Posted on 07/30/2007 11:08:32 AM PDT by Abathar
GARY, Ind. -- A teenager shot to death by an officer as he fled a burglary scene may have tried to pull up his sagging pants, causing the officer to mistake the movement for a reach for a weapon, according to newly filed court documents.
In a motion to dismiss a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Vincent Smith Jr.'s father, the city of Gary suggests the 16-year-old was shot as he was reaching down to hoist up his drooping pants and sprint away from Officer Levi Randolph.
"Police officers have to make a lot of split-second decisions," said city attorney Donald Levinson. "The law does not say you have to wait until someone shoots at you (to act)."
The city's motion includes photographs of Smith's body, his underwear clearly riding above his jean's sagging waist, laying in the alley behind a house he was apparently burglarizing.
Randolph, who was indicted in March for the Jan. 15 shooting, faces up to eight years in prison if convicted in the killing.
The officer claims he thought Smith was reaching to pull a gun as the teen walked out the back door of the house. Randolph said he fired at Smith but missed when the teen reached toward his pants before sprinting through the backyard.
Randolph said that after Smith scaled an 8-foot fence and dropped to the ground, he turned toward the pursuing officer and again reached into his pants. Randolph fired again and struck Smith behind the left ear, killing him instantly.
In both cases, Levinson suggests in his filing that Smith was gathering up his sagging pants in anticipation of sprinting away.
Low-hanging pants that wearers must frequently hoist have become a hip-hop fashion statement popularized by rappers. Sagging pants are said to have their roots in prison culture, where inmates were often issued ill-fitting pants and belts were banned.
Douglas Hobson, an attorney for Vincent Smith Sr., said police training should better prepare officers to make split-second judgments to prevent shooting suspects who pose no threat.
"You've got to know there is a gun or something that is going to hurt someone. If these kinds of excuses justify something like that, then we've got a long way to go," he said.
Now that's "Keepin' It Real."
Can you imagine the results? Kid get's shot for RWM (Running While Moron), riots nobody would call riots where no deadly force was used on looters, they burned their own businesses out of their own neighborhood, free TV's for all, whining about the "cops shooting our babies", several "civilian oversight commissions" put in place by the InJustice Department to make the Rhyming Reverands happy, cops cut back on pre-empting crime and just start showing up when called because they are afraid of getting sued, the [black male] homicide rate goes from 10 in a year to 50, druglords move in because they know the cops are hamstrung by whining civil rights nannies, and a bunch of national chain stores moved out of the neighborhood, including food stores. Hey guys, looks like those free TV's were pretty expensive, eh?
As far as the GJ goes this was a police officer killing what I ASSUME was a black man in a 90%+ black neighborhood. Just TRY being acquitted under those circumstances...
In the 1960s and 1970s we were given the “Handsome Blackman”, a serious attempt to posture blacks as civilized gentlemen; an effort I applaud even if it did make a slight mockery of itself as players.
Today, we have the look of the little black boy who doesn’t even know how to dress himself.
What a difference in a generation.
He was shot dead in the street
his trousers down around his feet
He hemmed and hawed, his pants he pawed
but he couldnt run before the cop drawed
He lies on his face now, butt to the sky
cursin the fact he didnt wear button fly.
Mr. Baggy Pants is dead.
"
ROTFLMAO!!!
I’m just going by what was written as the cop’s story of how it happened.
The perp had been shot at once. Cop missed. Perp ran and jumped a fence, got up and faced the cop and was shot behind the ear.
It sounds more plausible that the perp was running away for the 2nd time after jumping the fence when he was shot.
LOL. I’d love to see that. I mean, I share your deep felt sadness over the pain of this young man.
Backwards ballcaps, another sign of stupidity that crosses all race lines.
I’ve heard it orginated from having one’s belt confiscated in jail.
“there were still fathers in the house for the kids to embarrass on the street, so they wouldnt allow them to dress like dumb-asses.”
No doubt.
When running from the police, the first thing that some hip-hop thug does is reach down to pull up his rodeo clown shorts. The second thing they do is go tumbling down to the asphalt after getting hit by .40 cal police bullets.
Then give them their belt back. It improves fashion and reduces recidivism by lowering the prison population.
Problem solved.
Staff! I’ m three years from retirement.
Spare the rod and spoil the child.
And huge chains. Ironic that some blacks like huge chains considering the relevance to slavery.
I saw a white kid about 12 years old in a store with a bunch of chains around his neck. He was upsetting his mother who snapped, “Don’t you sass me child or I’ll be whipping you with that jewelry!” I answered to her laughing so hard I didn’t think I’d be able to spit it out, “Please do, lady. Here, I’ll give you $20 to do that! Just let me get out my camera for this. I’ll win 10 grand on America Funniest Home Videos!” She laughed, too, then preceded to start kicking her son in the butt with her foot, scooting him out of the store while yollering, Dont you embarrass me that way again. Im gunna whip you like
I can see that, especially with the "honor" associated with incarceration. Go figure.
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