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LAPD Chief Discusses Investigation Of Corvette Driver Killed By Police
CBSLA.com) ^ | December 16, 2013 7:27 PM | Dave Lopez

Posted on 12/16/2013 9:14:42 PM PST by BenLurkin

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Family members claim LAPD officers did not need to open fire on Brian Beaird, a disabled veteran who was killed in Downtown LA Friday after leading police on a high-speed pursuit.

Police Chief Charlie Beck spoke about the investigation Monday and insisted events that night may have appeared more threatening from an officer’s perspective.

“I reserve judgment. You know, I’ve been doing this a long time and you have to know what’s in the minds of the officers, you have to know what they know,” Beck said. “You have to remember that whatever you’re seeing is not the point of view of the officers; it’s very different to see something from 1,200 feet, from a helicopter, rather than 15 feet away in the dust and the noise.”

Beaird, allegedly drunk, led police on an hour-long pursuit before crashing his silver Corvette into another vehicle and a fire hydrant. The collision occurred near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Los Angeles Street.

He reportedly tried to exit his car and was shot by officers.

A law enforcement source told CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Dave Lopez that when Beaird got out of the car an officer shot him with a bean bag without alerting the other officers. The other officers allegedly heard that and mistook it as a gunshot coming from Beaird, prompting them to open fire. “Right now that kind of stuff is speculation. Now, speculation isn’t always wrong, but I’m not going to confirm any of that, and we’re going to work through this,” Beck said.

“…Does it happen very often that a bean bag is fired and that triggers that,” Lopez said to Beck.

“I’m speaking very generally here: We have absolute protocols to prevent that. Before an officer discharges a bean bag the protocol is for them to loudly state, ‘Bean bag ready. Bean bag ready,’ so that everybody knows that the detonation they hear is not a gunshot,” Beck said.

The big question is whether the first officer yelled “bean bag” before firing.

“We’re pretty angry. It didn’t seem that there was justification for what happened,” said Beaird’s brother John in a phone interview.

He said his brother called during the pursuit and said he couldn’t understand why the police were after him.

Beck says there will be a full investigation: “These things take some amount of time and we work through them very thoroughly.”

In the meantime, the officers involved in the shooting have been reassigned to desk duty.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: alaskawolf; mullandnoid
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To: null and void

I think I counted a dozen Cop Cars right after the Corvette hit the other car.

Imagine if the Corvette driver was one of Obama’s Sons instead of a Creepy Cracka. This would be the above the fold Headline in the NYT.


81 posted on 12/17/2013 12:52:41 AM PST by Kickass Conservative (A Communist is nothing more than an honest Democrat...)
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To: Kickass Conservative
This would be the above the fold Headline in the NYT.

And the rioting would have already begun in Watts. Because the ONLY reason the cops would ever shoot a suspect is RACISM!

82 posted on 12/17/2013 12:59:35 AM PST by TChad (The Obamacare motto: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.)
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To: BenLurkin

This link seems appropriate:

http://youtu.be/QR465HoCWFQ


83 posted on 12/17/2013 4:18:17 AM PST by Panzerfaust
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To: Vince Ferrer
How is this situation different from Rodney King? We had riots and outrage because a man who led police on a chase was beaten by police, and in this case we have them openly assasinating a man who led police on a chase.

This situation is VERY different from Rodney King.

The shot person is a white military veteran. Possibly a registered Republican.

84 posted on 12/17/2013 4:26:17 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: BenLurkin
Before an officer discharges a bean bag the protocol is for them to loudly state, ‘Bean bag ready. Bean bag ready,’ so that everybody knows that the detonation they hear is not a gunshot,” Beck said.

So the bean bag is "detonated" out of the shotgun, but it's NOT shot out?

Maybe it's sent out the end of a giant Blowgun- yeah that's the ticket...

85 posted on 12/17/2013 4:29:33 AM PST by mabarker1 (Please, Somebody Impeach the kenyan!!!!)
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To: BooBoo1000

You left out, “If he had never been born.”


86 posted on 12/17/2013 4:50:55 AM PST by sport
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To: bobby.223
One of that cult’s charter members got the ZOT last month.

Just curious. Who was that?

87 posted on 12/17/2013 4:58:32 AM PST by OldPossum ("It's" is the contraction of "it" and "is"; think about ITS implications.)
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To: BenLurkin

Pack syndrome.

One guy fires and they all think they have to unload.


88 posted on 12/17/2013 5:27:26 AM PST by Venturer (Half Staff the Flag of the US for Terrorists.)
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To: BenLurkin

I watched the video and I didn’t see a high speed chase.

Looked to me like the guy just wouldn’t stop.

Of course the video was kind of limited.

But how many police officers do we need in a pursuit anyway?

Does a pursuit mean that every officer within a hundred miles has to get involved in it?


89 posted on 12/17/2013 5:34:02 AM PST by Venturer (Half Staff the Flag of the US for Terrorists.)
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To: OldPossum

Alaska Wolf, I presume.


90 posted on 12/17/2013 5:50:57 AM PST by sport
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To: TChad

For years blacks complained about being gunned down like this white guy was — and whites had no sympathy for them.

Now that LEOs are shooting whites the way they shot blacks for years — maybe the scales will fall from white eyes.


91 posted on 12/17/2013 6:26:37 AM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Gene Eric
I don’t believe they were mistaken, but I can imagine the other cops reacting impulsively to the sound of the initial gunshot. I suspect this happens frequently.

Thank God us normal citizens don't just open fire indiscriminately when we hear what sounds like a gunshot. Oh, right. We'd go to jail for that. If you're firing a gun at someone doesn't it make a little bit of sense to actually look at what you're firing at? If you see no gun, shouldn't that make you hesitate a little?

 

92 posted on 12/17/2013 6:34:21 AM PST by zeugma (Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
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To: meatloaf

I’m sure there’s a video or an app or something.:-0


93 posted on 12/17/2013 8:12:52 AM PST by Eagles6 (Valley Forge Redux)
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To: null and void

It’s difficult to say at the exact time of the collision, but at about the 21:00 mark, it clearly shows the light red for the vet’s direction of travel.


94 posted on 12/17/2013 8:16:39 AM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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To: CurlyDave

“This may be pre-planned, premeditated murder.”

Or smart police tactics. Let’s not forget that one.


95 posted on 12/17/2013 8:26:43 AM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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To: Venturer

What was most annoying in watching the video were the embellishments by the news people. I did not see what I would expect in a “high speed” chase. I saw possible speeding on the streets, maybe 50 in a 35, 45 in a 25, etc., kind of stuff. But there were moments of red-light running, near misses, enough to injure others to the extent he needed to be shutdown.


96 posted on 12/17/2013 8:36:41 AM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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To: SgtHooper

Yes. As I noted, at 20:55 you can see a green light in the vette’s direction of travel, I also note that you can see the signal turn yellow.

Guess what happens next?

See post #37, re-watch the video, and get back to us, m’kay?


97 posted on 12/17/2013 8:37:01 AM PST by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: SgtHooper

He got shutdown all right.


98 posted on 12/17/2013 8:40:37 AM PST by Venturer (Half Staff the Flag of the US for Terrorists.)
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To: Cyman

The “trap” you are falling into with most of these bloggers is to bring in the crash victim(s). They do not want to consider this in the totality of the circumstances. They want to isolate everything from the final act of shooting the driver. So you will be forever facing that here, as occurred on other threads about this.


99 posted on 12/17/2013 8:40:44 AM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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To: null and void

You are correct.


100 posted on 12/17/2013 8:46:43 AM PST by SgtHooper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.)
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