TMZ shows video footage of cop shooting civilian in hotel hallway.

[woodsie57]

Cold blooded MURDER, plain and simple. Cop should be executed! Just my .02. Wife and kids should get MILLIONS.
ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE to open fire on that man.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Ggreen]

After the fact, it's pretty obvious he was trying to pull his pants up. I watched the whole video. I don't know if it's trained, but as soon as police need to assert authority, they go full drill sargent. The chic didn't have any problem keeping her hands up and crawling. The dude is a whimpering pile at that point and is not following commands. It's like he's just not understanding that he is not in a position to ask question of what's going on. Where I have to side with the cops is he's reached behind his back previously. While crawling he then raises up and reaches again. In the past few years, we've seen some real **** go down. Do we really expect the cops to wait for some dude to throw a grenade? Yes, the call was for a rifle. Where does it say that these nutjobs will only have one weapon? The fact is, they don't know and must expect everything.

Did he deserve to get shot? Absolutely not. Does the officer deserve charges? Absolutely not. Can anyone say without a doubt they knew he wasn't reaching for a weapon? Absolutely not. Does the department, and all departments across the USA need to watch this video and use it to better understand how to command suspects? Absolutely.

This cop followed every command basically saying get it right or I'll kill you. He was making needlessly complicated demands, and was asking for this guy to make a mistake so he could kill him. The cop had an itchier trigger finger than a kid hunting alone for the first time. These "nutcases" did absolutely nothing wrong, they never broke the law and never resisted that cop's rifle should have been slinged and his sidearm should have been out after he completed with every command. This cop wanted to get into some action with his personal ar. If conservation officers acted as carelessly as this cop the woods would run red with the blood of rednecks and hunters. There was zero justification for killing a completely innocent man. This cop definitely deserves to be in jail and the double standard justice system has proven it will defend police over their victims yet again. This was murder. The cop intended to shoot this guy from the second he got out of his car with the rifle and spent 5 minutes face to face premeditating and seeing this innocent man up to be his victim. Fhim and the horse he came in on.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

... that cop's rifle should have been slinged and his sidearm should have been out after he completed with every command.

Why?

 

[MarkC]

This cop . . . was asking for this guy to make a mistake so he could kill him. The cop had an itchier trigger finger than a kid hunting alone for the first time.

I understand that you feel strongly about this apparently unjustified shooting, but it troubles me that you feel you can so clearly see what is going on in another person's head.

How much time have your spent as a LEO? How much advanced training do you have? Have you performed any scholarly research?

 

[Kutnupe14]

Why?

handguns are less scary?

 

[rhino]

The events prior to what precipitated the shooting are troubling to me. In that situation, there is no way I could have complied with all of those instructions because it would have been physically impossible.

I'm curious why the cops thought that the guy would be able to follow their instructions to the letter while at the same time threatening to kill him over and over. People get confused when they're under stress and someone pointing a rifle at you and repeating threats to kill you is about as stressful as it gets. I don't discount the stress level of the cops, but that's something they should expect and for which they should prepare.

 

[jedi]

Ggreen the call made to the police was man with rifle at hotel. With that in mind are you going to go in with a sidearm into the hotel knowing the call was man with rifle?

 

[Expat]

So if you drop to your knees, cross your ankles and put your hands on top of your head and just stay in that position with out moving, ignoring further commands, will you get shot?

 

[Cpt Caveman]

I'm with the guy that said I'm laying flat on my stomach with my arms out like an x and not moving.
Is repeatedly threatening to kill a suspect for non compliance to commands normal for LEOs? I don't know, I'm not LE. I don't wanna watch the video. Already got too many dark things in my skull, don't need any more.

 

[Gabriel]

that cop's rifle should have been slinged and his sidearm should have been out after he completed with every command.

This makes no sense whatsoever.

Is repeatedly threatening to kill a suspect for non compliance to commands normal for LEOs?

Giving commands while explaining the possible consequences of not doing so is normal, yes.

 

[HoughMade]

...but you can't use deadly force for non-compliance with commands, only for being in reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury.

Subjective fear is irrelevant to this (though it will go to intent when charged with murder). Create a situation that demands fine motor skills and perfect conprehension in an inherently chaotic environment, then being trigger happy? The guy on the floor isn't the one primarily at fault, if at all.

