'Cops' Crew Member Killed by Officers While Show Films Armed Robbery (Omaha)

A staffer on the long-running television crime show Cops was shot and killed Tuesday night, reportedly by gun fire from local police, while videotaping an armed robbery in progress in Omaha, Nebraska, that also left the suspect dead.

According to Deputy Chief David Baker of the Omaha Police Department, the incident took place at a Wendy's restaurant at around 9:20 p.m. CT, in the vicinity of 42nd Street and Dodge.

Initial reports said the TV crew member, later identified by Langley Productions (which produces Cops) as audio technician Bryce Dion — had been critically injured. The news of his death broke Wednesday morning, as first reported by the Omaha World-Herald and local NBC affiliate WOWT. The Omaha PD has declined to name the victims or release any further details pending an afternoon press conference, at which Cops creator John Langley is expected to speak.

More than 30 shots were fired, all by officers, according to law enforcement sources that spoke with the World-Herald and WOWT, implying that Omaha police killed both the suspect and the crew member. No officers were injured.

You've made some excellent points on this thread. As null and void pointed out as well, cops of today take zero personal responsibility for anything.

An example in my hometown; there was a motel that called in a report of a room with several guns in it; the guy hadn't been seen in it for a few days, so the manager went in and saw several weapons on the bed. He called the cops, and they waited for the guy to come back. They should have evacuated the motel, but no, they didn't want to alert the guy, so they endangered everyone in the adjoining rooms with their over-riding zeal to catch the guy, and be big heroes. When the guy came back, he saw the cops hiding behind the corners of the motel, and he bolted for his vehicle.

The cops started shooting at him, and managed to shoot each other. They also shot three rounds into an occupied motel room, narrowly missing a couple and their daughter. They did manage to kill the T.V. The guy got away, state police caught him 20 miles away with a spike strip.

The DA charged him with attempted murder, turns out he never shot one round, but the cops shot 23 rounds at each other and into the occupied motel room. The city honored them as heroes, gave them some sort of commendation and they were indeed called heroes at a city council meeting. The perp is now in prison, one of his charges were attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, even though he never fired one shot. I believe he was also charged with endangering the public, even though it was the cops who damn near killed the family in the adjoining motel room.

I would guess that all of us would prefer to support the cops, since we belong to the part of the world that obeys laws and respects sacrifices. The problem is, cops are less about being protectors of citizens than being a well-armed street gang without any restrictions. I am conditioned to the world of the professional soldier/Marine: we will fight who we are sent to fight, will protect the ally and the noncombatant, we will suffer if we have to, to get the mission completed. We are expected to be selfless and have courage.

Cops, as they are now, are all about posturing and arrests. All about unquestioned obedience to them and unlimited violence if they are not obeyed and spastic gunfire at the least excuse with no penalties even if bystanders, hostages or pet dogs die in the process. Their tactics and procedures are devoted to their survival at all costs.

The "them and us" mentality is very real: a few years ago, I attended a massive police funeral in Los Angeles when a Cousin of mine's husband was killed in the line of duty. The members of the police forces occupied all of the seats during the ceremony while we, some members of the family had to sit on the ground - after all, we weren't police and this was a police event.

Since our "lawmakers" insist on making more and more things illegal, it doesn't take all that long for all of us to be the "lawbreakers" and subject to immediate death. We are less citizens and more perps every single day. The old Stalin-era fears of the footsteps outside the door at night become our reality every day that goes by.

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