Posted on 12/10/2013 2:59:21 PM PST by markomalley
A 23-year-old Texas university student was shot dead by a police officer during an altercation in which the unarmed and usually mild-mannered student allegedly assault the officer and asked, “Oh, you’re going to shoot me?”
The officer did in fact shoot him six times, killing him.
Robert Cameron Redus is an honors student at the University of the Incarnate Word, a private Catholic institution in San Antonio, Texas. Redus’s friends describe him as “not aggressive,” “gentle,” and “well-liked,” according to local news.
UIW police officer Chris Carter pulled over Redus at 2:00 a.m. on Friday night for unknown reasons. The argument between the two quickly became heated, and Redus attacked, according to an Alamo Heights Police Department press conference. Redus successfully wrestled Carter’s police baton out of his hands, and started beating him over the head with it.
Carter reacquired the baton, and told Redus that he would open fire if the student refused to surrender. According to Police Chief Richard Pruitt, Redus charged the officer once again, forcing Carter to shoot him.
A neighbor who overheard the exchange said that Redus asked the officer if he was going to shoot.
“’I heard [a man] say, “Oh, you’re gonna shoot me?” like sarcastic almost,’” said the neighbor.
Carter fired six times.
Devastated friends described Redus’s alleged behavior that night as strange, given the student’s usual demeanor.
“He’s not an aggressive person at all,” said Sarah Davis, in a statement to local news. “The story just doesn’t really make sense to any of us.”
The officer in question has been placed on leave pending an investigation. The university said that Carter has an “extensive law enforcement background.” But according to the San Antonio News, Carter has held eight different jobs in his eight years as an officer.
The police department did not respond to a request for comment.
Many years ago, when the company I was working for went under, some of my buddies took ‘security’ jobs while we were all looking for better. The stories they used to tell were really scary. They had next to no training and were given guns and badges almost immediately. At that time I thought they only had authority when they were at their point of employment. I had no idea the law was so vague.
Anyone walking around with a gun and a badge and authority to get involved with citizens, should be required to have all of the necessary law enforcement training.
Can I see the contusions please?
Not that I believe a rentacop would lie or anything.
So says the cop.
“A cop with eight jobs in eight years? Alarm bells, flashing lights, sirens screaming! There’s a problem here.”
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Not to mention his taking six shots to subdue the kid.
Really? Looks to me like a drug deal gone bad. OR a gambling debt, or the dude ran over his dog, or stole his sisters bike. Maybe he was praying in a no praying zone.
if the Baton was taken the cop had a good shoot That baton can knock somebody out with one shot.
There should be an evidentiary presumption against the police when they have a dash camera and/or uniform camera and neither are turned on during an incident that results in the death or injury of a suspect.
“...If this is all they have, the DA may choose not to pursue this....”
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The cop who did the killing is off on one of the standard “paid vacations” such folks get.
“...Carter has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, the university announced Friday afternoon. He was described by university officials as having an “extensive law enforcement background.”
Over the course of Carter’s eight-year law career in Texas, he has held nine jobs at eight agencies, including two stints at the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, files kept by the state agency for licensing peace officers show.
He rarely was at an agency more than a year and his shortest job was for seven months as a reserve officer for the San Antonio Municipal Court Marshals Division. So far, the two years and seven months he’s spent at UIW is the longest stretch of employment, the files show....”
Bingo, exactly.
Also, why the stop and was it video recorded, or should it have been?
Was 2:00am normal for this kid’s routine, or had he just left a new or relatively unfamiliar environment where he may have voluntarily or involuntarily taken mind altering substances?
What evidence is there that could account for causing a reportedly mild-mannered kid to physically and violently resist authority?.
Other than self-defense, of course.
I agree as well as an automatic state level inquiry, confiscation of all his weapons and temporarily restricting him from owning any firearm until the inquiry is over.
No more internal investigations. Ever!
Then when they come back should the inquiry determine it was okay, he should be a weaponless police officer for minimum of 2 years before he’s allowed to carry again.
“Not that I believe a rentacop would lie or anything. “
—
Give it a rest-——at least he’s not on welfare.
.
Apparently Redus had been out drinking and bar hopping and I suspect that is why his supposed
actions aren’t what family/friends are familiar with. Who knows what really happend.
I am in SA as well, and I have a related question about school police. What is their jurisdiction? If it is only on campus, then why do the various ISD police have cars? I’ve never understood why we have so many overlapping levels of police in San Antonio. For those not from here, we have city police, county police, the constable, and ISD police.
I wonder though, if the defence doesn’t offer evidence of his character or employment, and he doesn’t testify, if that can be introduced by the prosecution? Perhaps someone with a background in law can address this.
There is this, but I’m not sure how reliable audio alone is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3100394/posts?page=16#16
The autopsy might provide more information. If the student wasn’t drunk or on drugs, it would be very important to the prosecution, assuming that there is one.
So the cop lost the baton but then reacquired it.
and told Redus that he would open fire if the student refused to surrender.
You don't just get to shoot someone 6 times because they won't surrender -- especially when you now have the baton.
What a strange world you live in.
Eggzackly.
Why couldn’t the cop use his baton rather than his gun?
Sounds like the guy deserved a whooping, but not a shooting.
Fine..then whack him in the head with the baton...or if he had to, shoot him in the thigh or somewhere. Six times against a man without a weapon? Oh boy...
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