I know it's a long read and I've done some editing to make it more readable, I hope. It's almost a "stream of consciousness" piece or recorded from random verbalization so it really could not be edited or structured.
Buzzed to the gills on PCP and quite erratic, but for that very reason one would not expect a “car trouble” scenario to play out like it would with someone in his right senses.
I see a lot of pointless theorizing just starting this thing off, and I don’t feel encouraged that it would improve.
A tragedy of errors for more than one party.
On Larry Elder’s radio show last night; he said in 2015, 965 people were killed by the police, the majority were white.
So, in other words, one has more of a chance to be struck by lightning than be killed by the police.
Hope that’s not off-topic, sort of related.
I feel sorry for the cop but hopefully a full investigation will find the truth.
“..................We don’t know what crazy things he may have said to her to make her feel like there might be a weapon in his vehicle............”
Had he gotten to the car it most likely was the intended weapon if none other was found.
Reasonable people do not need a long detailed dissertation, and unreasonable people will continue to blame cops or others for everything wrong in society.
Very simply: someone acts suspiciously, does not follow orders, makes threatening gestures toward officers trained to discern those actions. The threatening person gets shot, an action of self-defense by the officer (regardless of whether the person was actually armed or not).
Benefit of doubt must go to officer or the criminals control the agenda. Yes, there are wrongful shootings, and they are extremely rare. All these matters should be settled by the police department, not citizen groups, protesters, government commissions, human rights councils, etc.
to add a bit:
The car was actively driven into oncoming traffic. Then abandoned with the ‘it’s on fire, it’s going to blow’ screams. The deceased was supposed to be at his first day of ‘music appreciation’ at the local jr. college - he never made it.
The officer did not see Crutcher - he walked up silently behind her. We don’t know if she was back at her cruiser or at his vehicle, but...
From the very first frames of the chopper cam: officer is behind her vehicle at passenger rear quarter panel; deceased is at front quarter panel same side. How’d she get behind her vehicle? Was the deceased wandering? It takes her 10 seconds to get to front grill, where she momentarily takes a defensive stance, leaning against the car. Second and third units arrive. Deceased notices and quickens his pace - it take him 6 seconds to go from the front side of the cruiser to the left rear panel of his vehicle - about a vehicle and a half distance.
Sister stated last night on tv that ‘one thing people don’t know about my brother’ is that he has a glass eye AND a ‘hearing problem.’ Was he ‘glowering’ because he only had one eye? And if he only had one eye, why was he driving in the first place? Who in his family trusted a drug felon to go to college the first day unaccompanied? Pretty stressful for someone fresh out of a 10yr lockup. Not to mention how freely drugs flow on college campuses.
Let’s get into his drug-addled head: Promises his family he will go straight and narrow. Can’t take the pressure. Gets high in a very public way - no hiding it. Girl cop is not going to let him go. He’s going back to jail and his kids are going to write him off for good. He’s got nothing to lose but he doesn’t want a girl to shoot him so he waits for the male cops to show. Suicide by cop and his kids get rich. He dies a hero instead of a loser. Family gets a three-figure gofundme prize.
The girl cop shot him, but the person who killed him is the person who sold him the PCP. And the accessory is the family member who gave a half-blind and deaf man a vehicle to drive.
Too much information.
The histrionics do not trump the eye witness video.
The victim was tasered while standing, not charging.
The victim reacted to being tasered and was subsequently shot dead for doing so.
Obviously the cops were already on tilt and visibly very tense, for a reason.
What ever the verbal exchanges may have been and no matter what “commands” may have been ignored, the victim is seen as no physical threat and slow moving right up to the taser shot.
The cops simply didn’t want any altercation with him, so they tasered him.
He couldn’t or wouldn’t hold his hands on the car. He got tasered for dropping them apparently.
I wonder to what extent he could comprehend instructions, or judge time for compliance.
He looked tired, slow and unimpressed with who they were or what was going on.
Cop girl goofed and officers with her thought so, too.
The last episode (first for the new season) of Blue Bloods explains this well...
Bottom line is an accidental shooting isn’t necessarily manslaughter, an irresponsible shooting is. That’s the question the jury will have to answer, and it’s the question the media will never explain to the public.
bkmk
Thanks for a very good posting of the insight from a LEO! He wrote the item very clearly and without any bias.
This little aside caught my eye: “...I am from Oak Cliff.”
Grew up in Oak Cliff (the oc in my user name) and fully understand his reference to street fighting! Was common behavior in the ‘40s-’50s when I was a kid, but was mostly whites on whites. ....I’m guessing the LEO grew up there in later years when after it became majority black/hispanic.
I think this is an excellent piece. It rationally explains things that too many folks gloss over when deciding to vocally shoot from the hip. Highly dramatic situations are never easy for outsiders to analyze or comprehend. This officer (and editor) does an articulate job.
“I point my pistol at people all the time because they pop up out of nowhere and approach me.”
If I acted like that, I’d be in orison. Glad I avoid cops. God Bless ‘em.
“Sometimes they are suspects, sometimes they are good people and there has been a misunderstanding. After I point my gun at them, some of them get scared and freeze. I ask them to show me their hands and they do so. Then I ask them what they are doing. They are usually horrified. They usually explain that they didn’t mean to run up on me like that and then they explain their problem. If their problem makes sense, I would lower my gun and I would assist them. I might check them for weapons. I would immediately explain to them why I pointed my weapon at them and apologize for frightening them. Sometimes when that happens, the person responds with anger. They may curse me out and accuse me of being a rogue cop or something. In an angry manner, they explain why they ran up to me and explain their problem. If their story sounds logical, I would make sure they didn’t have any weapons on them, explain to them how the situation appeared from my perspective and we would move forward. Both of those responses are normal.”
Again, that’s why I avoid cops, actually, most people in fact. God Bless ‘em.
WOW...tmi for now.
Good to read this, but from the first paragraph I read about this, and watching the video, I see how this man got shot. Doesn’t excuse it, but it provides a logical progression. This dead man shares the most burden for his own demise.
Man parks car in middle of road. Man behaving weirdly. Man refuses to obey commands. Man has a record of selling and using PCP. Man has PCP in his car.
When in Arizona and you hear hoofbeats, it is logical to think horses, not zebras.
I do not understand the First Degree Murder charge. It may be an Oklahoma angle, but that seems like a vast overcharge.
I thought that 1st degree murder was always premeditated.
bflr