Top cop: 'Entire city should be enraged' by officer's slaying

Chicago Breaking NewsCenter online ^ | 7/9/10 | William Lee

[originalbuckeye]

Chicago Supt. Jody Weis said today he "simply cannot understand" how the man charged with gunning down an officer "can have such a total disregard of life."

"The entire department is saddened beyond belief," Weis said hours after Bryant Brewer, 24, was charged. "The entire city should be enraged."

Brewer is accused of grabbing Officer Thor Soderberg's gun and fatally shooting him in the parking lot of a police facility in Englewood Wednesday afternoon. He was shot and wounded by officers and remains at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

"I simply cannot understand how a person can have such a total disregard of life and for those who keep order on our streets that he could attack, disarm and then shoot and kill a uniformed police officer in broad daylight," Weis said at police headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis discusses the murder of Officer Thor Soderberg at a press conference at police headquarters this morning. (Alex Garcia/Tribune)

Weis said Soderberg, 43, was leaving work at the police facility at 61st Street and Racine Avenue to play in a volleyball game. He was an instructor at the police training academy but had been deployed to a special task force aimed at combating youth violence.

"This is the time of the day where officers breathe a sigh of relief. Their tour is over and now they get to be with their families and their friends," Weis said. "However because of the incomprehensible acts of a 24-year-old convicted felon, Officer Soderberg did not make it to that volleyball game. Officer Soderberg was killed by this vicious criminal," Weis said.

The 11-year police veteran was still in uniform in the facility's parking lot when Brewer approached him from behind and reached for the officer's weapon, according to police.

During a struggle, Brewer grabbed Soderberg's handgun and shot the officer, authorities said. Brewer then crossed the street, weapon still in hand, and shot at Richard Mints, a contractor sitting on a nearby porch.

Officers rushed to the scene and shot Brewer during an exchange of gunfire.

Brewer did later "make an admission" to the crime, said Wentworth Area Detective Allen Szudarski.

Weis praised Englewood residents, saying 18 witnesses came forward after the shooting.

Asked about what could be done about security at police parking lots, Weis said police facilities have video surveillance, but added that little could be done to prevent such attacks by people with little regard for human life.

"There's really no level of security you can put up that will prevent a person like that from attacking someone. And unfortunately we lost an officer in this case," he said.

Weis couldn't confirm claims by Brewer's family about the suspect having a history of mental illness. "From everything we've seen so far, we have somebody who was just trying to rob and attack an individual, and that individual had to be a police officer. So I don't know what was going through this guy's head, why he would attack a police officer in broad daylight. That's something, I guess, only he will know," Weis said.

Weis praised the fallen officer, who he said had a passion for teaching police recruits. "He was as good as a police officer can be," Weis said.

A bond hearing for Brewer, of the 5800 block of South Wolcott Avenue, is expected to be held at noon. He is charged with murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

[astyanax]

"Mehserle put away his taser in order to draw is sidearm.."
Watch the video. You're embarrassing yourself.

[bwc2221]

We've let a paranoid nut-job hijack a post about a police officer being killed and turn it into his personal grudge against law enforcement officers.

I am out of here.

[Filo]

He may have had his taser out at one point, but it was several MINUTES before the shooting happened.

Your proof for that timeline is? And, so what? The point is that he knew where his taser was when he took it out and then when he put it back. You expect me to believe that the third time's a charm for making the mistake? And why would he put it away only to take it out again?

There are 2 cops trying to restrain the victim. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy-WSZMklc

They are succeeding in restraining the victim. He is on his belly, partially in cuffs with two cops on his back.

He isn't struggling. They are yanking him around to put the cuffs on him in their typical gentle way, but he is not fighting back.

You are obviously not "a reasonable observer"...

So on the one hand we have me saying that a restrained civilian shouldn't be shot in the back and killed and on the other we have you saying that it's perfectly reasonable for a cop to shoot a guy who is clearly under the control of two other cops and I am the unreasonable one? Really?

[Filo]

Howzabout us Crackers go on a rampage and steal some shoes for retribution?

I'm not really a big fan of riots, but I do need some new shoes... :)

[Filo]

Watch the video. You're embarrassing yourself.

I have watched many of the videos and read the news. That's why I know the facts, at least moreso than you.

I am, however, embarassed - for the boot-lickers.

[ZX12R]

I'm not really a big fan of riots, but I do need some new shoes... :)

How about gun stores? (after hours, of course) I could use a few more guns...and more ammo too.

[Filo]

I’m just saying you’re a moron.
Enough said...

Typical last refuge of those who have nothing on their side.

