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Parents sue California deputy who shot boy carrying toy assault rifle
Yahoo News ^ | November 5, 2013 | Ronnie Cohen

Posted on 11/05/2013 7:29:58 AM PST by Uncle Chip

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The parents of a 13-year-old California boy killed last month while carrying a plastic replica of an assault rifle filed a civil rights lawsuit on Monday against the sheriff's deputy who shot him ...

Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, shot Andy Lopez Cruz as the eighth grader was walking near his home in the wine-country town of Santa Rosa carrying an imitation gun he planned to return to a friend, relatives and officials have said.....

On Monday, attorney Arnoldo Casillas filed the federal lawsuit against Gelhaus and Sonoma County in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of the boy's parents. The suit seeks unspecified damages and alleges the deputy violated the teen's civil rights.

"The shooting of Andy Lopez was absolutely and unequivocally unjustified," Casillas told a news conference, saying he hoped the lawsuit would spur a more thorough investigation.

He said he plans to depose Gelhaus and ask him, "What the hell were you thinking? He is 5-foot-4, 140 pounds."....

The boy's parents, Sujay Cruz and Rodrigo Lopez, told reporters on Monday they wanted "an honest investigation."

Their son was wearing a hoodie sweatshirt [and shorts] and walking about a block away from his home when Gelhaus and an unidentified officer he was training spotted the boy carrying what appeared to be an assault rifle, police said.

Gelhaus, a 24-year veteran of the force who served 10 years in the military with a stint in Iraq, ordered the boy to drop the gun.

When the teen turned toward Gelhaus, who was crouched behind the door of the patrol car, said he saw the barrel of the gun rise.

Gelhaus said he fired eight shots, killing the boy in a situation that authorities said developed in seconds....

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: andylopez; banglist; donutwatch; lopez; santarosa; toygun
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To: Uncle Chip

:: the orange tip, if it had one, was cut off ::

Does Gelhaus have timeframe for that “cut-off”?


41 posted on 11/05/2013 8:01:05 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alterations - The acronym explains the science.)
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To: Claud

“You don’t think it’ll be an issue at the trial?”

Perhaps. But, the only argument they’ll be able to make is that’s it’s okay to shoot anyone they see carrying anything that looks like a gun.


42 posted on 11/05/2013 8:02:37 AM PST by raybbr (I weep over my sons' future in this Godforsaken country.)
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To: Claud

Is it illegal to carry a real rifle? What difference does the orange tip make? 10 seconds (or less) for someone to react positively in a situation like this especially a young teenager is stretching things. If the cops had received a report of someone shooting people I would give a little more leeway but that doesn’t seem to be the case.


43 posted on 11/05/2013 8:03:10 AM PST by Starstruck (If my reply offends, you probably don't understand sarcasm or criticism...or do.)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude
Did you read this part of the article:

Casillas said a private autopsy conducted by a former Sonoma County medical examiner showed that the teen could not have raised the gun.

He also said a witness reported he saw the teen walking with the gun moments before the shooting and could tell from his stature and the way he was carrying the gun that Andy was a child carrying a toy.

44 posted on 11/05/2013 8:06:50 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Starstruck

No leeway, because they fall under the same “rules of engagement” that I do. Imagine if I, or any citizen, had encountered this boy and killed him within seconds... I would be in the cell BELOW the prison for the rest of my life. Cops, and sorry to all the Mark Levin fans, have lost their minds thanks to the “go home at all costs” training videos. This is precisely why I could never be involved with law enforcement today, in the collective mind of cops it’s US VERSUS THEM. You can’t convince me otherwise, I deal with them all the time.


45 posted on 11/05/2013 8:11:28 AM PST by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell)
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To: raybbr

That’s certainly a good point. Carrying a weapon isn’t enough to justify deadly force.


46 posted on 11/05/2013 8:11:35 AM PST by Claud
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To: TheDon
Tough profession. One mistake can wipeout your entire career.

