Officer in Costco shooting says man raised gun, didn’t know it was in holster

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 23 Sept 2010 | Cara McCoy, Dave Toplikar

[Mr Rogers]

This comes from a Vegas paper, so I'll summarize:

Day 1 of the inquest into the police shooting of Eric Scott at a Las Vegas Costco emphasized the large amount of prescription painkillers found in his body. The assistant DA suggested Scott was suicidal.

Day 2 apparently spent a bunch of time explaining why there will be no video...basically, the machines weren't working, sorry.

Then the cop who was closest to Scott testified. In his testimony, he says the gun found by investigators was in its holster, and that he didn't realize the gun was in its holster when he shot Scott. That info comes about 2/3 of the way into the article:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/23/officer-deadly-shooting-says-man-pointed-gun-didnt/

[kiryandil]

one even had the audacity of mocking an officer (and a friend of mine) who was died in the line of duty because the shooter was an ex-reserve officer ...

You had the audacity to drag out your friend's body on this thread AND another thread about the pastor getting murdered by a plainsclothes cop as an "example" of "dangerous civilians".

An anecdote about a cop shooting another cop has NOTHING to do with "dangerous civilian peasants", and hiding behind the anecdote while cheerleading for the war on civilians is disgusting, for you AND your friend's memory.

[SnakeDoctor]

>> It’s not the rudeness. It’s calling names and stereotyping posters because they disagree with you.

I don’t see you fighting that battle with your own anti-cop brethren — the origin of the VAST majority of rudeness, namecalling, stereotyping, etc. So, that’s not it either. Again ... suck it up.

I’ve read enough. I just don’t respect you or your anti-cop ilk enough to justify myself to you.

SnakeDoc

[SnakeDoctor]

Piss off.

SnakeDoc

[kiryandil]

You don’t like me very much, do you?

[DJ MacWoW]

I don’t see you fighting that battle with your own anti-cop brethren

I have a cop in the family. Other posters have said the same. And you insist on making the same baseless statement. That stupidity is what I'm talking about. The officers in the families agree with us. Are the cops anti-cop too?

I’ve read enough.

that's been proven incorrect.

I just don’t respect you or your anti-cop ilk

I'll be sure to tell Mark, the police chief, that you think he's anti-cop. He'll laugh.

[SnakeDoctor]

I think you’re anti-cop. I’ve not heard of Mark.

SnakeDoc

[SnakeDoctor]

What’s not to like?

SnakeDoc

[DJ MacWoW]

Mark is a family member that is a police chief. He's quitting though. He took over from his best friend who committed suicide. It's not easy being a cop.

One of Marks first duties was capturing a father that kidnapped one of his kids from the school. Mark found them. The father had shot his son and then himself. And he found them. Do you know how hard that is? And Mark is an honest cop. Do you understand how Sergeant Sugar Cookie in Vegas makes it difficult for cops like Mark? Corrupt police forces always make it hard for the honest guys. Always. Mark has been a cop for 16 years. He has never shot anyone. Sergeant Sugar Cookie has shot 3 people, killing 2, since 2006. Can you see the difference?

[kiryandil]

I think what's especially insulting about this guy is that if you don't toe the Polizei, Polizei, Uber Alles! line that he spouts, you're suddenly a "Mumia lover".

The big reason I jumped him on this thread was because I was reading another thread a while ago where a SWAT team got out of control with the "civilian-peasants", and he was running the same line of garbage.

[DJ MacWoW]

There are those that can’t see any wrong doing on the part of police. I take each story as it comes, judging on the info given. I defended the cop in Oakland. I honestly believe that he thought he had his taser. But this Vegas crew are dangerous and out of control.

[kiryandil]

It's not easy being a cop.

No, it's not. My brother-in-law is a retired sheriff's deputy. He gets a small, well-deserved pension.

Guys like the Stay-Puft DonutRoidRageBoy are a living slur on the careers of guys like my brother-in-law.

[DJ MacWoW]

are a living slur on the careers of guys like my brother-in-law.

They are. And someone has to rein them in.

[kiryandil]

But this Vegas crew are dangerous and out of control.

I listened to the unclear taping of Erik's murder. The audio showed 3-4 seconds between the time DonutRageBoy & his fellow perps starting to shout conflicting commands, and the first shot of the execution.

[SnakeDoctor]

>> The father had shot his son and then himself. And he found them. Do you know how hard that is?

