Posted on 01/29/2016 9:11:08 AM PST by Jeff Head
I have placed 42 still photos from the FBI video of the apprehension of the Bundy brothers and the individuals with them in Oregon in the very early morning hours of January 27, 2016, where Lavoy Finicum, one of the people protesting with the Bundys, was killed. All of those photos are on the following Flickr album:
Flickr Album: The Death of Lavoy Finicum
The video that was released by the FBI, showing the entire episode from the point of view of an unmanned drone which was circling overhead, can be found on YouTbue here:
FBI Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGxDWKrjPQ
It is a hard video to watch. Lavoy Finicum was a successful rancher in his mid fifties from Arizona, a father of eleven children, and a grandfather of numerous grand children. He was paasionate about the United states, its constitution, and his liberty and that of his family and fiends...and all Americans.
I am aware of, and am sympathetic to the issues that the Bundys, LAvoy, and the others raised. There is broad over reach by the Federal Government when it comes to property rights and other issues in the nation, and in the Intermountain West specifically. I was personally very involved in a similar incident at Klamath Falls, OR, in early 2001 that extended through the summer there. In our case we were not armed, but we were face to face with federal lawn enforcement who were.
In this case, the Bundys and those with them had occupied a Wildlife Refuge that was closed for the Winter near Burns Oregon. Thye were armed but indicated ovr and over that they sought no violence, but would protect themselves. They had been invited to a meeting in John Day Oregon, about 70 miles from where they were located, to meet with a sympathetic Sheriff there and other supporters. There are reports...that have not been confirmed...that they had been offered safe passage to go to that meeting. This would not be surprising because they had been allowed to come and go to and aattend other meetings in the area to that point.
A little after 12:25 AM, as the two cars containing eight of the group (a Jeep in the back with Ammon Bundy, the group's leader in the back, and a white four door pickup truck driven by Lavoy Finicum and including Ammon's brother in the front) passed a side road. In th epciture you can see several things right away that put to rest the bizarre notion advanced by the Sheriff in Harney County and the FBI that the Oregon Highway Patrol made a routine traffic stop of these vehicles.
At that point we see from the video that an aircraft, likely, an unmanned drone (UAV) with obvious infrared surveillance capabilities (this wa sjuts after midnight), was in the air in that remote area. Since when does such an aircraft patrol remote areas of Oregon? In addition, as the two cars pass the side road, you can see nine or ten State and Federal vehicles lined up on the side road waiting for them to pass. Since when are noine or ten Federal vechilces parked on a side road in remote Oregon just wainting for a routine traffic issue?
This was not routine. This was an ambush where the Bundys were lured out of the refuge and ewas set up to capture them. It speaks to betrayal, by the Sheriff, by the FBI, and probably by someone within the Bundy group.
Within a minute and a half both cars are pulled over. The video focuses on the lead car, but we know that after being stopped, the trailing car was approached and the three men in that car, including Ammon Bundy were peacefully taken into custody.
By then it had been several minutes. Before the officers, who can be seen with weapons drawn and surrounding their own vehicles behind the lead pickup truck can make specific demands of Finicum's vehicle (apparently they were waiting fo word that the other vehcile had beens secured before proceeding), Lavoy Finicum decides to rapidly drives away. It was a fateful...and ultimately fatal, decision.
A pursuit ensues.
It is not what you would call a hot pursuit. It does not appear that any shots were fired. You can clearly see the back window of the topper on the truck and its front windshield before it leaves and they are intact. The chaser vehicle is several seconds behind them.
Why? Because a mile up the road, as the video shows, law enforcement had already established a road block just in case. Three cars wait there, with approximately ten individuals.
As Lavoy approaches, he immediately veers to his left to try and pass. One of the law enforcement personnel gets out of one of the vehicles and positions himself next to the road, I am sure at the edge of the pavement, so that Lavoy would veer further into the snow. This was a dangerous move. It all happened in just 2-3 seconds. Finicum does veer further off the road onto the shoulder and into the snow which is piled up on the side of the road.