I think that's the whole point here. Was this an honest mistake, or a negligent act on the LEO's part. On the face of it (seven shots within seconds of initiating contact, as reported), it doesn't look good from the outside.

47 posted on 11/05/2013 8:12:14 AM PST by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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To: Uncle Chip
Well, its about time for the plaintif's lawyer to sue the Sheriff's union and, specifically, their pension fund.

The hell with suing the city and having taxpayers pay for this murder.

These murders will stop once the union gets hit in the pocketbook. The uLEO's will then police their own.

48 posted on 11/05/2013 8:13:20 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: Starstruck

You’re right. No, it shouldn’t have made a difference. Well, except maybe if the tip WAS still on, because then the cop had clear evidence it was a toy.

But I get what you all are saying and I agree: merely carrying a weapon is not enough for deadly force.


49 posted on 11/05/2013 8:14:35 AM PST by Claud
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To: Uncle Chip

What if it had been real? Can the cop kill him with impunity then? The number one enemy of freedom is often NOT the gungrabbers, it’s the so-called patriots who strain to defend the gun while attacking the person holding the gun. It’s called psychosis.


50 posted on 11/05/2013 8:14:41 AM PST by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell)
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To: Uncle Chip

“Casillas said a private autopsy conducted by a former Sonoma County medical examiner showed that the teen could not have raised the gun.”

Thanks, I hadn’t seen that. I can see where a person would likely turn to face Officer trigger happy and in the process the muzzle starts to point toward the cop. That’s all it takes these days.


51 posted on 11/05/2013 8:14:51 AM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (Things are only going to get worse.)
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To: Tupelo
this sounds to me like a good shoot.

Really?

I can not believe you actually wrote that!
52 posted on 11/05/2013 8:16:53 AM PST by TexanByBirth (Free Republic: where they may agree with the message, but they love to shoot the messenger!)
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To: Starstruck
Is it illegal to carry a real rifle? What difference does the orange tip make?

The orange tip shouldn't make any difference. If cops are being trained to shoot - or not - based solely on orange tips, then something is drastically wrong here.

And what about BB guns? BB guns don't have orange tips. Are kids with BB guns now legitimate shoot-on-sight targets? If so, I had better warn my rural relatives.

I'm guessing the kid in this story heard a commotion behind him. He simply turned around to see who was doing all the yelling. And that was enough to get him shot.

53 posted on 11/05/2013 8:17:56 AM PST by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: Turbo Pig

Career? Right there I think we have identified the problem. The entire legal “system” is a broken collection of corrupt lawyers, politicians, and chiefs of police.


54 posted on 11/05/2013 8:18:21 AM PST by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell)
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To: RightOnTheBorder

Police are civilians.

Army, Navy, and even Air Force are not civilians.

Marines get to not be civilians (though for most of their history they were the Navy’s police force).


55 posted on 11/05/2013 8:18:28 AM PST by donmeaker (The lessons of Weimar will soon be repeated.)
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To: Night Hides Not

They have. And maybe.


56 posted on 11/05/2013 8:20:53 AM PST by absalom01 (You should do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, and you should never wish to do less.)
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To: TheDon

“Tough profession. One mistake can wipeout your entire career.”

I think you would have to classify this as more than “one mistake.” When you kill someone, there is no “going back.” And I hope that the motorist whom Gelhaus reportedly drew on, makes very clear Gelhaus’ mindset.


57 posted on 11/05/2013 8:21:38 AM PST by vette6387
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To: Turbo Pig

Mistake in the sense that I don’t think he intended to kill an unarmed kid. I really can’t see how it was anything other than a very bad judgement call on the LEOs part. There was no way he was following procedure.


58 posted on 11/05/2013 8:23:22 AM PST by TheDon (Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The mistake was to treat an unarmed child as a lethal threat.


59 posted on 11/05/2013 8:26:04 AM PST by TheDon (Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out.)
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To: TheDon
There was no way he was following procedure.

That right there takes it from bad judgment, to negligence. Not making a judgment, just saying that if that is the case.

60 posted on 11/05/2013 8:35:57 AM PST by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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