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No charges against Seattle officer who shot woodcarver
Seattle Times ^ | 02/15/2011

Posted on 02/15/2011 7:50:56 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour

King County prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against Seattle police Officer Ian Birk in the fatal shooting of woodcarver John T. Williams, according to sources familiar with the decision.

Prosecutors have been confronted with a steep legal hurdle in deciding whether to charge Birk with murder or manslaughter. State law shields police officers from criminal prosecution when they claim they used deadly force in self-defense, unless it can be shown they acted with malice and a lack of good faith.

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; ianbirk; ianburke; johntwilliams; kingcounty; seattle
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1 posted on 02/15/2011 7:50:59 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
Always remember children, cops can kill you any time they like.

So be careful out there.

2 posted on 02/15/2011 7:52:57 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." -- Barry Soetoro, June 11, 2008)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

Knock me over with a feather.


3 posted on 02/15/2011 7:55:40 PM PST by rockrr ("I said that I was scared of you!" - pokie the pretend cowboy)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
Williams' knife was found folded in the closed position after the shooting.


See, the shooting was Justified. I believe this Punk Officer was
looking for an excuse to kill someone if only to see what it felt like.

He should be serving life IMO.

4 posted on 02/15/2011 7:58:01 PM PST by MaxMax
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

Wow. I don’t know anyone who thinks this was a good shoot. I’m afraid the you know what is going to hit the fan on this now.


5 posted on 02/15/2011 7:59:47 PM PST by rickomatic
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

This cop needs to be fried. Watch the video. He blatantly murdered that guy.

America is a police state. We have no right to criticize any other nation for their supposed shortcomings in human rights.


6 posted on 02/15/2011 8:03:33 PM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

D*mn! That Patriot Act sure has some unintended consequences.


7 posted on 02/15/2011 8:04:56 PM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They need to be more careful with this or folks will get the message to go down shooting in self-defense.


8 posted on 02/15/2011 8:05:17 PM PST by Paladin2 (Free Parking is what made America Great!)
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To: spodefly

Wasn’t the woodcarver deaf as well? Saw the video on youtube. Frightening.


9 posted on 02/15/2011 8:08:11 PM PST by momtothree
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

Did you believe that there would be?


10 posted on 02/15/2011 8:10:04 PM PST by sport
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
Raw video of shooting.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/video/mediacenterbc3.html?bctid=715145081001

11 posted on 02/15/2011 8:12:47 PM PST by Engineer_Soldier ("Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto." Thomas Jefferson.)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
State law shields police officers from criminal prosecution when they claim they used deadly force in self-defense, unless it can be shown they acted with malice and a lack of good faith.

Animal farm.

12 posted on 02/15/2011 8:14:37 PM PST by Palter (If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it. ~ Mark Twain)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

Disgusting. Total “lack of good faith”. Horrific.

And yet, totally not surprising.


13 posted on 02/15/2011 8:16:35 PM PST by mockingbyrd (We remembered in November.)
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To: Palter

All I heard was “Put the knife down” and 3 seconds later shot dead. If it was a gun, maybe, but a knife???


14 posted on 02/15/2011 8:17:41 PM PST by mewykwistmas ("If the Egyptians are hungry, let them eat ethanol")
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
No one is guaranteed even one more breath.

15 posted on 02/15/2011 8:21:28 PM PST by I see my hands (You can know the young posters by the desperate optimism in their posts.)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
So, the King County prosecutors become accessories after the fact.

Are any of them willing to let this cop spend the night in their own homes?

Here's your problem ~ for those of you who didn't get the picture. This is the part of town where they have all the social services agencies in Seattle. It's not unusual to encounter deaf, blind, lame, or mentally disturbed individuals on the street.

The cops know the routine. They know or should be expected to know the various "regulars" who make their way through the area going to and from meetings with doctors, encounter groups, parole officers, drug rehab clinics, and so on.

Given that environment what we have is a cop jumping out of his car, running after a regular with gun drawn, telling him to drop his knife (which he apparently did) and then just shooting him dead.

I suppose the prosecutors, who also work in that vicinity, can now feel safer ~ or not.

I don't think they thought this through all that well.

Any government employees, or men who own suits, who work in that part of Seattle should seek jobs elsewhere. The government just improved the odds for getting killed if you catch my drift. The locals there are going to drop you first rather than take the risk of your having an otherwise disinterested interest in them.

16 posted on 02/15/2011 8:36:10 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour

The article gives quite a few details.

Definitely a miscarriage of justice, IMHO. I blame the Prosecutor for failing in his duty.


17 posted on 02/15/2011 8:40:12 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: muawiyah
What's amazing is HOW MANY of America's most dangerous street gang were on the scene in just over 60 seconds.

If you were a peasant getting accosted by outlawed thugs, the Bruisers in Blue would be there "presently"...

18 posted on 02/15/2011 8:44:44 PM PST by kiryandil
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To: kiryandil
When I used Google.Earth to do a street by street, door by door, search of the entire area I noticed a LARGE nest of the Blue guys in the middle of this.

This cop had some kind of motive for this ~ and I think a few hours of waterboarding would probably help us discover it.

Now he'll have to volunteer for it, but we'll tie him down anyway. Not taking any risks with this guy ~ he's killed once without provocation, he'll probably try it again.

They always do.

19 posted on 02/15/2011 8:50:50 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: spodefly

Absolutely! That punk looks like a neo-Nazi to boot. WTF was he doing listening to civilian radio while on duty, anyhow?


20 posted on 02/15/2011 8:51:55 PM PST by Frank_2001
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