His vehicle comes to a rest, stuck in the snow drift at 12:34:53.
As Lavoy gets out, the law enforcement vehicle chasing them approaches the road block.
Lavoy by then is away the vehcile and has his hands up and is approached by one officer to the right of the picture who has a weapon drawn at 12:34:58.
Lavoy appears to reach for to his side, towards his his hip at 12:25:02. It does not appear that the law officer shoots. Some people believe the law officer had tased Lavoy at that point and that is why he appeared to reach down. We simply cannot tell from the video.
Another officer approaches Lavoy on the left at 12:35:03, from out of the trees, and Lavoy turns toward him.
Again, at this point, Lavoy appears to reach down at 12:35:05 as that officer extends his left arm and hand toward him.
Was Lavoy tased there? We cannot say from this video. Whatever the case, immediately after reaching down this second time, Lavoy appears to be shot at 12:35:06 by the pofficer to the left.
He then falls to the ground at 12:35:07. Except for one brief movement of his arm, Lavoy does not move again.
I do not see evidence in the video that he is shot multiple times after being down. I do see the officers lower their weapons and walk around him, keeping their eyes on him as they go to their vehicles to continue the apprehension of the other three people in the truck.
For the next several minutes several things occur. You see at least three flash bangs go off. One above and behind the truck at 12:35:27, another right next to the truck at 12:35:32, and a third in the air in front of the truck as 12:35:33. Here's the one going off to the side of the truck at 12:35:32.
Looking at the windows, you see what might be one or two bullet holes in the front window at 12:36:36...but it is hard to say. It certainly has not been shot out. The same is true for the rear window. Compare the pcitures here and on Flickr to the earlier ones showing those windows (front and rear) ealrier when there had been no shooting. You can see the same things sitting on the dash.
At 12:40:45, the second person (Ammon's brother) is getting out with his hands raised. Apparently he had been wounded in the arm by gunfire...either directed a Lavoy earlier, or directed at the vehicle at some point.
A picture soon after taht, at 12:41:13, makes it clear that the topper window on that side is shot out, and the back seat passenger window on that side has also either been shot out or rolled down.
At 12:42:55 the next person exits the vehicle and is then secured.
By 12:47:00 all three are out and it is then that the officers approach Lavoy's body. 12 minutes after he had been shot.
Once officer kneels down and removes Lavoy’s hat on the video, letting it fall to the snow. He appears to call another officer over who kneels down and takes a look at Lavoy too. I presume at this point they determined that he had died.
There are many who, in the emotion and anger of the moment, are calling this an assassination. As a person who has been on the front line in a similar incident, I honestly cannot say that it appears that way at all.
They Bundy’s vehicles were stopped. Lavoy, for whatever reason, chose to drive away from law enforcement who had stopped him. When reaching the road block a mile or so up the road about a minute, or a little more later, he tried to go around it through the snow.
One officer was put in mortal danger when he attempted to position himself on the pavement next to the road and force Lavoy further off. This all happened in about two seconds. I am sure Lavoy did not see that officer when he veered to the side, and it is clear that he made no attempt to run the man down. Rather, he veered further into the snow...which I believe was the officer's intent, and got stuck.
Lavoy immediately exited the truck. Though most of the time he had his arms raised, he did reach down to his side twice. Was he tased and that caused it. We simply do not know. At that point it was a mortally dangerous situation. In such a tense standoff, where law enforcement believes you are armed and dangerous, anything but getting down and spread eagled is a recipe for disaster.
What most certainly can be argued, and should be argued, is whether any of this takedown was necessary at all.
To that point the Bundys had not endangered anyone. They had not attempted to attack or threaten law enforcement. They had been allowed to come and go to various meetings...and apparently were supposed to be allowed to go to the one in John Day they were headed towards.
If they had been allowed to do so, one man would not be dad...a 56 year-old man, father of eleven, grandfather of numerous more, and a successful rancher from Arizona, and another man would not be wounded.
