Posted on 10/26/2013 1:04:01 AM PDT by moonshinner_09
Cops took no more than 10 seconds to fire six or seven shots into the body of dying teenager Andy Lopez after seeing him with a toy pellet gun. Mr Lopez was spotted by deputies on Tuesday afternoon in Santa Rosa, California, carrying the toy rifle, which they mistakenly thought was a real assault weapon. The time that elapsed between when officers reported the sighting to dispatch and then reported shots fired was only 10 seconds. Hundreds of local residents marched on Wednesday night to remember the popular teen and protest at the senseless shooting. They chanted 'We need justice' as they questioned how the deputies could mistake a pellet gun for an assault rifle.According to a police statement, Lopez was twice instructed to put down his weapon, officers opened fire after he failed to comply - only 10 seconds later. Sixteen seconds later, the cops radioed for medical assistance. Ethan Oliver, who lives across the street, told KTVU.com that the deputies continued to shoot at the boy, even after he had fallen to the ground. Oliver said he went outside after hearing two gun shots and by that time Lopez was already on the ground. ‘Then the cops went at it again and unloaded like six to seven shots,’ he said.When asked if he meant that the deputy shot Lopez while he was on the ground, Oliver said, ‘Yeah. Exactly what I saw.’ Authorities haven't responded to his claims, but it raises the possibility that Lopez was still alive when he hit the ground after the first two shots were fired.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
We don't know yet if that is the case -- we will have to wait for the ME report and the ballistics report -- but if it is then it is disturbing.
So then according to the police only one deputy feared for his life and only one deputy fired.
I don't understand the FBI involvement here -- this shouldn't be that hard to investigate.
Militarization of LEO and demonizing gun owners
Will have to bevfealt with one day with politics by other means
They will reap the windfall they fear
Are there patrol cars in a department this size that are not equipped with dashcams?
I can't understand why the news organizations investigating this have not asked about a video.
Am I just looking in the wrong places, or is there ZERO media outcry about this? Perhaps they’ve decided that the kid was a “White Hispanic” and deserved it.
How the hell did you get that from what I wrote?
If a cop points a gun at you, he’d damn well better have a very good reason for doing so, otherwise you’re justified in terminating an unwarranted deadly threat.
If he did so, and the situation ends, then you have no reason to harm him later.
My word, some of you have no comprehension of the justified use of deadly force.
It looks like a gun, fires projectiles like a gun, is regulated like a gun, and was the only object in the teenager's hand when the police approached him.
What the command 'drop the gun' meant in this instance is prima facie obvious and not really open to the type of insipid semantic interpretation you're attempting.
According to witnesses the teenager was carrying the gun in his left hand as he walked along the right side of the road. This would make it visible to passersby and to the police. If the command given to the teen was 'drop the gun' and rather than comply with that order the teenager turned to his right and brought the gun around with him the police would have less than a second to decide whether to shoot.
-btw If you'd like to see what happens when someone does decide to shoot at police with an AK47 just google "ak47 police video" there are plenty of examples.
You act like there is no correct middle ground, those cops apparently were overzealous, and shot before it was justified. I do not hate police, but I do not trust them, and it IS my last resort to call them always. They are more a tool of tyranny than public servants.
Ten seconds
####
And maybe the kid couldn’t hable Engles so he didn’t drop the weapon in those ten seconds.
If he was such a threat then how come only one of the two officers discharged his weapon???
“Ten seconds”
Early on I had not read this particular article. The interesting time about the ten seconds is that that is the time between two radio transmissions from the cops. In those 10 seconds, they had to leave the radio car, shoot multiple shots at the kids, get back in the radio car, transmit shots fired.
In addition the cops claim to have yelled at the kid twice. I wonder how much actually happened and how much they made up. I bet this time frame and a time and motion study will be a big part the trial of the shooter.
The child was not in a court of law. The child was not an attorney. The child probably does not know what the term “first face” even means.
Thinking legalistically will not help you with this case. Heck talking in terms of commands is not going to help this guy who shot a 13 year old child.
A timeline released Thursday by the Santa Rosa police shows that only 10 seconds passed from the moment that the sheriff’s deputy and his partner called dispatch to report a suspicious person to the moment they called back to say shots had been fired.
The deputy who fired was a 24 year veteran while the one who didn’t was a new hire.
The victim’s body had 7 bullet entry wounds — two of which were fatal.
The sheriffs deputy who fired his weapon was riding in the front right passenger seat of the patrol car. Being closest to the teenager he had the best view when the teen began to turn around to the right with the gun in his hand. He would also be the first police in the line of fire with only a car door for protection. The other deputy who was driving was positioned at more of an angle to the teenager, had an engine block between him and the potential threat and may not have been able to see the gun barrel from where he was before the other deputy started shooting.
The second deputy was 'new' to Sonoma County Sheriffs Dept. but is an 11 year veteran of law enforcement. Obviously, his testimony is very important as investigators attempt to sort things out.
“They’ve also explained that the veteran deputy who opened fire believed Lopez was about to point the replica assault rifle at him.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3084406/posts
In other words the dashcam video shows that the 24 year veteran was imagining things.
Nothing in the link supports your fiction about a dash-cam, but it does include two witnesses who heard the police shout “DROP THE GUN”.
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