Gun or not a gun? Too late, you'd already be dead if it was.
Posted on 02/20/2014 6:48:58 AM PST by Uncle Chip
Police in Georgia on Friday served a warrant for a probation violation at the trailer park home of a man and his son, a 17-year-old aspiring Marine. In the process of serving the warrant on the boy's father, an officer fatally shot the teen.
His crime: according to his attorney, he did nothing more than answer the door while holding a controller of a Nintendo Wii.
Police in Euharlee, Georgia - about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta - however, claim that Christopher Roupe pointed a gun at the female officer when he opened the door, which prompted her to fire a live round at the aspiring military man.
No witnesses reported seeing the boy holding any weapons, and authorities won't say whether a weapon was found at the scene.
'It just doesn't add up,' Cole Law, who is representing the Roupe family, told wsbtv.com.
As for the claim that Roupe was holding a gun, Law says he's seen no evidence supporting the officer's claim.
'We don't know where that statement came from. The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand. He heard a knock at the door. He asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest,' Law said.....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Seriously, I’m sure she feels awful about it.
But it’s a matter of training and attitude. “Us vs Them” training and attitude result in innocent “civilians” being killed by law enforcement.
Either will the 17 year old boy.
Exactly. I’m sure there are a lot of drunk drivers that are “never the same” after killing someone, but does that mean they can escape jail for their ‘mistake’?
I agree. But there have been cases of mitigating circumstances and the police in those cases have prevailed.
The point of my comment was one of making the police department own up QUICKLY and OPENLY with haste and not cower behind lawyers and ‘procedure’.
IMO, that so-called female officer should be tried for manslaughter minimum with real jail/prison time as a consequence.
“aspiring Marine”
Is that like aspiring rap artist? Beside, this was a probation raid on a trailer park, so the situation was not as peachy as we’d like to believe.
“What do you expect when cops are practically given a free hand in such situations?”
Her defense will be that she acted in accordance with departmental guidelines and her training. Video training simulations are fairly common and routinely teach cops to act instantly when a threat is perceived.
It seems that the ROE’s for Police are looser than the ROE’s for our troops in Afghanistan. If this officer were a soldier it would be called murder.
Many cops, especially females, are so scared shitless of being shot or otherwise seriously hurt, shooting someone becomes a possibility in practically any civilian encounter.
At least the officer went home safe and sound.
Nothing else matters.
Nothing.
She should but she won’t.
Internal Affairs will say that she “followed procedure” and the DA will decline to prosecute.
Standard rule application: What would happen if I did the exact same thing as this LEO?
Answer: I would be charged with murder. If the victim were a minority and I weren’t, I would be charged with 1st degree murder.
Um, IIRC there is a gun shaped controller used for some ‘shooting’ games. I don’t know if it is a Wii controller, but I know they exist for gamers. Again, we have very poor reporting of the incident. The officer sounds like she is devastated.
If I were in her position, I would be in jail charged with 1st degree murder.
This!
Yes, probably. But there is the recourse for the father to sue the officer and the police department in Civil Court for unlawful taking of the son’s life and to ask for treble punitive damages.
Essentially, with the right lawyer and jury, that police department and the town that supports it would be owned by the father.
I suspect that the innocent act of just opening the door was a threat to this officer.
So the best way to handle it is never open the door if it's a police officer.
Gun or not a gun? Too late, you'd already be dead if it was.
Old men know how to talk, are too weak and decrepit to fight and will walk away after realizing a victory or defeat because in the end ... we got to BE old men by staying alive and not killing each other while young ... why start now ?
You mix high intensity training with sharp and quick reaction times and the unpredictability of frustration (don't even begin to try to tell me sex doesn't matter .. or they're gettin' enough ... )
innocent lives murdered.
The only defense I'd accept for a life sentence is the testimony of what exactly is psychologically done while in the academy and while interning.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America, except within the confines of a trailer park.
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