I'm not sure why I would....but, yes.
Posted on 10/19/2007 7:13:59 PM PDT by elkfersupper
A former ranger at Elephant Butte State Park will spend a year on electronic monitoring for fatally shooting a man who refused to pay his permit fee.
District Attorney Scot Key says that Clyde Woods was sentenced Wednesday in state district court in Truth or Consequences to six years for voluntary manslaughter and given a seventh year for because of a firearm enhancement.
Key says, though, that all but one year was suspended. Woods will spend the remaining year under house arrest with an ankle bracelet and GPS locator.
Woods was charged with shooting Bruce Teschner on the evening of August 23, 2005, at a camp area at Elephant Butte State Park when Teschner refused to pay his camping fee.
No weapons were found on Teschner. Teschner’s family says that he was shot in the back.
In hindsight we know the ranger’s life wasn’t being threatened. We don’t know that the ranger didn’t really think it was at the time. We also don’t know whether back-up was readily available. If you really think someone who’s drunk and belligerent is pulling out a weapon to use on you, calling and waiting for back-up to arrive would be as stupid as leaving your gun in the drawer and just calling 911 when you discover a violent intruder in your house in the middle of the night.
The ranger incorrectly assessed the threat, and I don’t think anyone here thinks he should be a candidate for any future armed law enforcement jobs. But people are talking here like he asked some peaceful citizen for the $14 fee, the citizen said no, and the ranger just pulled out a gun and shot him dead. That’s not what happened, and what the ranger did doesn’t pose a risk to law-abiding, non-substance-abusing citizens — even those who may refuse to pay a fee that everyone else is paying.
I'll remember that when you put it into practice, and end up dead. It takes less time for a guy to pull his gun, turn and fire, than it took me to type that. If you wait until you can actually see his weapon, and it might be a Glock or other dark, non reflective weapon, in the dark, you'll likely end up shot, and maybe dead, maybe only paralyzed.
I think in the case of the politician, it was clear that he had knowingly done something very wrong when he had plenty of time to think about it, and it was reasonably assumed that this wasn’t the first time he’d done it nor the last time he was planning to. In my book, a corrupt politician is a much more serious problem than a too-easily-panicked park ranger who makes one very wrong, but not ill-intentioned split-second decision about how to handle a belligerent drunk.
You are absolutely right, that's not what happened. The brave ranger waited until the unarmed drunk turned and ran before brave dead-eye ranger shot the drunk twice in the back of his neck. Really a credit to the park service!
Bet he won’t forget to pay the fee again.
2 shots in the BACK of the neck is murder any way you try to sugar coat it. Refusing to pay a $14 fee and this ranger took it to the next level and then shot an unarmed man.
I used to have more respect for the police but the way they EXCUSE even the worst and most obvious cases such as this has made me rethink any immediate support I used to give.
Being drunk is also NOT supposed to be death penalty offense either.
If cops are free to judge us, then we are free to judge them. This guy MURDERED an unarmed man. Being drunk and not paying a $14 fee is NOT supposed to be a death penalty offense.
Cops wonder why they don’t get the support they used to! This is why. They will make excuses for anything! I can guarantee you that I would be looking at more than a year in jail if I had pulled the trigger instead of this badge freak.
I think we should have a Reserve note burning video party and upload them en masse to Youtube. Any denomination will do. Play some music while you're doing it. Have a flag in the background. Say a few words about liberty and sovereignty.
Smoke 'em if you've got 'em. Upload title: Reserve Note Tea Party.
Contempt of authority is deadly....when authority is an idiot.
Damn.....
But I bet that anklet chafes. That should more than make up for a lowly citizen’s life.
Get hold of your senses.
The park ranger was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
What are we missing from your comments?
Was he not found guilty?
This should have been a citation over a $14 camping fee and
at most another for public drunkenness. The park ranger should have called for additional help if was dealing with a ‘drunken belligerent’ individual. Instead, ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ resulted in murder.
If the ranger wasn’t trained for these situations like you believe, again, he should have called for real officers and backed off until he could get the situation under control without killing.
Yes, I am going to judge the situation on whether he was wearing a uniform. The uniform means he’s representing the public’s trust. Anyone wearing the uniform is held to a higher standard of trust than us regular citizens. They have authority they can abuse that we don’t.
Shooting him in the back of the neck shows something is wrong here.
Both types of stories are fodder for the people who hate police or want illegal aliens to be given citizenship for their own reasons.
What am I missing?
The Ranger shoots an unarmed man in the back and kills him. He is sentenced to 7 years, but 6 are suspended and he spends 1 year at home being monitored. He must have a fantastic lawyer and very friendly judge.
No he won't. As a felon he will be ineligible to carry a gun, let alone be an occifer.
There should be a difference between a citizen and an Officer .An Officer undergoes training before being issued his firearm , and someone on the job should be held to a higher standard.
I don't know how many times that I've read a post saying that the citizen shouldn't do this or they shouldn't do that when in the presence of Police.
We should just do away with all the Police Academies and start Citizen Academies because today the police can act whichever way they feel like and it's the everyday Joe's who are responsible for their actions
Before the sentencing, clinical psychologist Eric Westfried testified for the defense that Woods poses no threat to the community. He also told the court that a more thorough psychological evaluation before Woods was admitted to the police academy might have found him an unsuitable candidate for law enforcement.
“...Woods poses no threat to the community.”
“...psychological evaluation before Woods was admitted to the police academy might have found him an unsuitable candidate...”
I don’t have a Ph.D. in Psychology, My little Bachelor’s is in Sociology with a Psychology minor. That means I know just enough about psychology to be dangerous. In this case the professional witness shrink states the killer is not a threat, but that he might be unstable. I guess before I can fully understand that I’ll have to go back and work on the Ph.D.
You sound like a first rate nutcase. And, no, I’m not LEO.
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