Granted the guy was a “armed robbery suspect” ....
Suspect being the operative word here...
I still think the LEO was a bit trigger happy...
He could have pulled his weapon and told him to put both hands out the window and get out on the ground...
I hope he was wearing a body cam so the whole story is told...
“He could have pulled his weapon and told him to put both hands out the window and get out on the ground...”
Have you ever seen the videos of these shootings? The cop is yelling at the guy (’hands up’/don’t move’/’drop the gun’/whatever) and the idiot just keeps doing what he was doing, then...bang.
Every day is an IQ test. One fails at one’s own risk.
Actually, I think that's not completely accurate. Castile looked like the armed robbery suspect. I've compared the two pictures, and I see the resemblance. But, I didn't see any distinguishing characteristics that would confirm it's the same person.
But, I think the actual radio transmission by the officer prior to the traffic stop was very illuminating:
“The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery. The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just ‘cause of the wide set nose.”
Did you get that? just 'cause of the wide set nose.
The article in question declares he was the armed robbery suspect, because the officer thought he had a nose that was shaped a certain way.
I hope he was wearing a body cam so the whole story is told...
This police dept. doesn't have body cams. There was reportedly a dashcam, but since the suspect/victim never got out of the car, I don't know how much it will show.
I still think the LEO was a bit trigger happy...
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Years ago when going through a shoot, no shoot video reaction drill, my buddy said he would always error on the side of shoot and face the music, rather than lying dead in some morgue the morning after. These are the cold hard facts of life and death decisions officers face every day. Here an armed robbery suspect had a handgun at the ready on his thigh. It does not matter an iota whether he was in fact the armed robber of the convenience store. He fit the description and was every bit as dangerous.
Then his gun that was laying on his lap would have had to go somewhere...fallen as he got out of the car, or the girlfriend would have retrieved it.
Guy matched the description of the armed robber (I saw the pictures of both and up close they aren’t a match).
The guy supposedly has a gun in his lap.
What is the cop thinking at this point ?
I hope there is a cam from the cop car....for the cops sake, I hope it shows exactly why he felt he needed to shoot....
in the bigger picture, there really should be new or better improved police actions in these cases....I'd rather a robot be sent over to inspect the car or a drone overhead to peer into the window...
“I still think the LEO was a bit trigger happy...”
You speak out of complete ignorance.
Anyone who has a strong opinion is speaking out of ignorance.
You do *not* know what happened leading up to the shooting.
Do you?
No, you don’t.
I guess a lot of us like the "shoulda coulda" bits because they get to spout and sound cerebral without consequences if they are dead wrong - they can later just say they're glad the cop did the right thing or belabor how they were right about the dirty cop....
I guess a lot of us are budding Obama's in that regard.....