[Filo]

How about gun stores? (after hours, of course) I could use a few more guns...and more ammo too.

You can never have too many guns or too much ammo.

[Eagles6]

I need size 12, just sayin’.

[astyanax]

"Typical last refuge of those who have nothing on their side."
No, that's the last response of someone who refuses to argue with a person who chooses to ignore facts, visual evidence and common sense because they either have issues with authority or are off their meds.

[Filo]

I need size 12, just sayin’.

Is that a men's size 12 or 12 gauge?

Either way, you'll need to share with me! :)

[Filo]

No, that's the last response of someone who refuses to argue with a person who chooses to ignore facts, visual evidence and common sense because they either have issues with authority or are off their meds.

What facts and evidence have I ignored? None that you can point out, for sure. I can, however, point out what you've ignored.

I don't have issues with legitimate authority and I don't take meds of any kind. I don't even drink.

But for some strange reason I'm considered "odd" because I don't think that the police should be allowed to kill civilians indiscriminately.

Go figure.

[dragnet2]

Ya think the Bart cop intentionally murdered this guy in broad day light in front of all his co-workers and dozens of by-standers?

Pretty much, yeah.

Of course ya do freak boy.

More brainless blather from the boot-lickers.

Wrong freak boy....Read my posting history.

I'm very pro-law enforcement...

HOWEVER....If they screw up, raid the wrong houses, use SWAT when they absolutely shouldn't, kill dogs unnecessarily, and over step their authority, I will be the FIRST to say so.

My posting history regarding law enforcement speaks for itself.... So you can take your unfair BS and bite me.

Once again, whether you like it or not, the Bart cop did not intentionally murder this guy in broad daylight in front of all his co-workers and dozens of by-standers....It was a terrible, bad mistake on the cops part...

Anyone failing to admit that is nothing but a damn liar.

[DesertRhino]

Grant served two state prison terms for various felonies including a conviction for drug dealing. In 2007 he was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for fleeing “from a traffic stop while armed with a loaded pistol”. During that incident, near his Hayward home, San Leandro police shot him with a Taser to subdue him after he threw the pistol into the air and ran. The arresting officers testified that even after being Tased, Grant “continued to resist efforts of the officers to handcuff him”.
Grant was released from prison on September 23, 2008, and according to the attorney for Grant’s family, John Burris, “had been doing well in recent months”.

Johannes Sebastian Mehserle (born circa 1982) was raised in the Bay Area from the age of 4. He graduated in the class of 2000 from New Technology High School in Napa, California. He attended college in Napa, in Monterey, and at Sonoma State University, where he majored in business, and he developed an interest in police work through a friend who was a police officer. He went on to graduate from Napa Valley College Police Academy in 2006, where he placed in the top five of his class academically and placed well physically. Mehserle joined the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police in March 2007. Prior to the shooting, he had never been the subject of a sustained complaint from the agency’s internal affairs department nor had any criminal arrests of any kind.

In a few weeks, i will probably ride BART for the 2nd time in my life. I know which of these two i would rather have in the car with me.

[DesertRhino]

And FYI, it wouldn’t be the sainted jailbird! LOL,,,

[astyanax]

"But for some strange reason I'm considered "odd"..."
That part we agree on.
...because I don't think that the police should be allowed to kill civilians indiscriminately."
Everyone believes that.
You're "considered odd" because you apparently believe that the police DO kill civilians indiscriminately.

[Filo]

Wrong freak boy....Read my posting history.

I'm very pro-law enforcement...

HOWEVER....If they screw up, raid the wrong houses, use SWAT when they absolutely shouldn't, kill dogs unnecessarily, and over step their authority, I will be the FIRST to say so.

My posting history regarding law enforcement speaks for itself.... So you can take your unfair BS and bite me.

I couldn't care less about your posting history or the rest of that crap. You're simply wrong now.

Once again, whether you like it or not, the Bart cop did not intentionally murder this guy in broad daylight in front of all his co-workers and dozens of by-standers....It was a terrible, bad mistake on the cops part...

Once again, read the definition for Murder 2:

"Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion" or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter."

What Mehserle is guilty of is an obvious lack of concern for human life. An attribute he shares with most cops.

He didn't need his gun out. He didn't even need his taser out.

Drawing either proved that disregard.

Anyone failing to admit that is nothing but a damn liar.

How is it possible to lie and be right at the same time?

[Filo]

You're "considered odd" because you apparently believe that the police DO kill civilians indiscriminately.

Because they do. You should read the news more often. Keeping up with current events is a great way to clear away your delusions.