Baton Rouge, Alton Sterling, next big politicized police shooting

[T.Lex]

Alton Sterling: Video 'shows US police shooting black man in Louisiana' - BBC News

A video has emerged appearing to show two white police officers holding down and shooting dead a black man during an incident in the US state of Louisiana.

The confrontation took place in the state capital, Baton Rouge, on Tuesday after reports of a man threatening people with a gun outside a shop.

A post-mortem examination showed the victim, Alton Sterling, 37, died of gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

Video, somewhat graphic, but basically PG-13, except that its real:
GRAPHIC VIDEO: Cell phone footage released in deadly officer-inv - WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Transcript after they pin him to the ground

Officer 1: He's going for his pocket
Officer 1: He's got a gun! Gun!
Officer 2: (takes out his firearm and points it at suspect's head) Hands off! (?) You ****ing move and I swear to God.
Officer 1: He's going for the gun!
Officer 2 shoots suspect twice.

Essentially, the South Park equivalent of "He's comin' right for us!"


Apparently the body-cameras came loose and fell off.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Looks justified to me.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Well, that doesn't look good. Before anyone else brings it up. He had a gun, was an improper person, and had a lengthy criminal record. Im just posting that so that people can cite those facts if they want use them as justification for shooting a guy on his back that "appears" be restrained.... even though, for a guy his size, it "appears" he wasn't resisting.

Odd that, beside the shooting, that the officers weren't more physically aggressive with the guy. My knee would've been on his neck, his left arm pinned, and my other knee on his chest.

 

[T.Lex]

Looks justified to me.

I think this is a tough one and would like more information. For instance, the leadup to the takedown is important. Was he belligerent? Was he lawfully in possession of the firearm? Did the officer intend to get is real gun or was he going for his tazer? (Yes, I know that isn't really the ideal situation for a tazer, but it also seems like a less-than-ideal situation for a firearm.)

I can understand why people are upset, but I also understand how the officers were in a really bad situation.
ETA:

Well, that doesn't look good. Before anyone else brings it up. He had a gun, was an improper person, and had a lengthy criminal record.

Links? Trust, but verify, doncha know.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Looks justified to me.

Based on? I won't say one way or the other if it is or isn't justified, but I can certainly see why people aren't ok with it solely on the way it looks.

 

[Rookie]

I'd like to see the initial stop to the take down.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Oh, and it doesn't help that both of the officer's body cams fell off. They still should be recording right? Let's see that footage so we can put to rest that they didn't conveniently "fall off."

 

[KittySlayer]

The posted video looks bad.

...so that people can cite those facts...

Spoil Sport... the speculation without facts is how these things are supposed to be decided in the court of public opinion.

 

[T.Lex]

Facts on the victim:
What we know so far about Alton Sterling - NY Daily News

Sterling was a registered sex offender, after a 2000 conviction for carnal knowledge of a juvenile, records show. The circumstances of the case were not immediately clear. Records say he was released for his offense in October 2004.
He was previously arrested for aggravated battery, criminal damage to property, unauthorized entry and domestic abuse battery, records show. In 2009, he was sentenced to five years in prison for marijuana possession and for carrying an illegal weapon with a controlled dangerous substance. Family members said he was on probation when he died and would not have been allowed to carry a gun.

 

[Rookie]

Facts on the victim:
What we know so far about Alton Sterling - NY Daily News

They forgot, "He was just turning his life around".

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Head of Baton Rouge NAACP calls for police chief to be fired or resign after fatal shooting

Quite a rush to judgement without facts

 

[jd4320t]

#WEAREALTONSTERLING

 

[T.Lex]

They forgot, "He was just turning his life around".

No, they include that.

Sterling had been living for the past few months at the Living Waters Outreach Ministries transitional shelter, residents there said. His fellow residents recalled him as a friendly man who stayed clean, cooked for his friends and sometimes sold CDs at the facility.

 

[Rookie]

No, they include that.

Had me worried...

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Based on? I won't say one way or the other if it is or isn't justified, but I can certainly see why people aren't ok with it solely on the way it looks.

The physical struggle you can see between the police and the man lead me to believe he is still resisting. The camera angle sucks, so yes, it's hard to say definitely one way or the other. He has a gun apparently.

That leads me to believe he's trying to access that gun. If so, yeah, absolutely shoot him.

I'd like to know the circumstance in which he was stopped, but we will never be able to see what those officers saw.

 

[Kutnupe14]

No, they include that.

He actually may have been. He had a somewhat legitimate money making venture (selling CDs-probably bootlegged), and apparently the owner of the store he sold them in front of, was ok with it. He lived in a shelter and was supposedly clean (shelters and probation drug test). Now the gun, that's a problem....BUT if gun owners are to be philosophically consistent, they should support a person's ability to protect themselves.
Based on his past actions, he WAS a *******, and still may have been a *******, but that's something no one can with complete confidence.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

I think this is a tough one and would like more information. For instance, the leadup to the takedown is important. Was he belligerent? Was he lawfully in possession of the firearm? Did the officer intend to get is real gun or was he going for his tazer? (Yes, I know that isn't really the ideal situation for a tazer, but it also seems like a less-than-ideal situation for a firearm.)

I can understand why people are upset, but I also understand how the officers were in a really bad situation.
ETA:

Links? Trust, but verify, doncha know.

I agree, it is a bad situation all around.

 

[T.Lex]

Plus, being a ******* is not illegal.

Frankly, the guy is dead because he probably thought he could talk his way out of a frisking. If he'd thrown the gun into the grass when cops arrived, he'd still be alive.

Well. Maybe.

 

[Kutnupe14]

The physical struggle you can see between the police and the man lead me to believe he is still resisting. The camera angle sucks, so yes, it's hard to say definitely one way or the other. He has a gun apparently.

That leads me to believe he's trying to access that gun. If so, yeah, absolutely shoot him.

I'd like to know the circumstance in which he was stopped, but we will never be able to see what those officers saw.

I didn't see a physical struggle. I saw an officer tackle him, apparently after a taser failed to put him down. He was stopped, justifiably because he was identified as having pointed a gun at someone. Are tasers still allowed to be used on passive resistors? We can't do that here, one must be actively resisting....and I mean RESISTING. I don't even carry a taser anymore because of all the rules.