Posted on 05/25/2013 10:31:58 PM PDT by Altariel
19Daniel Harmon-Wright, the police officer in Culpeper, Virginia, who shot and killed former Sunday school teacher Patricia Cook in February 2012, has been sentenced to three years in prison. This is what the jury recommended upon convicting Harmon-Wright of manslaughter three months ago. According to WJLA, the Cook family will proceed with its lawsuit against Harmon-Wright.
Here's a brief recap of the damage done to Cook by Harmon-Wright:
The first two rounds, fired at point-blank range, tore into Cook’s face and arm. Another round, fired as Cook was driving away from the shooter, entered her brain. A fourth round severed her spine and veered into her heart, killing her. A telephone pole brought her Jeep Wrangler to a halt.
The Cook FamilyThe Cook FamilyAnd here's how Harmon-Wright's report about the incident contrasted with an eyewitness account:
[Harmon-Wright claimed] that he was responding to reports of a suspicious woman sitting in her vehicle on the school’s property, and that when he went to take Cook’s license, she rolled up his arm in her Jeep’s window and drove off, dragging the officer and forcing him to shoot.
Kris Buchele, a carpenter who was working near Epiphany on Feb. 9, told WUSA9 the week of the shooting that "[Harmon-Wright] was not dragged and that he shot [Cook] before she drove away"; that "he didn't have his arm caught because the officer's left hand was on the door handle and right hand was holding a weapon"; that "he distinctly saw her roll up the window all the way before the officer shot out the glass and killed her."
As I've written before, this could've been avoided if Harmon-Wright had been properly screened for the job:
Soon after Harmon-Wright was arrested, it was revealed that he had a tarnished military record, a drinking problem, and a history of harassing Culpeper residents. The first two problems nearly kept him from getting the job, and no one at the Culpeper Police Department will say why they didn't.
I'm not a big fan of locking people in cages, but I find it appalling that Daniel Harmon-Wright is going to do three years for murder while Cook got the death penalty for trying to avoid a confrontation.
This is what you have the death penalty for.
Did anybody ever figure out what Cook was doing there? I seem to remember reading that she was a little goofy, and maybe on meds or drugs - - not that any of that means she deserved to be shot. But it has never been clear to me how she ended up in a bad situation where the worst could (and did) happen.
AFAIK, no one knows accept Cook; her husband died not long after her murder, so if he had any inkling, it probably died with him. I have read nothing that suggested she was on meds or drugs.
I would have asked him if he killed the car?
He should be given the death penalty for capital murder.
OH, wait... he’s a cop... oh, never mind... just slap him on the wrist and give him back his gun.
/s
If I were to guess, she was either calling someone, or was just waiting for something and read a book or listened to the radio. This probably covers 90% of all possibilities, leaving the remaining 10% to bird-watching, or to taking some aspirin, or to checking the map, or to some other, not exceptionally likely, activity.
Three years?????
A lot of guys get more than that for flashing.
this guy should fry. held to a higher standard given his position and power and training.
He was never supposed to be in such a position. As he applied for the job...his mom worked for the city, and did enough to hide his past, and basically give him a free ticket to enter the police system. If he hadn’t accomplished this killing...on down the road....he would have done to someone else. He was just an accident waiting to happen.
The interesting thing to this whole story is that there was a witness. Without the witness....none of this story would have been told, and he’d back on the street within a month after the event....ready to kill again. It just makes you wonder how many cops are out there like this nut.
The prosecutor asked the jury for twenty or more years. The jury said three would be fine.
Soon after Harmon-Wright was arrested, it was revealed that he had a tarnished military record, a drinking problem, and a history of harassing Culpeper residents.
Who ever hired him should be fired. He should be killed.
The cop must have forgotten to say, “I felt threatened.” That statement made immediately absolves any “law enforcement” officer of killing anyone in any situation and usually gets him rewarded with a paid vacation.
When he gets out in three years it is only a matter of time before he racks up another killing. Road rage is a natural for this man and he will likely carry a gun regardless of his record and the law.
Hopefully, someone else will get him first.
You can easily get more than 3 years for walking your dog on a protected beach.
Hmm.. But why would any of that cause somebody enough concern to call the cops and report a “suspicious person”?
There's a clue in the guy's name. What does a hyphenated name tell you? It tells me there were parents issues. Liberal parennts issues.
of course 3 years is fine, she was a Christian sunday school teacher, it’s ok to shoot Christians, they aren’t real people /s
Imagine if she had been moslem.
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