Posted on 04/07/2023 1:44:35 PM PDT by CedarDave
Farmington police responding to an argument went to the wrong house Wednesday night and shot and killed the homeowner when he came to the door with a gun in his hand.
New Mexico State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said officers “mistakenly” went to the home of 52-year-old Robert Dotson and killed him before shooting at his wife in a neighborhood near the Animas River.
Wilson said Dotson’s wife fired back at police from the doorway and officers shot at her but missed. Wilson added, “Once she realized that the individuals outside the residence were officers, she put the gun down and complied with the officer’s commands.”
Shanice Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Farmington Police Department, said three officers who were “directly involved” have been put on administrative leave.
Gonzales said the call police were initially to be responding to was for a “verbal argument” and nobody was injured or detained in that incident. She did not say how the address mix-up occurred.
By Friday morning the incident had made national news and a Facebook video posted by Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe garnered hundreds of comments from those criticizing the officers, demanding Hebbe’s resignation and talking about what a good man Dotson, a father, was.
In the video Hebbe said it was “a very dark day” for the department.
“What I will tell you, as the chief, is this is an extremely traumatic event and that I am just heartbroken by the circumstances surrounding this,” he said. “Mr. Dotson was not the subject of the call that our officers were responding to and this ending is just unbelievably tragic. I am extremely sorry that we are in this position.”
He added, “There is nothing I can say that will make this better.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
May I suggest: Serving soft ice cream at the local Frosty Freeze?
Regards,
Let’s see how it plays out. Qualified immunity is a pernicious doctrine that should be completely eliminated, and the occasional exception pointed out by you doesn’t mean that it’s dead. I would be happy to be totally wrong on this, but I suspect they’ll walk.
I was speaking generally and did not mean that all police are always exempt. The Kathryn Johnson murder occurred in 2006 but it didn’t set any precedents. The Danziger bridge incident in 2005 didn’t set any precedent and the miscarriage of justice in the George Floyd case didn’t either. The qualified immunity defense has been used countless times dove these incidents and is still alive and well.
This case sounds similar to the 2020 shooting death of Ryan Whitaker in Phoenix. Someone called to report a domestic disturbance in an apartment. Turns out, there was no domestic violence. The man and woman were only playing videogames. But, when the police knocked, the man answered the door while holding a handgun. When he saw they were cops, he immediately started to put the gun down, but the police shot him, anyway. (The video is on YouTube.)
Both cases are sad. These shootings should’ve never happened.
But, why don’t people just look through the peephole to see who’s on the other side of the door? Swinging the door open with a gun in your hand doesn’t seem like a good idea.
This may be why looking through the peep hole is a bad idea:
Better call Saul
If the police can’t see your hands, they assume gun and results are the same. This is reason again not to trust “Law Enforcement donut eaters”. The chances of ending up dead are just too high.
“If the police can’t see your hands, they assume gun and results are the same.”
I have heard instances where going to the door with a gun in hand gets someone shot by police. I have not heard any where someone got shot answering a door because the police couldn’t see their hands. If there’s a knock on my door late at night I’m not opening it anyway. Talk through the door. If they say they’re cops call 911 to confirm then put the gun away.
Okay, okay, don’t look through the peephole. (I forgot about that story.)
Exactly...
.
Don’t open That Door!
My standard response when it comes to the police.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OflGwyWcft8
It is sickening.
Tell that to Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle. Both of them were killed and people who saw this as a bad shoot on FR were drowned out by the boot lickers for days/weeks. Oops. The cops came and killed people in their home for no reason.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3792930/posts
They got Swatted...
Yuppers it’s dangerous out there.
Turns out the cops were just plain dirty and probably stealing money and drugs. Went to the wrong house, guns a blazing, is my guess
No Qualified Immunity in NM Civil Rights Act passed and signed April 7, 2021.
No qualified immunity in New Mexico.
Former Bernalillo County Sheriff, Darren White, is a volunteer working to detect mines in Ukraine:
https://twitter.com/darrenPwhite
A phone or flashlight is enough to get you killed by the donut gang.
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