Cops shoot unarmed man in the head

YouTube ^ | 5 January, 2009 | KTVU News

[LuxMaker]

Youtube video in link.

[org.whodat]

Either he’s a complete idiot

This one makes the other possible!!!

[glaseatr]

BART PD isn’t the same as OPD, for sure, but I heard that in Oakland recruiting standards are such that documentation showing former membership in a street gang is NOT grounds for precluding an OPD candidate from employment there:

You can be an ex-gang member, but later go on to become a cop in Oakland, I heard.
You heard correct, as you go through the process they will tell you that being a former gang banger will not automatically disqualify you. They say this because it can't.

What they don't say is that during your background investigation if anything comes up that is a gang related crime you will fail your background and will no longer be considered for a position within the department.

That poor Bart cop is sooooo toast. I have to think after watching the video, over and over again that he went to pull his teaser due to the constant struggle and grabbed the sidearm instead.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

The guy was cuffed, wasn’t he? Is it standard practice to taser an already restrained suspect?

Secondly, California has more police agencies than you can imagine... Change they voted for...

California is a police state with more and more gun control laws.

Public transportation that is hemorraging millions every year? Higher and higher taxes?

I don’t think there should be a BART system or BART police or gun laws. These public employee unions are a nightmare, the cops and courts are becoming very corrupt and guess who they give money to for election?

[papertyger]

The user wouldn’t identify it by the color. That crap only flies if the tazer has the same weight and sights as the duty weapon.

[Leisler]

Fashion.

Seriously.

Personally, I’m a slob, but fashion rules. I can remember being in the 82nd. We spent more time on our uniform and appearance than anything else. Truly.

I thought it was a little gay, frankly. But it was just easy for the command structure, which by and large was rairly stimulating or challenging in any military sense.

The practically benefits of an bright, primary color Taser would clash with the elite notions of the officers.

[cacoethes_resipisco]

> If you can’t do the work, you shouldn’t be carrying a badge.

I entirely agree. At the very least, if that was the mistake, he should be fired.

> There is no excuse for this....

The fact that it has happened before indicates it will happen again and that the current protocols for taser use are not sufficient to prevent it. That is not an excuse. It’s an observation.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

The same unreal notions of state perfection that we see in radical environmentalism,

You mean BART, despite losing millions more every year isn't helping the environment??? Who would have thought?

[Sir_Ed]

The penalty for shooting an unarmed gangster should be a box of ammo?

So I take it that under your auspices cops should just go into ghettos across America and start randomly shooting people that are black and dress funny?

You’d have made a great Chekist under Beria in the NKVD. You’d have liquidated lots of enemies of the state...thank God you have no authority in a free country, with laws and justice.

Ed

[papertyger]

and when they get them they may have a tendency to mistake their gun for thier Taser

Absolutely and completely unacceptable!

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Seeing how under stress one could reach for a Taser...

Right handed or left handed?

[org.whodat]

as apparently happened in this case.

That is some really wet green BS!!!

[Leisler]

Well, if the officer, and others have shot people, thinking it was a Taser, then the ‘feel back’ isn’t strong enough to single back through the mistaken notion.

In other words, the difference isn’t strong enough to be ‘felt’ under stress, when in fact it is going to be used under stress.

[LuxMaker]

Bart Boxcars.

[papertyger]

Why would he direct his taser directly at the head?

Because he was trying to use it to put a bullet in the victim's brain...

[misanthrope]

Happens all the time.

[B-Chan]

I can’t tell if those cops were “protecting” or “serving”.

Either way, it sure looks like a murder to me.

[Crim]

“The leading theory in the Bay Area news reports is that the cop thought he was grabbing for his taser but somehow came up with his pistol. This is reinforced by the surprised reaction of the cop who did the shooting”

Same thing I thought when I watched it...

As to the reaction of the other cops holding the kid down...he was clearly going “WTF!?!”

[DocH]

Bet the newbie cop THOUGHT he was deploying his pistol shaped (THAT makes sense!) Taser (don't tase me bro!).

Oh well.

[navyblue]

You can be an ex-gang member, but later go on to become a cop in Oakland, I heard.

Big deal! In Los Angeles, you can be an ex gang member and go on to be the Mayor, Like Tony Villar.

[Leisler]

Under stress and adrenaline, weight difference is inconsequential.

The thing is AN officer( maybe not this one ) who is stressed, THINKS he has a Taser, which as I understand is MORE difficult to discharge. YET, the officer has a handgun, and it easily and accidental discharges. Only then does the officer see that the pistol like, pistol colored is in fact a pistol.

Changing the color to a radical color is a last ditch. With training the officer who is going to pull and trigger the a ‘weapon’ will have the visual signal of the color.

Mind you, visual signals are way stronger, especially under stress and bad conditions. This is why they are used.