Make his kids rich.

 

[MindfulMan]

The events prior to what precipitated the shooting are troubling to me. In that situation, there is no way I could have complied with all of those instructions because it would have been physically impossible.

Most likely, the same with me. In my case, I'm extremely hard of hearing. Even with bi-lateral hearing aids, in a chaotic environment, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't be able to hear the commands.
How can you comply, if you can't hear ?

 

[MarkC]

Most likely, the same with me. In my case, I'm extremely hard of hearing. Even with bi-lateral hearing aids, in a chaotic environment, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't be able to hear the commands.
How can you comply, if you can't hear ?

Unfortunately, it appears that there was no way that the victim in this case could have complied well enough to have saved his life.

 

[MindfulMan]

Unfortunately, it appears that there was no way that the victim in this case could have complied well enough to have saved his life.

Believe me, I'm very police-positive / friendly, but yes, I think that the deck was stacked !

 

[HoughMade]

Believe me, I'm very police-positive / friendly, but yes, I think that the deck was stacked !

I'm with you. I seldom criticize police...and I'm not criticizing police as a whole here. I'm criticizing what happened in this situation.

 

[phylodog]

I'm with you. I seldom criticize police...and I'm not criticizing police as a whole here. I'm criticizing what happened in this situation.

As you should. I just watched that video. That "officer" should have never been, was completely incapable of dealing with stress, was looking for an excuse to shoot someone and should spend the rest of his life in prison.

 

[jedi]

Most likely, the same with me. In my case, I'm extremely hard of hearing. Even with bi-lateral hearing aids, in a chaotic environment, I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't be able to hear the commands.
How can you comply, if you can't hear ?

You get shot. Look at the case in nyc of the deaf guy that got shot because he could not underatsnd the cops and we was trying to sign to them.

 

[Ggreen]

Why would you go in with a rifle when you're going to be in confined spaces of a hotel? Not that rifles are less scary, just that there is no need for a rifle if you're expecting to knock on a hotel door and check. The call wasnt about a guy threatening lives with a rifle, just that a guest thought they saw a guy in a room with a rifle. I can't be the only one who has checked their bore or cleaned a rifle in a hotel. The cop chose to respond to a call with his rifle rather than his sidearm. He made the conscious decision to grab it out of his car and approach the room rifle at low ready like he was serving a warrant on a dangerous criminal rather than checking on a call about a potential rifle in a room, that is perfectly legal. There was no threat made just spooked viewers. Why would you carry your rifle for that? It's an excessive use of force from the initial response all the way through the execution. They were responding to a call about no one breaking the law. That's like a highway patrolman approaching my car with his shotgun drawn because of an NRA sticker.

 

[Route 45]

Why would you go in with a rifle when you're going to be in confined spaces of a hotel? Not that rifles are less scary, just that there is no need for a rifle if you're expecting to knock on a hotel door and check. The call wasnt about a guy threatening lives with a rifle, just that a guest thought they saw a guy in a room with a rifle. I can't be the only one who has checked their bore or cleaned a rifle in a hotel. The cop chose to respond to a call with his rifle rather than his sidearm. He made the conscious decision to grab it out of his car and approach the room rifle at low ready like he was serving a warrant on a dangerous criminal rather than checking on a call about a potential rifle in a room, that is perfectly legal. There was no threat made just spooked viewers. Why would you carry your rifle for that? It's an excessive use of force from the initial response all the way through the execution. They were responding to a call about no one breaking the law. That's like a highway patrolman approaching my car with his shotgun drawn because of an NRA sticker.

I thought I read that the drunk idiot (.29 BAC) was pointing the rifle out of his hotel window, which is a little different than sitting in your room cleaning a rifle. A response with a patrol rifle was entirely appropriate. The asinine actions of the officer who shot the guy were absolutely wrong, but the deployment of the patrol rifle was totally legit.

You don't go to a potential rifle fight armed with only a pistol.

This reminds of a doofus that I encountered during a Glock armorer course. The instructor was LE (out of state) and was telling us of a time when he shot someone with his department approved 10mm Glock 20. This yokel raised his hand and piped up, "Hey, ain't 10mm considered excessive force?"

Deadly force is deadly force.

 

[Route 45]

Here is our hero of the day: