Posted on 06/13/2003 2:21:21 PM PDT by tomball
The incident happened in a supermarket car park in the town of Shreveport and was captured on CCTV.
The 25-year-old man jumped out of his car and pointed what the officers say they thought was a gun. They responded by shooting him eight times in the back as he ran away. They then discovered his supposed weapon was only a mobile phone.
Police had chased him to the car park after he jumped a red light. A spokesman for the local police said they had studied the video tapes of the shooting. They decided it was justified because the officers felt threatened.
Shreveport police chief Jim Roberts said: "They felt their lives were in danger."
He said he believed the victim had engineered the incident to get himself killed in a "suicide-by-cop".
Exactly right. After he fights with the cop on the right, he points what looks like a pistol to me at the cop on the left, and gets shot at two times or more. He changes direction and they follow not shooting until he turns and flashes at them again after which they shoot until he is down. He asked for it, he begged for it. And from what I could see, he took several rounds before going down.
I wouldn't be suprised to learn he was hopped up on something strong. He didn't react at all until going down hard, which probably means they got a CNS hit.
Too bad for the cops that they had to deal with this mess.
OK, dumbs**t, I'll explain it to you:
Fleeing from a routine traffic stop is usually associated with already having committed a felony, and the felon knowing that he's about to get popped for same.
Pointing a firearm-sized object at somebody in an isoceles shooting stance is assault.
Most jurisdictions in the United States have denied their police their little death dealing joy rides by this time.
Most jurisdictions in the United States have serious crime problems and refuse to solve them.
My law enforcement friends, and I have many of them having been in the business for many years, admit that they love the chase.
Guys who wear "law enforcement" outfits at the local gay S&M bar are not really in law enforcement.
Unfortunately for this poor guy, he chose the wrong place to drive erratically and then flee for whatever reason: past due child support, no license, no insurance, parking tickets, etc..
Yeah, how about that s**t? One's actions generally have consequences, eh?
Once again, real police work means getting the license plate number and arresting the man when he doesn't expect it and no harm is presented to himself or other civilians.
Instead, you try to do an arrest in the guy's home, which is his castle. "Have fun storming the castle!"
The British do it all of the time, but it's not cowboy enough for American cops.
The British, because of gun-control laws, don't have to worry about the point I just brought up.
We would rather kill innocents than properly arrest and proportionately punish the guilty.
Get this straight: he was not innocent.
Like me he probably has learned to not look directly in the eye of the cop and to say "yazz sah" real slow like.
An assault is a verbal threat coupled with the apparent ability to carry out the threat. Hence, pointing your cellular at someone in any manner is not an assault, unless you are verbally threatening to use it in some manner that would lead to serious bodily harm or death.
Fleeing from a traffic stop does usually mean that the driver has an outstanding warrant. There are millions upon millions of outstanding warrants in this country, most for such things as driving without insurance or failure to pay child support. It is for that very reason that most jurisdictions have or are considering prohibiting their officers from engaging in hot pursuit except in the case of a known violent felon being in the pursued car. The number of deaths stemming from hot pursuit are simply too high a price to pay when the police can simply take down a tag number and arrest the violator at work, home or other place when he is not in a position to flee.
As for being innocent, current studies indicate that the average American commits at least one felony and a host of misdemeanors every year due to the vast quantity of laws that have been promulgated in the last thirty years. Congress and the state legislative bodies have delegated their rule making powers to bureacracies that can also establish criminal liabily for violation of rules that the particular agency generates. Hence, if, for instance, you poor your used oil out in your back yard, you may well be guilty of a felony in some states. The point is, we are all felons now, and it's only a matter of who gets caught and which laws they choose to emphasize for enforcement purposes. And with so many criminal laws, every increase in funding for enforcement results in more arrests and therefore higher crime rates (even though the crime rate has in reality remained constant). We therefore are buying our way into a true police state. Something about you makes me think you will like a cop on every corner, though.
BTW, couldn't you come up with a little sarcasm or wit or engaging turn of a phrase, rather than just calling me a dumbshit. It makes you look unintelligent. Just my opinion.
Wrong. It is ANY threat, not merely a verbal threat. If I point a firearm at you in a shooting stance without saying a word, that is still assault. The Louisiana Revised Statutes, RS 14:36, defines assault as "Assault is an attempt to commit a battery, or the intentional placing of another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery." Acting like you're trying to shoot somebody is both a volitional act (i.e., it is intentional) and puts them in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.
Hence, pointing your cellular at someone in any manner is not an assault, unless you are verbally threatening to use it in some manner that would lead to serious bodily harm or death.
This link illustrates an example of a firearm disguised as a cell phone. There are others, in damn near every style of casing.
Coupled with RS 14:36 and the fleeing from a legitimate traffic stop, you're basically requiring every cop in Louisiana to give up their right of self-defense in this situation.
If I had been the victim of a collision because of this guy's stupidity, and he came out of his car pointing a cell phone at me...I'd simply engage in my right of self-defense. Yes, I would rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.
Fleeing from a traffic stop does usually mean that the driver has an outstanding warrant. There are millions upon millions of outstanding warrants in this country, most for such things as driving without insurance or failure to pay child support.
Exactly. One's actions tend to have consequences.
It is for that very reason that most jurisdictions have or are considering prohibiting their officers from engaging in hot pursuit except in the case of a known violent felon being in the pursued car.
Merely attempting to flee now makes the individual guilty of resisting arrest. He now has even more trouble and even more incentive to react violently (and taking off at high speed IS violent) when the cops try to arrest him again.
The number of deaths stemming from hot pursuit are simply too high a price to pay when the police can simply take down a tag number and arrest the violator at work, home or other place when he is not in a position to flee.
But is instead in a position to turn the arrest attempt into a firefight and hostage situation, risking many more innocent lives. So maybe we should stop trying to arrest people on outstanding warrants, period.
BTW, couldn't you come up with a little sarcasm or wit or engaging turn of a phrase, rather than just calling me a dumbshit.
I don't waste sarcasm, wit, or engaging turns of phrase on dumbs**ts.
It makes you look unintelligent.
This comes from the guy who doesn't know the definition of assault.
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