Rob, I believe Lavoy was not wanting to die...but he was passionate about his beliefs, as he should be, and he caome out of that car determined to try and either talk sense into the Leos, or (as I have heard) tell them he would only talk to the Sheriff.
But ina situation like this, where the personnel on the ground view you as armed and dangerous, and where your own actions of almost hitting the one officer who stepped out to try and stop you is going to be viewed (like it or not) by thos officers as an immediate beforehand threat to their life, the only recourse in such a situation, particularly when they believe you are armed and dangers (and as I have said, Lavoy was armed...but I do not believe he was dangerous...though the officers could not ascertain that from his immediate actions)...as I say, the only recourse is to get down pron on the ground with arms outstretched.
Had he done that...he would be alive.
It is tragic. Lavoy was a good man. He had eleven kids. He had numerous grandkids. I learned from a friend here in emmett who knows his family thaty he recently had been taking care of foster kids on his ranch in Arizona. He did not need to die. He did not deserve to die. bt he put himself in a positioon by making three decisions, that led to his death.
1) He drove away from the initial stop.
2) He tried to go around the roadblock almost hitting an officer.
3) He came out of the car and acted erratically, and appeared to reach for a gun.
In such circumstances, there was a very high probability that he would be shot.
I do not believe the Law enforcement personnel murdered Lavoy. I do not believe they had “blood in their eyes,”” or were looking forward to taking down and killing some “militia.”
If Lavoy had acted like the three in the first car, the one who got out earlier, and the three in his own car at the final scene...all of whom live...he would not have been killed, and probably not even injured.
it is a sad set of events, and tragic for Lavoy, his family, and friends.
The real culprits here are the people who decided to force this issue. There was no need for it. These people had harmed and threatened no one. Their presence at that remote refuge in Winter, when it is completely closed down, threatened no one. They had been allowed to attend numerous meetings, coming and going.
The wee lulled into this...and I believe falsely promised safe passage, in order for those in charge to end it as they desired...and without regard to the danger to either those people or their own personnel.
That’s okay if there is a critical, dangerous situation which has either already resulted in death and injury to American citizens, or threatens to do so at any time,. But that was not the case here.
So, IMHO, those managers are culpable in this death and should face criminal and hefty civil charges for it...and I believe they will, and most probably the latter.
Had ENOUGH Yet ?