Posted on 09/25/2014 10:42:36 AM PDT by redreno
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) An unarmed man shot by a South Carolina trooper during a traffic stop repeated one question through his anguished cries as he lay wounded, waiting for an ambulance: "Why did you shoot me?"
Levar Jones' painful groans and then-Trooper Sean Groubert's reply "Well you dove head first back into your car" were captured by a dashboard camera in the trooper's car.
Groubert had stopped Jones on a seatbelt violation at a Columbia gas station and fired the shots moments after asking Jones for his license
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Why yes he is.... crazy
Maybe the trooper can have the employee union lawyer get the dash cam footage tossed out...I mean State Employees have way more rights than anyone...some Pigs are more equal than others... hahaaa
Jumpy and trigger happy are not qualities I think make for a good police officer. But that's what so many of these smaller forces seem to get these days. The officer in this case was probably making about $18 an hour. For the Ferguson police officer it was probably less than that. You don't get the sharpest tools in the shed for money like that.
I am really tired of this policy that police departments sem to have adopted of shooting first if there’s even the slightest possibility of danger to them. I am also tired of the “fire until the magazine’s empty” policies they all seem to have employed.
In our armed forces in wartime we have Rules of Engagement where we don’t fire unless we have positively identified a hostile target or the guy’s actually shooting at us. Here and in other recent examples, we have cops shooting rapid fire in situations where they aren’t sure the subject is armed, aren’t sure the subject is hostile, and have no way of knowing if they are endangering other people in their line of fire.
We don’t need people like this in our police. If they are that afraid of other people, they shouldn’t be entrusted with deadly force.
"""Probably beat the guy to a bloody pulp, that better and more acceptable??"""
Marginally, yeah, but that's not the point. They weren't allowed in the context of a masculine culture to lose control.
Any frightened little Fem can do as this guy did....piss her panties and blaze away.
“Sexist much??”
No not at all. You may have noticed, IN EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE since the feminist movement, when a traditionally Male culture was integrated with females the FIRST thing which went out the window was EQUALITY; that is the females RESPONSABILITY to RISE to the standards of the group. Men have ALWAYS been responsible to standards until this demented integration. I was not being nasty when I called that cop a “fem”, I meant it literally. The net effect of destroying the governing masculine culture of the police is the feminazation of the force as a whole. He girled out. 50 years ago he wouldn't have dreamt of doing that even if he was scared.
He stopped a black guy, in what looks to be a not so great part of town. Black guy does sort of make a fast move to get into the car, apparently to retrieve his licence, but the cop misinterprets it, believing the guy was going for a gun or something.
The cop freaked out. Does that make him a criminal? Not necessarily, but it does make him incompetent to say the least, and mostly at fault.
I was a little surprised that at least on the video, the guy was a little quick to dive into his car. I figure most minority males (like me), know better than to make quick moves like that when encountering LEO.
I have had a few encounters with police, and I can tell you that I don't "trust" them with their snap judgments, any more than I would trust the average idiot. I move in slow motion, that's for sure. Maybe one day I can talk about the experience I had of being pulled over, and having 4 cops pull their guns and all aim them at me. Moved like a sloth, I did that day...
Union cop is not a job with little financial compensation.
I never keep anything in back pockets. The license, along with other cards, is in a small wallet that I keep on me, in the shirt pocket. The registration (a copy) is in the car, in the glovebox, among other papers. I would have needed some time to dig through all that junk to find the current one.
“If I buy something at a drive through window (or use an ATM) I dont put my wallet back in my front pocket until I am getting out of the car.”
First thing I thought of as I do that most of the time (rear pocket). I can’t understand why others haven’t figured that out.
I hope the driver gets a BIG check from SC and is able to retire early.
It turned into a bad situation. Thanks.
That being said, I just watched the video and this cop did in fact not handle the situation correctly. He will pay the price, and justifiably so.
Instead I was going by the statement in the post that said:
Levar Jones' painful groans and then-Trooper Sean Groubert's reply "Well you dove head first back into your car" were captured by a dashboard camera in the trooper's car.
Looking at the video I do not see the man diving into his car head first. I see him leaning into his car head first, not diving. That's the way the DA saw it and his boss saw it. His boss fired him and the DA charged him.
