Video shows park ranger shoot and kill unarmed Carlsbad Caverns visitor

KOB ^ | 06 30 2020 | Chris Ramirez

[yesthatjallen]

CARLSBAD, N.M. - Recently released videos from a body-camera worn by a National Park Ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park reveals the park visitor who he tased, then shot and killed did not provoke the use of force and was unarmed.

Charles “Gage” Lorentz was traveling from his work site in Pecos, Texas on March 21. 2020 intending to head to his family’s home in Southwest Colorado. A report from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Department noted that he detoured at Carlsbad Caverns National Park to meet a friend. The report states National Park Ranger Robert Mitchell stopped him for speeding on a dirt road near the Rattlesnake Springs area of the park.

The lapel video shows Ranger Mitchell ordered Lorentz to spread his feet and move closer to a railing. Lorentz is seen complying with those orders. But when the ranger orders Lorentz to turn around, Lorentz is seen in the video not complying and dancing to nearby music playing from someone’s vehicle. Ranger Mitchell commanded Lorentz to take his hands out of his pockets, and without warning or an announcement that force will be used; Ranger Mitchell deployed his Taser at Lorentz.

The video abruptly ends when the Taser is deployed. Twenty-six seconds of the video is missing, but when the video resumes, the video shows Ranger Mitchell on top of Lorentz. That’s when the ranger shot him twice with his service gun.

SNIP

[bort]

First, we don’t know all the facts of what happened here. What we do know is that the media often distorts these cases to make a police officer look worse and the deceased look better.

Second, I don’t care how fat the police officer is. When you get pulled over, you follow the police officer’s instructions. If you don’t like getting a ticket, you fight it in court. Or, you ask for the officers supervisor to be present. Your attitude is the same as those people who are pulling down statues.

[bort]

I seriously doubt the police altered the video. Body camera equipment is specifically designed so it can’t be altered.

[knarf]

See what a little forensic explanation can do ?

NOTHING is black and white.

Here, STAY WITH THIS ONE 'TIL THE END .. (4 1/2 MINUTES)

[knarf]

here ... 4 1/2 minutes .. happy ending

[knarf]

here ... 4 1/2 minutes .. happy ending

[central_va]

If the little urban cowboy punk had listen to the cop he would be alive now.

[central_va]

Murder? That cop will walk away form this.

[Future Snake Eater]

We had a seven-minute video with Floyd that didn’t come close to telling us the whole story. Now this video with a massive gap in it is supposed to get us outraged? No thanks.

[central_va]

Why can’t white people get along? As soon as that white ranger saw the perp was also white the whole event should have turned into a white tribe bonding moment.

[central_va]

White cops/rangers/deputies need to cut their fellow whites some slack. We need to bond more as a race. Like our esteemed black brothers do.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I never got this place. I wanted to see Carl’s good caverns but they only let us see his bad ones. I guess you have to know somebody.

[faucetman]

I didn’t watch the “partial” video, because it’s “partial”.

I do agree with EVERYTHING you said.

LEO’s NUMBER ONE duty is to go home at the end of each shift ALIVE! EVERYTHING else is secondary.

[rednesss]

That’s complete Barbara Streisand. Their number one job is to follow the law and not make it up on the spot, and oh yeah, don’t be a prick.

[LambSlave]

If you think it’s okay to ignore a LEOs orders and rush him and assault him when he steps toward you, then you and I have nothing to say. You might check out ANTIFA and BLM, more your style.

[Vermont Lt]

It would be interesting to pull every 5th cops video at the end of their shift to see if there are parts “missing.”

Either these cameras are not up to the job, or there is something fishy going on.

I used to work with the guy responsible for all of the cameras at our health system—something like 200 cameras all around campus. If they went down, it was a rare event. They could follow me from my office to any other location in the campus—even out into a remote parking lot 1/2 mile away via the campus shuttle.

I know that is different than the “lapel” cameras in terms of sturdiness and quality—but its “funny” how they stop working when you “need” them.

[Notthereyet]

“You can screw up this country, but there are those who will resist.”
__________________________________________

The camera was working, then not working, then working again *after* he shot the guy.

To overlook that scenario is not being very wise.

It’s a matter of a bit too much coincidence.

Kind of like several weeks ago, when a guy was shot and killed and *oh, snap!* neither cop’s body cams were even turned ON.

So, again, when a cop’s body camera is on, off, on and a death has occurred, I’m going to have an extremely difficult time cutting that cop any slack.

Kind of like with Epstein....no camera, cops dozing off, bunk bed way too low and he ‘killed’ himself? Nope. Not buy that story.

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[AnonymousConservative]

You mean a fight happened, and the camera went off, and then restarted again during the fight? I know what happened. It didn’t go off. It lost a file.

See, I’ve got the “government” (probably not really government) surveillance on me (same as Trump actually, and get ready for an eye opener on that - I know what he is working toward revealing). As a result, for years now I record video myself everywhere I go, so I know all about this. And I have video failures all the time. A card gets jiggled and loses a contact, or a bump in the road jars the battery, and you lose the entire file before it gets finished and indexed, back to when it started recording. I record five to six cams every time I go out, and I can lose a file probably every eight to ten hours of video.

That camera lost its ability to record, probably because the card lost contact due to a shocking blow as the two of them hit the ground, and once it lost the file, it began a new file (they are usually 10 or 20 minutes long, end to end). It had already recorded a minute or two to the card, the camera got jarred in the fight, and the “kind-of-buffered” file was lost because it didn’t get indexed at the conclusion of its ten minute length. The camera, just like mine, immediately began a new file. And you lost some arbitrary amount of time in the middle which would have been recorded over because it was never indexed.

But that is beside the point.

The kid was telling him to get out the real gun, as he refused to follow simple commands. Try fighting, physically when you are 22 and training constantly fighting. It is a full body exercise that is about five to ten times as exhausting as sprinting full speed. You get a weird muscular fatigue of total weakness, unlike anything I have felt anywhere else when you start, until your muscles adapt.

In grappling, we were out hanging out when somebody asked if we struck during practice. My friend said, “You don’t understand - our arms are too tired to hit each other.” It was actually true.

Here you have a guy at 55 or 60, who obviously is not in peak condition from daily practice, with a kid at 25 who works physically in the oil fields, in the middle of nowhere, and the kid wants to scrum, and there are guns involved - and there is a gun in play when a kid crazy enough to want to scrum with a cop may just be crazy enough to kill that cop if he gets the upper hand. I don’t doubt that cop feared for his life.

The kid should have followed commands, and not acted like a psycho high on drugs, and then gotten into a physical fight.

Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

Though I actually like you because you replied.

[knarf]

I DIDN’T SEE THAT ON THE VIDEO .... DID YOU ?

[Notthereyet]

“Though I actually like you because you replied.”
_________________________________________

Thank you, AnonymousConservative, for the time you expended upon that explanation.

While I understood/understand what you explained and the methodology you used, I would still find it extremely suspect. The portion of the clip missing was the one that actually justified the killing. And that’s why it’s so important.

I would be upfront and honest if I were selected for jury duty and advise both sides of my inability to remove from suspect the actions which caused the shooting because of the missing video.

At no time would I want to risk being a dishonest juror. It would be paramount to the defense of the suspect and that would make it a must for me to be honest.

[CedarDave]

This article is from a few days ago; the shooting occurred on March 21 of this year.

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