Posted on 12/31/2014 1:44:41 PM PST by Kaslin
Back in August, shortly after the shooting of Michael Brown, there was another, similar incident which took place in Los Angeles. 25 year old Ezell Ford, a man reported to have a history of mental problems as well as a police record including drugs and illegal possession of a loaded firearm, was walking through one of the more gang-heavy districts of the region. For some reason, he found himself in an encounter with the police and wound up being shot three times by the two officers and later died.
At the time, a witness who was described as a friend of the family claimed that she saw no struggle between Ford and the police, but their official account of the incident was very different.
According to the LAPD’s news release, two veteran gang officers saw Ford walking on a South Los Angeles sidewalk Monday night and stopped their patrol car and attempted to speak to him. But Ford, the statement said, “continued walking and made suspicious movements, including attempting to conceal his hands.
“When the officers got closer and attempted to stop the individual, the individual turned, grabbed one of the officers, and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, they fell to the ground and the individual attempted to remove the officer’s handgun from its holster.” The other officer, police said, “fired his handgun and the officer on the ground fired his backup weapon at the individual.”
Another relative of Ford actually claimed that he was on the ground complying with the officers’ commands when they shot him in the back. But now that the official autopsy has been released, CNN offers a telling description of their own in terms of how the suspect should be categorized.
His name isn’t as recognizable as Michael Brown’s. But like Brown, Ezell Ford was an unarmed black man shot and killed by police in August.
Now, newly released details of Ford’s death could raise a host of new questions.
Among the findings: The 25-year-old was shot three times, including once in the back. And that wound was surrounded by a muzzle imprint, Ford’s autopsy report shows.
You have to dig down a number of paragraphs in CNN’s coverage before you see any indication that there was a lot more to this story than is portrayed in the lede. The autopsy results are consistent with the account of the police, but somehow this gets lost in the media narrative. While the the CNN writer clearly wants to focus on the race of not only the suspect, but the cops, the color of anyone’s skin ceases to be of much interest once a battle for control of a gun is underway. Sadly, that’s frequently the only pertinent aspect of the story on cable news. And if you can describe the suspect as being “unarmed” during the event you’ve got yourself a click-bait headline, facts be damned. This trend has clearly become a bit too much for Bob Owens, who takes the network to task.
Yan’s attempt to insinuate racial bias is getting in the way of telling the story made clear by the facts, as four use of force experts interviewed by the Los Angeles Times makes perfectly clear.
Here’s the reality that Holly Yan is attempting to avoid describing.
Ezell Ford knocked down a LAPD officer and was in the process of taking control of the officer’s weapon in order to murder him with that weapon.
The officer continued fighting Ford to control the muzzle with one hand, while yelling for assistance from his partner and drawing his backup gun with his other hand.
The officer who was not struggling with Ford drew his weapon and fired two shots into the armed suspect (Ford) who was attempting to kill the officer on the ground. One of those shots was not life-threatening. The other would prove to be a fatal wound.
At the same time, the officer fighting for his life with the armed Ford on the ground was able to get his backup gun and place it against Ford’s back, also firing a shot that would also prove to be fatal.
Ezell Ford was in control of a police officer’s weapon and was actively attempting to murder that officer with his own weapon when he was shot.
What Owens is doing is the precise thing we need to see from more “professional” reporters. It is not only proper, but vital to have the media ask questions in the wake of such incidents, but then they need to follow up with an accurate accounting of the facts. Describing Ford as “unarmed” may have been accurate when he was walking down the street, but from the moment he took control of the officer’s weapon in a literal life and death struggle on the ground, he was most certainly not unarmed in any sense of the word.
This post has been updated to fix broken links.
The poor guy never had a chance. First, his mother named him after the Ford Edsel. Then, she misspelled his name...
The US Government and the American press are two of the most out and out lying entities on the face of this planet. I believe nothing from them.
Probably his fingerprints on the officers weapon
didn’t help...
According to the LAPD’s news release, two veteran gang officers saw Ford walking on a South Los Angeles sidewalk Monday night and stopped their patrol car and attempted to speak to him.
Proper response:
Can I help you?
I’m sorry Sir, but I do not discuss my personal life with strangers.
Did I commit a crime? No
Do you think I am about to commit a crime? No
Then I am NOT required to produce Identification.
AM I under Arrest?
Am I being detained?
Am I free to go?
Repeat as necessary.
Right. Because a mere peasant getting "uppity" with one of The King's Men deserves it.
I'll note that the officers in the above encounter had all the guns. If they hadn't closed with or "confronted" the individual (as is their wont, and in their "confrontation" training), he wouldn't have been able to get near enough to attempt to relieve the officer of one of the guns festooning said officer's person...
I didn’t say be disrespectful, but NEVER roll over to their Illegal Demands. If the officer cannot articulate a reasonable suspicion a crime has or is about to be committed, he has NO LEGAL leg to stand on. Obviously you don’t want to try and fight with them either.
CNN - never letting facts and the truth get in the way with their anti-American, leftist agenda.
Forget it,CNN is busy right now!
I’d take that ass kicking and then retire on the million or so I’d sue for. Then I’d spend half of it making the cops life who did it miserable until the day he died.
L
But, but, that was profiling. /s
Gangs, dredge of society. See ‘em up close and give them the soft kind touch! Ridiculous
me neither. Everything, EVERYTHING, is propaganda anymore. It's sick!
You should write news stories for CNN - your perspective is perfect.
Hypocrisy: acting like a big shot gangster with gang members while acting like a poor little child during the media limelight. They cannot have it both ways, but communism allows it.
You should write news stories for Die Völkischer Beobachter - your perspective is perfect.
... I am NOT required to produce Identification.
************************
I believe you got that one wrong. When asked by LEOs to show i.d., you’re required to do so, AFAIK.
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