Posted on 12/13/2016 7:25:23 AM PST by wyowolf
An unarmed grandfather in the early stages of dementia was shot dead by police while he walked around the block near his home. Francisco Serna, 73, was hit nine times by gunfire from police in Bakersfield, California, answering a call about a man with a gun - but no weapon was recovered from the scene. He was stood in his neighbor's driveway at around 12.30am Monday morning when he was gunned down. His family said he took the late-night walks to tire himself out.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Are officers trained to use their eyes? If a cop is told by somebody elese that someone is armed, he is thereby authorized to shoot him on the basis of someone else’s word? If the officer isn’t sure, he ought to find out before shooting.
Nine times. If the man was armed and had gottne a shot off, that would be entirely different.
Are officers trained to use their eyes?
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Of course. It was 12:30am and we have no facts about the lighting, distance involved, or any other factor that could affect visual assessment.
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Nine times. If the man was armed and had gottne a shot off, that would be entirely different.
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Once officers determine that shooting is justified that’s what they’re trained to do.
Who in their right mind would let a dementia patient take midnight strolls without supervision?
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>> “His family must be devastated.” <<
Their lawyers will be “gratified.”
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>> “I’m thinking there’s a lot more to the story than isn’t being reported here.” <<
Like a neighbor who was irritated with the old fart, and called the police and said he was brandishing a gun...
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I’ve speculated he was SWATted as have several others on this thread. Seems to be a likely explanation, they seriously need an in-depth interview with the person who called this in. Other neighbors would likely know if there was some sort of issue between them, too.
Early stages of dementia can mean a fair number of different things. If he was still living on his own, he let himself do it.
The article, if one bothers to read it, says that he was in the habit of taking late night walks to tire himself out. It doesn’t say he was institutionalized, or anywhere close to that.
His living arrangements are still a bit murky. I’ve read articles that said he was living with his wife and a daughter. Another said he was living with a son. Guess it is time to take a chill pill..
It also says the Police had been out there multiple times. The family's version of these calls sound innocent enough, but it is THEIR side.
Alzheimer's patients can become agitated and even violent. A relative of mine took to bitting and scratching family members who were tending to her. I can see that being a more likely reason for the repeated calls then the ones listed by the family. Also, letting this man wander around when it's possible these spells could strike is all kinds of stupid, especially at night.
TKS for the insight...
Good God.
He was stood....
I wouldn't just paint the Police with a broad brush.
But that's just me...........
The training did PRECISELY what it was supposed to do.
NO MORE HESITATION...
Yup.
With NO MORE HESITATION...
How would that affect anything?
The 73 year old was not shot at his address, and the cops had no idea who he was related to.
If you had read my post carefully, you would have seen the words “some police”. Don’t put words in my post, or otherwise twist what I said.
According to the officers side of the story I am seeing that he approached the officers with his hand in his pocket and refused to take his hand out of his pocket. They had no clue he was in early dementia state and all they had was a call or a man with a gun and would have no way of knowing his mental state.
The next question would be what did he do with that hand in the pocket that precipitated the officers firing. Video, audio or third party credible witness would help clarify the event more.
Yes, they did EXACTLY as trained.
The important thing here is they got to go home, that’s all that matters.
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