Posted on 10/05/2012 9:48:53 AM PDT by opentalk
A New York police detective shot and killed an unarmed man, whose hands, a witness said, were on the steering wheel of his Honda, after he had been pulled over early Thursday for cutting off two police trucks on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, the authorities said.
...The shooting, which occurred at 5:15 a.m., was the latest in a series of episodes in which police officers fatally shot or wounded civilians.
..A passenger in Mr. Polanco’s car, Diane Deferrari, said in a phone interview Thursday night that just before pulling the car over, officers appeared irate that Mr. Polanco had cut them off. She said that one of the officers — but not Detective Hamdy — stuck up his middle finger and was screaming obscenities from one of the moving police trucks.
“As soon as we stopped — they were rushing the car,” Ms. Deferrari said. “It was like an army.”
She said a group of officers swarmed the car, yelling for the three people in Mr. Polanco’s car to put their hands up. Mr. Polanco, whose hands were still on the steering wheel, had no time to comply, Ms. Deferrari said. At that instant, a shot rang out, and Mr. Polanco gasped for air, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The NYC Keystone Kops claim another victim.
"The detective, Hassan Hamdy, 39, a 14-year veteran assigned to the Emergency Service Unit, fired one bullet through an open window of the car,..."Begs the question, was there something visible on the victims vehicle identifying the victim as an Army reservist which could enflame the muslim detective beyond his civil call to duty?
Did they find out if he had a dog so they could kill it as well?......../s?
Detective Hassan Hamdy? Hmmmm.
This doesn’t sound good for the NYPD...not good at all.
Even one of the union spokesmen said that this shooting may be questionable (apparently, for those who didn’t read the article, the cops in one car felt they had been cut off by the victim’s car, and gave him the finger as they went around him before they stopped him - however, this is the New York Times’ account).
Looking at the other shootings, I think they were all justifiable. But this shooting is probably the one that will give Bloomberg the basis for making the cops go out unarmed as British cops do. Start the body count...
Did he have a dog costume on?
These aren’t the cops you see on “BlueBloods”.
They probably have not had time to get over to the poor guy's house to check for one...
If this is as it seems then nothing short of Conviction of Murder is appropriate here.
Killed for cutting them off? In Queens? Everyone cuts everyone off in Queens.
Sorry, but if this driver’s hands were on the steering wheel he posed no threat. This sounds like a case of ROAD RAGE on the cops’ part. I understand their anger but if the guy PULLED OVER AND HIS HANDS WERE ON THE STEERING WHEEL, SHOOTING HIM DEAD was a bit excessive.
I wonder if the victim was in his reserve uniform?
They will check for his home address then raid a neighbor (80 year old widow). Shoot her and her small toy poodle, Mitzi!
A “bit” excessive? Good grief how about murder!
Have you ever driven in Queens?
The story says the victim was shot in the abdomen. It seems like the cop would have to have been standing pretty close to the victim to do that unless he shot through the door.
Shot from passenger side.
Bet this goes down as accidental discharge.
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