Posted on 07/20/2017 11:21:30 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
The family of an Australian woman shot to death by Minneapolis police has hired an attorney who represented the family of Philando Castile.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The family of an Australian woman shot to death by a Minneapolis police officer has hired an attorney who represented the family of black motorist Philando Castile, who was also slain by a Minnesota police officer. Minneapolis attorney Bob Bennett confirmed Thursday to The Associated Press that he was representing the family of Justine Damond, who died Saturday night shortly after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.
Officer Mohamed Noor shot Damond, a 40-year-old life coach, once through the window of his police vehicle after she approached the car. Noor's partner told state investigators that he had been startled by a loud noise right before the shooting. Noor has declined to be interviewed.
Bennett, who helped Castile's family reach a nearly $3 million settlement with the suburb of St. Anthony, was in a deposition Thursday and not immediately available for an interview.
He told a Minneapolis television state that Damond's family in Australia is in disbelief. "She obviously was not armed, she was not a threat to anyone, nor could she have reasonably been perceived to be," he told ily in Australia is in disbelief. "She obviously was not armed, she was not a threat to anyone, nor could she have reasonably been perceived to be," he told WCCO-TV.
Bennett strongly disputed the suggestion from an attorney for Noor's partner that the two officers might reasonably have feared an ambush. "I think that is ludicrous, that is disinformation," Bennett said. "It doesn't have any basis in fact."
Noor, who has been with the department almost two years, cannot be forced to talk to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He will have to give a statement as part of his department's internal investigation.
According to the state bureau, Noor's partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was driving in the alley with all of the vehicle's lights off when he was startled by a loud noise, which authorities did not describe. Harrity said Damond appeared at the driver's side window "immediately afterward" and Noor fired, striking her in the abdomen. She died at the scene.
When it comes to talking to authorities, defense attorneys and legal experts said police officers have the same constitutional right against self-incrimination as everyone else.
"Any lawyer that would recommend to him that he should give a statement to the BCA should be disbarred," said Joe Friedberg, a Minneapolis defense attorney who's not involved in the case. "Nobody should ever speak to law enforcement when they're the subject of a criminal investigation."
In contrast, Officer Jeronimo Yanez in the nearby suburb of St. Anthony sat down with state agents last summer the day after he shot Castile. Prosecutors used his statement as evidence against him during his manslaughter trial, but the defense used it, too. Jurors apparently accepted Yanez's claims that he saw Castile's gun and believed his life was in danger. Yanez was acquitted.
The Minneapolis Police Department's internal affairs unit can compel Noor to give a statement as part of its investigation, and fire him if he refuses, but that statement cannot be used against him in any criminal investigation, Friedberg said.
Assistant Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said an internal use-of-force investigation has been opened, which is standard whenever an officer discharges a weapon. The police chief has asked that the review be expedited, but much of the information needed is in the hands of state investigators
Police did not respond to questions Wednesday about the internal investigation. Noor's attorney, Thomas Plunkett, has not responded to interview requests from The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, details that have emerged raised new questions about whether proper police procedures were followed.
KSTP-TV, citing a source it did not name, said the two officers thought they were being targeted for an ambush when they heard a pounding noise on the driver's side. Noor had his gun on his lap, the station said.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension did not confirm the KSTP report. Harrity's attorney, Fred Bruno, told the Star Tribune it was "certainly reasonable" for the officers to fear a possible ambush.
Several criminal law professors who spoke to the AP said it would be unusual if Noor had his gun out when officers were checking out a report of a potential assault. But they said he might have been in a heightened state of awareness in light of recent ambushes of police.
Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in suburban St. Louis, said the fear can become a "self-feeding, self-fulfilling prophecy" when law enforcement officers feel they always need to be on guard against people who might be targeting them.
David Klinger, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, said it would make no sense for Noor to have his gun out because it wasn't a "hot call," such as a report of shots fired.
And it's also unusual, but not unheard of, for officers to turn their lights out to make a "dark and silent approach" if they're trying to conceal themselves, said Jens David Ohlin, vice dean of the Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York.
Harrity has been with the Police Department for one year, Noor for roughly two years. When asked about pairing the two newer officers together, Arradondo told reporters Tuesday that both men were "fully trained." Ohlin said it's not necessarily a violation of procedures to pair inexperienced officers with each other, but it makes sense to pair a senior officer with a junior officer.
Transcripts of 911 calls that were made public Wednesday show Damond called dispatchers twice to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.
Damond made her first call at 11:27 p.m., when she said she heard a possible sexual assault. She told the dispatcher she wasn't sure but thought a woman was in distress. She called back eight minutes later when no officers had arrived and told the dispatcher she was worried they had the gone to the wrong address.
Arradondo told reporters that officers searched the area and found no suspects.
Ah, no. I believe Mr. Castile had a gun in his lap (or in his possession) and didn’t follow instructions.
I don’t think this is the right lawyer since the two cases are entirely different.
Bad move. Very bad move.