There seem to be a lot of people on FR that criticize cops at every drop of the hat. I was obviously allowing that fact to form my response as well. But once someone actually sees the clip one does determine that the cop was not justified in shooting this man. The only problem I have is not seeing the entire stop. Did the man do something that we do not see in the clip provided that made this cop pull out his gun? Him having his gun trained on the man is not proper procedure either, unless the man had given him good reason to.
I live in the country and our cops are not involved in many shootings. They sure as hell do not train their guns on us for no reason. These people may live in large cities where I'm sure cop related shootings occur more often, because crime is more prevalent. Just another reason to live in the country.
I guess my real point in all of this is that we should not be trying cases that have not been heard in court in the news outlets. We may be missing an important piece of information not being provided.
And, perhaps for the first time, you may wish to review the posting rules...assuming that you read English. If not, perhaps you can have the attendant there at the home read them to you. In any event, all of us normal folks would be grateful if you become the "cop" that you wish to see out there. Throw yourself in front of these nutballs, take the bullet for us, do not draw your weapon...even better, don't carry. You are Captain Impressive! Or not.
Was the driver even aware that an officer was going to request his license? He didn’t “dive” back into the vehicle, he’d barely stepped out the door and was still between the door and the interior of the vehicle.
There’s a reason Barney Fife only had one bullet. This high-strung officer demonstrates why. If the driver had “suddenly” reached for his wallet in his back pocket, Officer Hairtrigger would have shot him for that.
Good move, removing him from the force. He was clearly in the wrong and has no business carrying a gun, in uniform or out.
is it OK with you if we veterans and active duty military speak our views about this cowardly cop and his illegal shooting?
There is no law against freaking out. The cop is not judged for that. A person becomes a criminal after he commits a criminal act. Actions are the only thing that makes one a criminal. (Until people start getting punished for their private thoughts.)
It will be up to the court to classify the cop's actions. If I were to guess, the cop will be found guilty. He escalated a simple situation into a dead end by improperly ordering the subject and then misinterpreting his commanded activity.
The citizen is not required to know the police procedures. This is one of the reasons why the LEO is supposed to be in control - to tell the person to move here or there; to fetch this or that; to guide the person through the procedure. As it appears to me at this time, this here cop failed to command the subject to safely perform the necessary actions. Others have already mentioned that the cop never asked where the license is. As the driver was out of the car, he had no legal requirement to have it with him - and that broke the template of a standard traffic stop. The cop was unable to "recalculate the new route," in GPS terms, then issued a wrong order ("get out" instead of "freeze",) and started shooting when the citizen did exactly as ordered.
But, of course, it's up to the court to assign guilt. This is just what I gathered from this thread.
Hopefully your wife has more common sense than you do. But if not, we appreciate she is not an armed agent of the government.
BTW, I noted you evaded most all the questions and made statements to the questions instead of answering them.
Very evasive but very predictable.
No. This veteran does not agree with the cowardly arguments the arm-chair quarterbacks are screaming at the screen. Go peddle your self-righteous, self-aggrandizing, second-guessing, smug cop-hating bile on DailyKos where you guys belong. This website is for conservatives, not for the Ferguson hate-mongers.
Looked like the kid was doing everything he was asked to do by the LEO. This one could get ugly fast.....but I sure as hope not.
At least you are consistent.
You sound like a cowardly type yourself, it seems that you can’t see taking risks to do right and to protect and serve, too bad your guy has been charged with a felony shooting.
Don’t let your fear dominate you so.
Oh I am afraid alright. I am often afraid that absolute nutballs like this crowd you hang with will begin to get traction and convert all of the peaceable LEOs to dead men. And, you antinomian, anarchical self-important judgmental types will force yourselves on us along with your Holder/Obama/Pelosi/Clinton loving peaceniks. Wake up, my FRiend, the left has you in its chains.
You have not point regarding this specific incident. And your responses are FOS, to be blunt.
No one knows what is going to happen in life. No one knows when a vehicle will cross the center line and come right at you. Or do you swerve first and throw your car into a possible loss of control situation, endangering all around you? Do you get treated for cancer before being diagnosed? Do you shoot anyone who knocks on your door because they could be home invaders?
If someone tells you to F off in traffic, do you open up on them because they could possible kill you?
There is no defense to this incident. Zip...
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