I’ve not experienced it myself ... but have heard stories of answering teen-shotgun-suicide calls from my sheriff brother-in-law.

No doubt corruption makes it hard for honest cops. So do activists that second-guess every split-second decision and force cops to fear for their lives and livelihoods every day.

That’s the “anti-cop” part. Too many good cops get torn apart by the likes of Henry Louis Gates for simply doing their job.

In this case, I don’t see corruption. I see a cop that made a split-second call that was justified under the circumstances. It may have been a mistake (it may not have been) ... but, to my mind, it was a justifiable one.

SnakeDoc

[DJ MacWoW]

but, to my mind, it was a justifiable one.

I understand that. But I have talked with Nevada Freepers and ones in Vegas. The killing of Scott is "just another one" but this one has a famous father, or no one would hear about it. They have said that there are a lot of killings by cop in Vegas and nothing ever comes of it. Even when the people are unarmed. I find that frightening. And there are witnesses that disagree with the scenario being told.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Gates was a race card play that the officer got caught up in. That officer was right. And Gates should have been jailed.

[kiryandil]

You see, you're wasting your fire on Free Republic conservatives. The REAL cop-haters are those outside, who believe that Sergeant Jim Crowley was somehow wrong for doing his (already difficult) job when it came to this Leftard Gates person. Of course, the Leftard-In-Chief also had to get into the act and run his stupid academia-trained mouth about "the evil cops". Sgt Crowley did a GREAT job, despite the interference from the cop-haters.

My concern as a Constitutionalist Freeper is that the police forces are being misused by those in power, and a "us-versus-them" mentality is being encouraged by these powerful lefties (both Democrat & RINO). Coupled with an explosion in police numbers (perceived as "necessary" by the misguided law & order crowd) and an explosion in laws on the books, these tendencies threaten our Rights as free individuals.

A quick example: I was reading about the corrections budgets of the various states, and it seems that Michigan, the state with the largest corrections budget, spends 20% of its state budget on corrections. The next closest states spend 10% or less.

Is Michigan some sort of crime-run-rampant enclave? No. The people of Michigan have apparently been convinced that they need "protection" from crime, and the State of Michigan crime factory is running overtime to satisfy that "need".

If I lived in Michigan, I would run far, far away from that place, because you are apparently not safe from the "law" bureaucracy. The Michigan lawdogs are not responsible for the problem - they're just doing their job. But they're also susceptible to the statist propaganda.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

I lived in Vegas for many years before moving to “my state”. Stripping is not holding to the higher moral ground. Officers should be respectable, held to a higher standard, as should any civil servant, teacher etc. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean one should participate in it. Great their mortgage is paid off but at what true cost?

[OneWingedShark]

>>The ‘rub’ is that for so long they’ve been held to a *LESSER* standard than that they impose on others.
>
>...says the man who’s never worn a badge.
>
>Pfffft.

I may have never worn a badge, but I’ve certainly been authorized the use of deadly force: I was enlisted for 9 years.
If something similar had happened stateside [say a hunter getting lost and wandering onto a sensitive area] and the officers involved were military I *seriously* doubt the situations {regarding the investigation/prosecution} would be comparable.

[OneWingedShark]

Still not relevant. A cop can’t be expected to identify holster-related trigger-access and the safety was engaged in the split second between being drawn on and being fired at.

Really? This is [apparently] a 'gun rug':

I was unfamiliar with the term "gun rug" before this thread, but I do have one of these "zippered holsters" as it was referred to in earlier threads. I think it important to note that you cannot access/operate the trigger while it is closed; the material is too thick/resistive and most of any applied force would be perpendicular to the trigger. This is something that *any* jury should be able to see and consider.

[OneWingedShark]

No, they apparently wanted him to disarm, and then shot him for complying. [/sarc]

{When conflicting orders are given the word “apparently” should *NOT* be used.

ap-par-ent -–adjective
1. readily seen; exposed to sight; open to view; visible: The crack in the wall was readily apparent.
2. capable of being easily perceived or understood; plain or clear; obvious: The solution to the problem was apparent to all.
3. according to appearances, initial evidence, incomplete results, etc.; ostensible rather than actual: He was the apparent winner of the election.
4. entitled to a right of inheritance by birth, indefeasible except by one’s death before that of the ancestor, to an inherited throne, title, or other estate.
}