I hope and pray that the court proceedings focus on that. As with Ruby Ridge ad Waco, irrespective of whatever minor infractions, I believe we will all find again, that it was unnecessary and that lives were lost and people were killed that should have gone on living.
And the protests against the Federal encroachment will continue...and I hope they do, and I hope that more people are made aware of it and get involved...so that these people, including Lavoy, will not have died in vain.
Jeff Head
Idaho, USA
January 29, 2016
See the following links for some of my "straight talk" messages to all Americans:
The Stand at Klamath Falls
My Message on Islamic Terrorism
The Boston Marathon Terror Bombing
Sharia Law must be outlawed in the United States
Fast & Furios and the Obama Administration
Mass Shootings and Gun Control
Black and Latino Americans: For God's Sake Wake Up!
Ferguson Missouri and False Narratives
Secure our Southern Border
My Oath to the Constitution as a US Citizen
Mr sport:
Your four steps could happen very quickly, with a little surprise for some, and acceptance by most.
But you just said that.
Very disturbing video. Bad choice to try an avoid the first stop and bad choice to exit the truck after the second stop. His adrenaline was pumping and his hands were up, but it is not possible to say that he was reaching for his side for sure. If shot his hands would have been drawn down to his side. The false witness that he charged at law enforcement is proved by the video. He charged at nobody. He did not raise a weapon as well, he was no real substantial threat. Neither were shots fired from the vehicle as law enforcement riddled the truck with bullets from several directions. Why??? When the drone is off angle and comes back into view after more FBI vehicles are seen arriving you can see multiple laser targeting on LaVoy on the ground. Were more .556 rounds fired at him while the vehicle was being shot? Why continue to shoot he vehicle unless you are attempting to murder witnesses. An autopsy is needed to see how many bullets struck LaVoy, what caliber, what direction, and a ground level video with audio. This was a borderline execution to make an example of this group. LaVoy did his part to provoke being killed, the FBI did all they could to make sure they killed someone, Sheriff Dave Ward betrayed the Bundy Group and allowed this ambush to occur on his watch with complicity.
Since when does dropping your hands merit a death sentence ? If he was agressive the gun would have been drawn when he left the vehicle. There was no way he was going to win a gunfight with 3 vehicles of cops. Nothing but excuses from the feds. He ran towards the police. He said he would not be taken alive. Pathetic whores working for a corrupt state.
Some other info I had posted last night.
There are a number of videos of Finicum on Youtube before this incident, either where he was being interviewed by the press or where they showed him taking various actions. In some of those videos, it seemed he was armed with a Western “six-gun” revolver in a western-style holster on his right hip. Additionally, he had some sort of shoulder holster with what looks like a semi-automatic pistol under his left shoulder.
Also, there was a lot of debate about whether he was left- or right-handed. In some of the videos, such as the one where he is shown cutting a fence and climbing a ladder to take down the surveillance cameras, it is clear he is right-handed. The six-gun in its holster can also clearly be seen dangling from his right hip.
The only video that has me stumped is one that shows him sitting on a chair with some sort of long gun on his lap. I can’t see it that well, but it looks as if it is positioned as it would be for a left-handed person (e.g., the butt on his left side and the weapon pointed to the right). Is it possible he shot a rifle left-handed but in other ways was right-handed? Don’t know.
But if the officers saw him going either towards his right hip or under his jacket towards his left shoulder I think they would have been justified opening fire. I suspect they must have known from the videos or otherwise what kinds of weapons Finicum typically carried.
Interesting, I just went back to Google/YouTube to find those videos and now I can’t find them.
In an article posted here last night, the FBI claimed they'd brought in medical attention for LaVoy within 10 minutes of his being shot. That's obviously not true.
Source:
The tape shows he didn’t run. In fact he was stuck in a snow bank. There isn’t anyone running in that kind of condition.
And, I agree, dropping your hands isn’t a sign that says kill the guy.
Some are saying he was tased...of COURSE he’d drop his hands.
