Posted on 12/20/2010 1:56:55 PM PST by driftdiver
The dash cam video picks up just before Officer Birk exits his patrol car. You see a person cross the street from left to right, then John T. Williams is seen crossing and goes out of view. When Officer Birk steps out of his patrol car, his personal radio microphone switches on.
(Excerpt) Read more at king5.com ...
Seattle-Tacoma police are utterly corrupt, morally bankrupt. I use a broad brush because I see something else. Arrogant cocky and protected by their damn union. End unions NOW!
Seattle-Tacoma police are utterly corrupt, morally bankrupt. I use a broad brush because I see something else. Arrogant cocky and protected by their damn union. End unions NOW!
Read my post 34. The shooting has been investigated and this is not the first posting of this incident on FR.
Death for whittling.....
I actively avoid any police.
Bad things happen around them.
If he was shot in the back there is not justification possible. Hopefully this cop will lose his job too many crappy cops out there as it is.
The limit is a 3 1/2 inch blade. The knife in question was 3”. The guy was an Indian who whittled totem poles for change. He had had many petty run-ins with the law, the most serious of which were indecent exposure for peeing on a wall. In some cities, and the number of them is increasing rapidly, if a cop gets called to a location he is authorized to shoot someone, preferably a dog , but a human if there is no dog present. This case is ìn the same vein. The guy had a knife. Knives can be dangerous if used to stab people. He did not respond when yelled at (he was deaf) so he was righteously shot 4 times in the back. The officer will probably be suspended for a few days then given an official commendation for bravery. That is the normal outcome of egregious shootings. It helps encourage other officers to do perform this new concept of their “duties.”
The real problem is that there is no accountability. Every police shooting should be investigated by an impartial agency (ideally not another police agency since you’d have the same brotherhood protecting their own) and tried in a special court that only deals with police/justice misconduct. At least then there would be some fairness in the process, as it is the only thing that a citizen can do (or his family if he is not alive) is sue which typically means the cop doesn’t pay but the city. And since it’s not really their money there is no real incentive to change anything.
Panicked.
Wounded = $5,000,000
Dead = $200,000
Need to know anymore?
I agree about news reports — the so-called reporting is atrocious these days. And it IS always nice to have as accurate AND complete a picture as possible before making judgments.
What grieves me, though, is the way the “machine” (whether the blue “brotherhood,” mis-informed citizens, and/or the inquest process and legal immunities) gears up to protect/defend wayward police officers from reasonable accountability for their actions.
It is totally irrelevant if the victim in the video was a bad guy, drunk, or drugged up. All that matters is whether his actions in this particular instance merited his summary execution in the name of “public safety.” From the video it is pretty apparent the cop was the aggressor, and it would take a lot of imagination to construct a scenario in which the victim, particularly if drunk, could turn from “minding his own business” to trying to murder a cop — especially in such a short time frame, well under 10 seconds, which was mostly used up by the cop pursuing the victim.
I believe the “development” of someone’s negative past/history in these instances tends to make people more comfortable in “writing them off” as a detriment to society who we are probably better off without anyway, and allows justification of inappropriate and/or criminal police actions. And that is a very sad statement about the “state of mind” of many in our society.
Hmmm.....Better question would be why did the cop exit his vehicle with weapon in hand, and chase down someone that was not robbing, attacking or threatening anyone?
Three rules my grandmother preached.
Lose.
“Lose.”
Man! I hate when I’m busted by the grammar police! Arrrrgh! ;)
I noticed in the video that the later arrivals all pulled their guns out as they arrived after the man was already dead on the sidewalk.
Fair enough.
So when a cop inappropriately draws his gun and inappropriately empties it, his sentence for criminal activity, particularly under color of authority, should be accordingly harsh.
Lock him up and throw away the key (for many years).
In for a penny, in for a pound.
He had probably been on the force for several years and had not had an opportunity to shoot anyone yet./s
“A dead perp’s family settles for a lot less than a quadrapalegic perp rolled in front of a jury in a wheel chair. “
That opens my eyes, I can definitely see why cops would be trained to kill the perp. Reduces the liability to the city AND there is one less witness to contest the “official” version of what happened. I guess it’s time to buy a bullet proof vest since one never knows when a cop might go postal on you.
Icing on the cake would be if the guy shot was collecting social security checks, welfare, food stamps, public housing, medical assistance, etc....
It’s illegal to purchase a bulletproof vest.
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