Posted on 09/07/2009 10:01:25 AM PDT by marktwain
Developing story in Georgia, where church pastor Jonathan Ayers was shot and killed by undercover narcotics officers during a botched drug sting on Tuesday afternoon. Ayers was not the target of the investigation.
Police were apparently after a woman Ayers had dropped off just prior to stopping at the convenience store where police confronted him. Surveillance video shows a black SUV pulling up to the store, and plain-clothes officers jumping out with their guns drawn before the vehicle has stopped. Ayers' car then backs into the picture, and the officers fire into his car as he drives off. Ayers was shot in the liver, crashed his car a short distance later, and died at the hospital from the bullet wound.
A police spokesperson says the officers identified themselves as they got out of the truck, though even if they did, it isn't difficult to see how someone in Ayers' position might panic when confronted with armed, plain-clothes men who'd just jumped from a black SUV. He had also just returned from getting money from the store's ATM. There were no drugs in Ayers' car.
Ayers leaves behind a wife who is four months pregnant.
According to the video this looks very bad for the cops, they screwed up big time and killed a innocent man.
Are these the same cops who won’t engage in high-speed pursuit over concern for the safety of the “general public?” I thought so....
hh
This is beginning to get considerable ink, and rightly so.
Just watched the surveillance video on Youtube. It’s not the clearest video, but it looks like Ayers did not attempt to hit the officers with his car. It looks like he was shot because he didn’t obey the officer and stop. It’s likely that this was a clear case of excessive use of force by police. They could have just jumped in their SUV and pulled the guy over later with their lights. If they didn’t have lights on the SUV, they could have just followed him until he went home and then talked to him. There was no need to shoot this man. This was a trigger-happy cop who used excessive force, by all appearances. I hope this gets a fair investigation and the cop is prosecuted if he committed manslaughter in this case. I know it’s not easy being a policeman and these people are very courageous, but if you can’t handle some threat to yourself without shooting then you shouldn’t be a police officer.
In this day and age, I would interpret someone shouting "Police. Stop" as a plea for the guy in the uniform to cease whatever extra-legal activity he is engaged in.
I hope those cops stand in good stead with the Lord. I wouldn't want to be standing in their shoes when they finally get to face HIM.
Yeah, when I watched the video I can’t see any reason whatsoever why the cops didn’t just jump in their SUV and follow the man home to question him. They had no reason to shoot him. I would bet that the training these police officers received was sub-standard and they weren’t properly trained in how to handle this kind of situation. They had no reason to use deadly force in this incident.
no he wasn't shot by an undercover. it's a small point, but about on-par with idiot journalists who say 'assault rifle' when it's not an assault rifle.
Good enough place to bump this thread and to pray for the family of the victim. Oh, and... uhh... I suppose I should also pray for the cops who shot an innocent man fleeing.
There, fixed it. You agree?
does the article say why the cops were after this woman and what business the pastor had with the woman?
As a side note... is it just me, or are local law enforcement officers starting to turn up the oppression meter lately?
Why can't they just enforce the laws when people break them, instead of always going on snipe hunts. And most importantly, just leave us alone.
I would be willing to pray that they get ample opportunity to repent in this life and the next...
After forgiveness comes penance. Let these sad SOBs spend the rest of their life and their personal incomes providing for every conceivable need for this poor man's wife and unborn child.
Note that I said personal incomes, since as a taxpayer I didn't order or condone their actions and should not have to pay for their consequences. There were enough of them involved to provide quite comfortably for this man's wife and child. There isn't any room on this one for "oops, we're sorry" or "we were acting in good faith". This is straight out murder. Lock 'em up and bankrupt 'em.
I wont bother reading any replies or the rest of the article before saying that these thugs need to be charged, convicted and hanged by the neck till dead...period...
Horrible.
There is no way I’d recognise what was being yelled at me in such a situation. Unknown men piling out of a car and screaming as they point guns at me from behind? I’d drive off in hope that the thugs would instead rob/kidnap whoever was left at the store. Self-defensive, not criminal - apparently meriting being shot in the back by a bunch of cowards.
You watch as they investigate themselves. They’ll still be found “in fear for their lives and had to defend themselves.” I can’t watch the videotape (dialup) but all the same I’ll bet the cops are cleared as “heros doing a dangerous job” who were “in a critical, fast-flowing situation.”
Not even for a second. Same with no-knock warrants. I would reasonably presume that in either situation they were armed thugs with the foulest of intentions in mind.
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