I question one assumption, that the video was shot with infrared. The red brake lights and blue po-po flashers tend to argue against that. Other than that, some good analysis. Thanks!
Only if it's in your own home and only if the officer doesn't have a reason for his aggressive actions.
Have you ever been in a situation n where guns were drawn and people were extremely amped up[?
I have.
If you are facing law enforcement at that time, the ONLY safe thing to do is to get down, first to your knees and then to the ground (and they will be telling you to do so), and then stretch your hands out. That way you are nt a threat.
Sadly, tragically...for whatever reason...did not do that. This stood him to very mortally dangerous territory.
These officers were not cowards. They were not murderers.
They were faced with someone they had been told was armed (and he was) and dangerous (and though I do not believe he was dangerous...from his actions in those few seconds those officers could not ascertain it by his actions).
To the contrary, as I will show, the had to believe the opposite.
If he reached to his side...twice...as is evidenced in the video, and if he did not comply with their demands, any possible threat of violence on his part was going to be met with deadly force.
I might add, the one officer was within his rights to step out and try and get the oncoming vehicle to stop. Lavoy did not. He came very close to hitting that man...and every officer there would have viewed that as a deadly threat from Lavoy.
This should never have happened...and the people making the decisions that led it to this are the ones now that I believe need to get prosecuted.
Lavoy was a good man. He was a good American...but that day he made some bad choices when it came to his safety.
As one who has been on the other side standing against armed US Marshals at Klamath, I can tell you that I cannot in good conscience affix blame on these officers...and certainly not over-reacting by implying that they are either cowards or murders.
I believe one of the ones who looked at him was a medic. It was 12 minutes.
I think you are right.
The aircraft has IR, but it does not appear now to be shot in IR.
Without audio you can’t see if his hands drop out of pain from being shot in the chest. The female witness stated he told the agents to go ahead and shoot him. Than she heard the guns shots. If he wanted death by cop he would have exited shooting or exited with the pistol drawn. I believe he was shot and not tazzed. I believe his hands come down from pain. From the witness perspective who is still in shock when she gave the audio statement it would look as if he was on his knees while standing in hip high snow from her view in the truck while bullets are flying.
[[I might add, the one officer was within his rights to step out and try and get the oncoming vehicle to stop. Lavoy did not. He came very close to hitting that man...]]
You keep stating this, but Finicum was stopping- and he had to veer off to the left to avoid hitting the vehicles be3cause there wasn’t enough road to come to a stop safely- it was on a corner, he was travelling fast, and couldn’t stop intime- he wasn’t intentionally trying to hit anyone or anything- I was in a 50 mph head on collision whenre a driver pulled in front of my vehicle after not seeing me (was on a logn straight stretch, driver was waiting for osemoen to get out of their driveway so they could pull in, and when they did the driver just pulled in- not looking in my direction)- and I had a logn distance, but at that speed, it went by so quick I didn’t even have time to hit the brakes and could only just brace for impact- I watched Finicum react in a short distance better than I had- he did well to avoid hitting anything
[[and every officer there would have viewed that as a deadly threat from Lavoy.]]
