

Why didn’t that jury buy it?


13 posted on 08/19/2014 11:14:21 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We'll know when he's really hit bottom. They'll start referring to him as White.)
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To: Kenny Bunk

Kenny Bunk, there are times when I think out loud and post it.

I was merely seeking to state my thought process on these issues. I wasn’t trying to set you straight or reveal a chink in your armor. If it seemed like it, I apologize.

My thoughts were voiced to allow others to read what I believe our take on the police should be.

If we don’t voice these thoughts, the anti-police folks have the only voice here. Sadly, those voices are severely flawed at times. This officer was roundly criticized out of the gate. It was one more bad officer shooting a citizen in the back.

I want the folks that attack these officers to learn from this one.

You and me both for clearing the are before I’d go in.


14 posted on 08/19/2014 11:20:21 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (We'll know when he's really hit bottom. They'll start referring to him as White.)
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To: Mr170IQ

However, every cop out there can be completely secure in the knowledge that the department will always and invariably rule the shooting justified unless there is incontrovertible video evidence that the police are unable to destroy.

Yep, without incontrovertible proof that the cops acted outside the law, they ALWAYS clear themselves of any wrongdoing.


15 posted on 08/19/2014 11:35:24 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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