Posted on 10/25/2014 10:02:40 AM PDT by boycott
FULL TITLE: Video shows Satsuma cop running over fleeing suspect, footage jurors will weigh to determine if 2008 act was intentional
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MOBILE, Alabama -- Sam Commins, then an officer with the Satsuma Police Department was not even on duty on July 29, 2008, when he joined in a high-speed chase that began on Interstate 65 in Baldwin County and zigzagged through northern Mobile County.
When the silver Dodge Charger driven by Hillary Bernard Baldwin finally stopped on the Interstate 165 connector in Prichard, he and passenger Jermaine Gaillard got out of the car and began to run. The dashboard camera of the officer's car caught what happened next: The patrol car turned over a grassy median and then veered to the left and ran over the unarmed Gaillard.
Gaillard later died at a hospital, and a Mobile County grand jury cleared Commins of criminal wrongdoing. The officer, who at the time had been with the department since 2003, now works for another law enforcement agency.
But next month, more than six years after the incident, a civil jury in U.S. District Court will decide whether the officer's actions constituted a federal civil rights violation. To prevail, the plaintiff must prove that Commins acted intentionally and as not merely negligent. Commins also faces a wrongful-death count, under which the plaintiff must prove that the officer was "deliberately indifferent" to the victim's life.
(Excerpt) Read more at al.com ...
I agree. And that weighs in the defense of the officer.
Once again, I ponder if this officer was up to snuff. Did he make a really stupid decision to give the perp what he deserved for avoiding officers?
I don’t really know. Just presented with this, it’s probably best to give it a rest until we know more.
I generally try to defend the police. It just seemed to me this happened when the officer wasn’t going that fast. It seemed like with normal reaction time, he could have braked before hitting the guy, even if momentum would have carried him on for a ways.
LOL
To be honest I think thats a possibility. There is an instinctive urge to punish someone who tries to flee. See Rodney King.
Looks pretty harsh, Judge Dredd.
I agree with your thoughts. And hey, I could be way off base. Perhaps there’s a more simply innocent explanation, one that I haven’t thought of. Skeeter came up with some possibilities. We’ll see how it plays out.
I don’t like seeing officers rail-roaded. I don’t like seeing them get off when they shouldn’t either.
Looks pretty harsh, ....
I agree.
Look, your suggestion could be true as well. Perhaps we’ll see in time
my old eyes did not see any braking in the fluidity of the car. If a guy is running across the front of your car, as the video portrays, there might be some consideration to breaking.
yes a veer to the left the direction the perp was running to
When the silver Dodge Charger driven by Hillary...........
Be still my heart.
I think when someone gets out of the car and runs away, it’s time for the cops to kill the person. I support the death penalty for car chases. NOT
“The officer admits in his deposition that he did not even know the pursuit polices in play at the time,” said Jubal Hamil, one of the attorney’s for Gaillard’s brother, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the estate.
The collision was the third of Commins’ career. One of the previous wrecks also occurred during a high-speed chase.”
Two grams of coke, clearly cause for the cop to kill the guy.
The dead guy had 2 grams of coke on him?
Wouldn't that make it a felony stop?
Wouldn't deadly force be called for in the case of someone fleeing a felony stop?
As you pointed out with your facts, this was a legal kill.
great deal. death penalty administered by the chasing officers for possession of drugs.
Good stuff and justification in the eyes of people like you.
And if you can’t get a weapon out, just run over him.
I just watched this thing 15 times. Slow-mo, frame by frame.
He’s following the cop car in front of him.
Changes direction as he sees the guys...
what I think I am seeing is, this cop is trying to get to where the running guys would run into the cop car, and misjudged it.
what I think I am seeing is, this cop is trying to get to where the running guys would run into the cop car, and misjudged it.
I couldn’t make a judgment one way or the other. For that reason, I couldn’t convict him.
like
You really think they ran over him over the drugs?
Keep morphing, you have a ways to go before you can even see the truth. As of now you’re just lying to yourself.
amen
Never said that. You need some reading comprehension.
I responded to others who said kiling a fleeing felon ok even if you run over him.
Try to keep up
Yep. Good job officer! I love the look on that ape’s face. Owww!
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