Posted on 10/05/2012 9:48:53 AM PDT by opentalk
A New York police detective shot and killed an unarmed man, whose hands, a witness said, were on the steering wheel of his Honda, after he had been pulled over early Thursday for cutting off two police trucks on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, the authorities said.
...The shooting, which occurred at 5:15 a.m., was the latest in a series of episodes in which police officers fatally shot or wounded civilians.
..A passenger in Mr. Polanco’s car, Diane Deferrari, said in a phone interview Thursday night that just before pulling the car over, officers appeared irate that Mr. Polanco had cut them off. She said that one of the officers — but not Detective Hamdy — stuck up his middle finger and was screaming obscenities from one of the moving police trucks.
“As soon as we stopped — they were rushing the car,” Ms. Deferrari said. “It was like an army.”
She said a group of officers swarmed the car, yelling for the three people in Mr. Polanco’s car to put their hands up. Mr. Polanco, whose hands were still on the steering wheel, had no time to comply, Ms. Deferrari said. At that instant, a shot rang out, and Mr. Polanco gasped for air, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The NYC Keystone Kops claim another victim.
"The detective, Hassan Hamdy, 39, a 14-year veteran assigned to the Emergency Service Unit, fired one bullet through an open window of the car,..."Begs the question, was there something visible on the victims vehicle identifying the victim as an Army reservist which could enflame the muslim detective beyond his civil call to duty?
Did they find out if he had a dog so they could kill it as well?......../s?
Detective Hassan Hamdy? Hmmmm.
This doesn’t sound good for the NYPD...not good at all.
Even one of the union spokesmen said that this shooting may be questionable (apparently, for those who didn’t read the article, the cops in one car felt they had been cut off by the victim’s car, and gave him the finger as they went around him before they stopped him - however, this is the New York Times’ account).
Looking at the other shootings, I think they were all justifiable. But this shooting is probably the one that will give Bloomberg the basis for making the cops go out unarmed as British cops do. Start the body count...
Did he have a dog costume on?
These aren’t the cops you see on “BlueBloods”.
They probably have not had time to get over to the poor guy's house to check for one...
If this is as it seems then nothing short of Conviction of Murder is appropriate here.
Killed for cutting them off? In Queens? Everyone cuts everyone off in Queens.
Sorry, but if this driver’s hands were on the steering wheel he posed no threat. This sounds like a case of ROAD RAGE on the cops’ part. I understand their anger but if the guy PULLED OVER AND HIS HANDS WERE ON THE STEERING WHEEL, SHOOTING HIM DEAD was a bit excessive.
I wonder if the victim was in his reserve uniform?
They will check for his home address then raid a neighbor (80 year old widow). Shoot her and her small toy poodle, Mitzi!
A “bit” excessive? Good grief how about murder!
Have you ever driven in Queens?
The story says the victim was shot in the abdomen. It seems like the cop would have to have been standing pretty close to the victim to do that unless he shot through the door.
Shot from passenger side.
Bet this goes down as accidental discharge.
Cops usually let loose once a round is fired. I’m surprised anyone in the car survived.
Sounds more like an execution than a “shooting”.
We used to call this murder.
I don’t like anything about NYC.
At least in north Florida they don’t generally shoot you...they put you in handcuffs and take you to a flashlight party with a half dozen of their buddies.
The saying is “No One Says ‘No’ to the JSO”.
Just a little practice for when Ubama flips that Interwebs “off” switch and lets slip the dogs of genocide.
“I’m on the job!” from the back seat may have saved them.
Makes you think all the other cops knew there was no reason to be shooting.
I, fortunately, have no direct experience with this, but it seems that many times, multiple officers will surround a suspect, all shouting conflicting orders. The person faced with that situation is essentially damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
It would seem prudent in these types of engagements, especially when pulling over someone on the freeway with no prior record (if they didn’t run the plates first, they probably should have) that one officer be pre-designated as the primary communicator and scene controller, either via rank, first on scene, or whatever, and the other officers remain silent unless making observations (such as “Gun!”).
(Did I leave anything out?)
BINGO!
My only comment was regarding the hands off approach to occupy wallstreet protesters -comparison. Hope more facts are coming. Like why not use a taser first. If appropriate.
NOT TRUE! It will be ruled a good shoot. I guarantee it. There is almost never a case where a cop on duty shoots and kills someone where it is not ruled a good shoot. Ask Amadou Diallo ask Renaldo Cuevas Ask the nine people shot by police at the empire state building a couple of months ago (and how quickly THAT story died, eh)
The most recent exception to this that I'm aware of was in 2006 here in Atlanta where some white cops murdered a 92 year old black woman. basically went to the wrong address shot her to death and tried to cover up what happened. They were not convicted of murder and conspiracy after the fact, but rather violation of oath of office which carries a much lesser sentence. The only reason they were prosecuted at all was they were white and shot a black woman in black run Atlanta.
If a cop murders you or a family member, the only justice that you will get is if your remaining family takes condign action on their own.
No I think you got them all. :-)
My comment wasn’t directed toward you.
Yes.
“Now kiddies put your heads down on your desks and take a nap”
No, they didn’t find a dog so they shot the drill instead...it looked menacing.
Murder.
Like why even have a gun drawn in the 1st place.
Is that SOP for a traffic stop
Really? Bloomberg does NOT dislike guns per se. He dislikes guns NOT in the hands of the police. If you think he or any other liberal gives a gnat crap about the life of some citizen compared to their beloved thugs in blue, you've been living on a different planet universe
“SHOOTING HIM DEAD was a bit excessive.”
NO, Shooting him dead was murder!!! It’s getting close to time for some serious payback for these instances of police criminal behavior. If the courts won’t start incarcerating these murderers, then the people need to take matters into their own hands. Cops have become a national disgrace, just union thugs with guns!
In terms of criminal prosecution you could be correct.You could even be correct in terms of the findings of a disciplinary board.But you *know* that there will be lawyers lined up out the door wanting to represent the family.Who knows what such a lawyer might turn up about the service records of the cops involved.Who knows what the lawyer might turn up on the cop with the moslem sounding name.I think it's more likely than not that the family has just won the lottery...if for no other reason than the City of New York wanting to settle this thing quietly so as to avoid "discovery".
And believe me, that was a last step on a long road.
“If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you Hamdy.”
It was even worse for the poor guy they murdered.
sounds like an assassination
was there a romney bump sticker on his car?
I agree. I was talking about criminal prosecution where the cop/criminal who committed the crime actually faces some consequences for his actions rather than the taxpayers taking it in the shorts.
Yes, that is much more sensible than all of them rushing the car barking orders.
Still, this would seem to have been a fairly standard traffic stop, and in those situations, there is no conceivable reason to rush the vehicle with guns drawn at all. That they did tells me that they must have been looking for an opportunity to shoot the guy, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense.
Yeah him too. I got lazy about typing in examples of thugs in blue literally getting away with murder.
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