No, Castile was follwing the officer’s instructions to show his ID.
“Noor had his gun on his lap, the station said.”
Why would a cp have his gun on his lap?
“...was shot five times while cooperating with an officer’s instructions.”
Have you heard the recording from the police car?
If so, then you KNOW that the above statement is wildly inaccurate.
If you haven’t heard the recording you need to - quickly, in order to remedy your ignorance.
“Officer Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was driving in the alley with all of the vehicle’s lights off when he was startled by a loud noise, which authorities did not describe.”
Seems as if the cop panicked.
It reminds me of the time in LA when there was a crazy cop killer on the loose and a bunch of police got so scared they thought women delivering the paper in a truck were the guy and they opened up fire on the truck.
It was pure fear and panic.
But, we won’t know until there is an investigation.
It was not Castile’s fault that the nervous, poorly-trained cop gave him two conflicting instructions.
They would be better served by hiring an old courthouse rat-in-the-barn because rabble-rousing is not and cannot be part of their case.
In both cases the police officer used deadly force in a situation that did not call for it. In both cases a person is dead who should not be dead, killed by a police officer who probably should never have been a police officer. In the Castile case the police officer got of by claiming he feared for his life. I expect the police officer in the Diamond case will use the same defense with the same results.
What rabble are they supposed to be rousing? White middle-aged yuppies?
Castille didn’t help himself by carrying while being too stoned to understand simple commands...
From the dash cam video:
“Sir I do have to tell you I do have a firearm on me”
“Don’t reach for it [then?]”
“don’t pull it out!”
“don’t pull it out!!!!”
Bang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ac7Zblqyk
How would a “reasonable person” have responded to the above directions given by the cop? By the 2nd ‘Don’t’, he should have stopped moving - but he didn’t. Too stoned to think.
The only thing I can remotely think of a reason is that the call came in as a possible rape in progress. Details were not great, and rape can be have a weapon component as it is a forcible act.
I don’t know, been doing the job for twenty years, and the only time I have drawn my weapon in my car is when somebody was walking up to me suddenly from a traffic stop. Even then, I was exiting at the same time and putting said weapon behind my leg or door, ready but not visible.
I simply cannot see how this shooting can be excused or otherwise justified.
Murder, no. Negligent homicide, most definitely.
I once was in a very similar situation to that of Castile. The police mistakenly suspected me of just having broke into a house. When the cop wanted an ID, I like Castile, was trying to cooperate when the cop started to yell at me not to reach for my back pocket, but the innocent, non-combative mind has a hard time switching immediately from the fulfillment of one instruction to another and I completed pulling out my wallet. Thankfully in my case, the officers were well-trained and had a much more stoic demeanor than the officers who shot Castile and Damond or I would not be here either.
Have you seen a drug screen on the victim in this shooting? What if there is pot in her system; will you think the officer probably acted correctly?
From the dash cam video:
“Sir I do have to tell you I do have a firearm on me”
“Don’t reach for it [then?]”
“don’t pull it out!”
“don’t pull it out!!!!”
You forgot that in between the two "Don't pull it out" both Castile and his girl friend told the officer that he wasn't pulling the gun out or going for it in any manner. Yet the officer shot him anyway.
Bang
More like "Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
How would a “reasonable person” have responded to the above directions given by the cop? By the 2nd ‘Don’t’, he should have stopped moving - but he didn’t. Too stoned to think.
I like to think I'm a reasonable person, and if I assure someone twice that I'm not doing what they tell me not to do then I'm going to assume that they are a reasonable person as well and believed me. But then again I don't run into panicky cops very often.
You should watch the Castile dashcam video. The officer appeared (to me anyway) to panic and start blasting. He was telling Castile to get his ID but Castile told him he had a gun and the officer was giving him contradictory orders as to whether he should get it out of his pocket or not. It may not have been murder, but it did not need to happen.
Dollars to donuts, the local authorities are doing ABSOLUTE ZERO investigation and exploration of the possibility of an ISLAMIC JIHAD angle to this murder. Hopefully the attorney hire by the Australian victim’s family will have the good sense to force this investigative path to be explored. Since the attempt to force the authorities to do such investigative steps will almost certainly fail (due the crippling effects of political correctness on the local governmental authorities) the victim’s attorneys should initiate said investigation and discovery on their own initiative. To get the necessary discovery approved/mandated, the attorneys will likely need to QUICKLY initiate a wrongful death lawsuit against both the Islamic cop and the local government and its officials.
It’s sad to see some FReepers themselves so crippled by political correctness that they automatically dismiss even the POSSIBILITY of this being an act of ISLAMIC JIHAD.
Wrong Casttile was not asked for his ID. look up and listen to the dash camera recordings.
Yes he was: Link
No the officer was not telling castile to get his ID.
If you haven’t go back replay it over and over stop action it.
Watch and listen very closely to what was said and times.
You are wrong when saying he asked him for his ID.
Castile might of thought in is drug altered mind that officer was giving him contradictory orders but they are very clear.
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