Ryan Whitaker Shot by Police for having a Gun in Phoenix, AZ – Video

AmmoLand ^ | 13 August, 2020 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

May 21, 2020, at about 10:53 p.m, in Phoenix's Ahwatukee Foothills neighborhood, officers are responding to a noise complaint thinly disguised as a domestic violence incident. The complainant is desperate to get to sleep because he has to get up to go to work. He tells the dispatcher at 10:18 it is a domestic altercation. The exact time of the second call is not given, but the caller says it is a half-hour after the first call.

In the second call, the caller makes clear this is a noise complaint.  He is asked if this is a male and a female in a verbal. From what police have released of the call (includes  graphic video of the shooting) :

Complainant:

Yeah, and its getting really loud and they been doing it for the last hour. I gotta get it to work tomorrow, and I can't get no sleep. 

These guys have been noisy constantly… Every time I come back, these guys are noisier than hell.  Always fighting. 

Dispatcher:

Okay does it sound like it's escalated to anything physical or still just sound verbal?

Complainant:

Oh. It could be physical, I..I could say yeah if that makes anybody hurry up on, get over here any faster.

Dispatcher:

Anything to indicate it might be physical?

Complainant:

I hear slamming of doors and… I don't know. Somebody could be gettin' thrown into a door for all I know. But I hear all kinds of banging.

The police go to the apartment. Officers take up positions on each side of the door, well separated. One officer knocks on the door, and announces “Phoenix police”, in a slightly elevated voice.

[AppyPappy]

You don’t have any windows in your house?

[Robert DeLong]

Look, I said it looked to me that the man was complying. I do not believe it is murder though. A bad shooting perhaps, but to me murder is the intent to kill someone regardless what the person was going to do. I do not have enough information from this video to make that leap. I think the cop is unsuited for the job, but I don't go as far to say he is a murderer. I think he over reacted. I am not going to change my position, so you can drop the BS that I need to man up. For all I know you are just a cop hater. I am sickened whenever a policeman feels compelled to use deadly force, either justifiably or due to a bad decision.

If you think he is guilty beyond the shadow of doubt, then you are certainly entitled to your opinion in my eyes. You should just respect that I do not hold the same opinion because for me there is not enough information to convict him of murder at this point in time. Manslaughter is more like it to me, and he certainly does not need to be a policeman as a profession.

I have no clue why you feel it is necessary for me to view this as you view it. Do you beat your wife when she disagrees with you as well? Or do you just bully her into seeing everything as you see it? Well you can't bully me, sorry. I'm not the least bit intimidated by your tactics.

[gundog]

Not by the front door. People think doors with widows are cool. Burglars just see a way to get their arm in and open your door.

[AppyPappy]

I have multiple windows that I could use to talk to the cops.

Stay away from the door

[gundog]

I suppose I could talk to them from the shower. But that pins me down worse than standing by the front door. I could rearrange the cameras, I suppose. Nothing magical about knocking on my door I don’t have to open it.

[Magnum44]

I’ve looked at the video only about three or four times. I’m going to make a postulation that all parties had no bad intent, but we’re caught up in the moment. As viewed from the second policeman’s cam, he had a gun in his waistband. The problem is it appears as he stepped out and then back that he is reaching for the gun in the waistband For what intent we will never know. But the second policeman view was the individual reaching for the gun.

Again, assuming no ill intent on either parties part, I refer to my post 51.

[Robert DeLong]

I agree. It was a tragedy all the way around. I’m just not prepared to call it a clear case of murder. I just wish it had turned out differently. Police do not know what they are responding to when they get a call for domestic violence. When they see a potential domestic offender answering the door with a gun, they have a split second to assess and react. All involved, and those of us seeing the results, wish a different outcome had been the result. But police have just as much right to defend themselves as does the homeowner. I don’t know how any police training can be done to prevent these situations. Some people just do not see, or even understand, how many policemen/women become the victim in these situations. With all the nonsense going down with the police being the target in these times, bad decisions can and do happen.

[AppyPappy]

You should get windows put in that bathroom

[gundog]

There’s one in there.

[Blue Jays]

"... Well if you don’t answer the door for cops they’ll kick your door in. So that’s not exactly an answer..."

---

Police are not granted permissions to smash down any locked door they encounter based on a phoned-in report.
I could say my neighbors are running a drug cartel and child prostitution ring from their quiet suburban home...even though they're not.
Police cannot then visit and destroy their house while they are on vacation simply because they did not "answer the doorbell" for whatever reason.

[Blue Jays]

"... In any event, I will not willingly walk into a trap or a hornet’s nest, either potentially-deadly scenarios when those outside have the advantage..."

---

Completely concur. The only reason my door gets opened to knocks or doorbell is if expecting visitors.
Even then, I look at my camera or through a window elsewhere in my home before unlocking the door.

[discostu]

Riiiight. Tell that to the cops. One bit of “we heard sounds of a struggle” and boom in they come.

[AppyPappy]

Use that one to talk to the police. Stay away from the door.

[Blue Jays]

"...boom in they come..."

---

You do know people have their homes festooned with interior and exterior security cameras, right?
Smashing the door of someone who is being "swatted" by their crybaby neighbor will not play well when the truth is shown.
It is not as if the 9-1-1 call commenced from a landline within the home. It was from a neighbor who may have ulterior motives.

[gundog]

In this day and age, I might just have them call me.

[discostu]

BWAHAHAHA. The truth?! What the hell does the truth have to do with any of these cases. Right here in the very same jurisdiction the cops shot an unarmed man they were forcing to crawl on the floor in his underwear while he was saying over and over “please don’t kill me”. All caught on their bodycam tapes. ACQUITTED. If you think catching to truth on video is going to get the cop that murdered you put in jail you’re dumb AND dead.

[AppyPappy]

Tell them you have a stomach bug. They are the most contagious thing ever

[Mr. Jeeves]

Police take actions at cheap apartment complexes they would never take in expensive suburbs. Past experience has taught them what kind of people they are likely to be dealing with.

We can wish the world was different, but this kind of “discrimination” will probably never change.

[Blue Jays]

"...BWAHAHAHA..."

---

OK, you can continue to open your door to anyone who knocks or rings the bell. That is your free right as an American.
If someone (who I did not invite) knocks on my door while I am peacefully enjoying the privacy of my home...they are going to be ignored...or I will call 9-1-1 if they continue.
Oh, and that whole kicking-in thing? The huge steel bolts extend in all four directions on my entry doors. It will be quite a project for someone.

[Blue Jays]

It is interesting to note the surviving woman indicates they "had made salsa and were playing video games" prior to her boyfriend being shot and killed by police.

There is not a hair out-of-place on her. No bruises, cuts, scratches, or any evidence of abuse. That "neighbor" who made the 9-1-1 call has culpability.
The caller can even be heard laughing in the 9-1-1 recording about fabricating things to make police respond faster.