And this is where the error in judgment happened IF they did view it this way- He was out of the vehicle for some time, hands In air- if they viewed his driving as threat, they would have been firing nonstop it seems as soon as he exited vehicle, perhaps even while still In vehicle-
[[and certainly not over-reacting by implying that they are either cowards or murders]]
Most of us are not suggesting that- at worst we are suggesting that this whole incident should not have gone down this way- there was no need for it- a massive error in judgment took place, likely because of an order from higher up to end this- and again the question has to be asked is WHY was the orde4r given when no violence had occurred? The occupants of the vehicles werent’ going anywhere- the police knew where they lived- ongoing surveillance could have been ordered- but instead higher ups ordered an end to it when in places like fuergeson etc no such orders were ever given- when real violence was occurring In those places-
I’ve always respected the rights of police to make decisions under pressure and give the police the benefit of the doubt- and allow that mistakes happen In the heat of battle- however, there are just some cases where either mistakes are made (in which case I would support the police due to high pressure situations and split second decision needing to be made) and cases where obvious abuse of power occur- not saying that is what happened here, but IF the witness account of the girl is correct, that shots were fired into the vehicle, while Finicum’s hands were out the window in a passive act of surrender, causing Finicum to have to drive off for everyone’s safety, then this appears to be a very dirty deal- I’m still willing ot grant ‘operator error’ to the police who may have seen something suspicious occurring in the vehicle, but according to the girl, it appears that no one in the vehicle drew their weapon to fire and they were fired on unprovoked-
There is a report that the police fired at them when they were stopped- and we do have video of the first stop as well- but I haven’t’ gone over it frame by frame to see if there is evidence to back up the claim
Amen! And the same ones that are now cheering that the man was killed will be the ones cheering as the CCWs are being shot down. Because when the order goes out to get the guns, they will pick the low hanging fruit first. And the CCWEs are the lowest hanging. “He/She reached for his/her gun. therefore we had no choice but to open fire”. These things are funny——until they happen to you. Then, they loose all their humor. Take care.
At least 2 different county Sheriffs , Oregon State and FBI jurisdictions all clashing. Just wondering who was who and where was everybody when this went down?
If they were on what they thought was a free pass to meet with an LEO that they thought might lend helpful advice, and all LEO agencies knew this, One or more of them obviously had different plans.
I didnt notice all the bullet holes and broken glass on the vehicle until today. Really amazed that anyone came out of the vehicle alive.
I wondered if they might have lowered the resolution.
This was a prepared ambush. They were all armored.
Thank you for your work. That was helpful.
He did drive away from the initial stop. One could guess he realized it was not a routine stop and they were ambushed. The natural reaction in that case would be to drive away. Flee for your life. The fact that he veered away from the officer and did not run him over, shows he was not willing to threaten their lifes. The lesson learned for the future here is do not veer.
Thanks for posting this. It’s heartbreaking. I’ve watched this unfold and my heart cries for all these men and women. I also watched the videos of the ranchers asking the Land Management people to delay firing the grassland early so that they could secure their livestock only to be ignored. I watched some of the buildings owned by these ranchers go up in flames because of the negligent actions of Land Management in setting the fires, knowing the wind direction would result in destruction of property.
The saddest thing to me is that I’m sure these ranchers thought their cause was just and that their protest was just also. In light of current events, I’m sure that they thought that, eventually, they would get an audience with someone who could address their grievances. I’m also sure that they thought they would receive more support from us, the American people. Instead, they were lured away from the few supporters that they had and brought down.
I’m the first one to tell my children and grandchildren to always comply with the demands of law enforcement should they encounter them. It’s necessary that Law Enforcement treat those that they have suspicions about as somewhat dangerous until they can secure them and ascertain their motives.
These men were protesters. We’ve seen mobs, crowds, gangs of them lately. We’ve seen them set fires, throw rocks, loot, spit on law enforcement and destroy personal property.
They have done so with impunity, but why? Is it because their numbers were greater than these few ranchers? Is it their political group? Is it their skin color? Or is it something much more sinister?
Could it be that the ranchers and their supporters were hand picked to be the clearest message to the ordinary American that the government is not to be defied in any way? Is it because these people had vowed that their freedom from tyrannical government actions and policies was worth their supreme sacrifice if it came to that?
I agree that the ranchers broke the law. However, it’s also clear that the Land Management Office broke the laws of the Constitution. They didn’t have the rancher’s interests at the forefront of their actions but those of the government and whatever plans it has for the land besides those of the Americans that were using it. In other words, and in this case, the governing forces that should have been “of the People, by the People and for the People somehow became “of the government, by the government and for the government.”
We should all understand that those who have fought for our freedom to govern ourselves will always be considered criminals by tyrants who wish to rule us.
The sad little band of supporters that stood with these ranchers is, perhaps the picture of our nation’s resolve at this time in history. It doesn’t bode well for any of us.
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