White Officer Fatally Shoots Black Man

AP ^ | 1/22/02 | AP

[TomServo]

MIAMI (AP) - A crowd threw rocks and bottles at police after a white officer shot and killed a black man driving a stolen car near a Martin Luther King Jr. Day festival.

Police said Detective James Johns, 30, was struck by the Lincoln Continental before shooting Eddie Lee Macklin, 20.

Some witnesses said that plainclothes officers swarmed the car and that Johns was not struck but jumped on the hood and fired through the windshield.

The shooting happened Monday as hundreds of people were leaving the festival a couple of blocks away in Liberty City.

Immediately after the shooting, a small crowd threw rocks and bottles at detectives, but the violence ended quickly after about 75 uniformed officers arrived. It was unclear if any detectives were hit; police made no arrests.

Johns was treated at a hospital for minor back and leg injuries and released.

Authorities said Macklin had been arrested 12 times in Palm Beach County since 1996 for assaulting a police officer, vehicle theft and narcotics charges.

Clifton Massey, who said he witnessed the shooting, criticized police for firing near a crowded area.

"If the guy was in a stolen car, they should have followed him to an area that was not so congested and apprehended him there," Massey said. "They had enough police presence to make sure he couldn't get away. The Rambo stuff, that was not necessary."

[goldstategop]

Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton will on the scene faster than y'all can say "Miami Vice!" ;-)

[Pearls Before Swine]

Of course he had a stolen Lincoln Continental...it was a festival!

[Lance Romance]

Look out or BoPepper is gonna call you a racist.

[silmaril]

As far as I understand, it's police SOP to fire on dangerous vehicles. I remember watching an episode of Cops (I think) in which a Korean fellow was sitting quietly in his SUV as the cops tried to coax him out. Suddenly, he put the vehicle in gear and tried to run a curb on which the cops were standing. He was shot dead in seconds.

Difference is, the Koreans didn't trash their own neighborhoods and assault uninvolved policemen afterwards.

[MamaTexan]

The Rambo stuff, that was not necessary."

If the perp got scared and startred taking out pedestrians, they'd scream-

'The cops should have done something to stop him!'

[Double Tap]

"If the guy was in a stolen car, they should have followed him to an area that was not so congested and apprehended him there.

And if one of the people at the festival had been struck by the fleeing suspect in his stolen car, they would criticize the police dept. for not acting quickly enough.

[Clemenza]

AH, Liberty City. Home to several riots in the 80s (remember Macduffie in 1980?) and still the scariest place in South Florida. When in Dade County DO NOT get off I-95 into a residential neighborhood until you are towards the south end of downtown (where the freeway ends anyhow).

[N. Theknow]

Throw rocks and bottles at police when they are doing their job.

Ignore drive-by shootings and crackhouses.....They're OK!

[BruceS]

White Officer Fatally Shoots Black Man Get a rope! It must have been racially motivated!

[Howlin]

Some witnesses said that plainclothes officers swarmed the car and that Johns was not struck but jumped on the hood and fired through the windshield.

Sure.

[Dakmar]

The crowd quieted down quickly after learning the Lincoln was stolen from a black man, no doubt.

[DoughtyOne]

Let me see. We have a crook in a stolen car, a large crowd of pedestrians nearby. In reaction to the events that took place, the alternative offered was for this man to race down the street at God knows what speed. And if five or ten people had been killed, the same person would state that officers only allowed the driver to procede because they dispised blacks and didn't care if they died.

Whew, the intellectual prowess of some blacks is astounding.

[Ohioan]

Clifton Massey, who said he witnessed the shooting, criticized police for firing near a crowded area.

Who is Clifton Massey? Why does the AP quote him as an authority on Police use of force? Tell them to call me. I did not witness the shooting, but I will be happy to state my opinion on the Police use of force, to wit:

Anyone who is so totally out of control that he would try to run down a police officer in a stolen car, should be put down by the first officer who can get a clean shot in. You cannot allow wild anti-social types endangering the public by running around with heavy equipment in congested areas.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[sheik yerbouty]

Nice to have such non violence!

[CdMGuy]

He probably just wanted that Continental as a collector's item. Poor guy, and on MLK Day, no less.

[ArcLight]

The racists are back...time to hit that ol' abuse button...

[Joe Boucher]

ahhh Miami, what a craphole third world piece of garbbage.

[jd792]

more food for us,works for me...