How can you look at that video and say that this was a justified killing and the officer was wrongly indicted?
First off, I was not the one who stated that; that was the original posting by FReeper Organic Panic in post #17, to which I was responding, which is why I italicized it.
Second, I do happen to agree with him that the mob has spoken and that the mob has won- no matter whether the shooting was justified or not, it is the cry of the mob that has caused that cop to face legal action, not the usual legal process, which would have been a grand jury indictment. But the mob has cried for his blood, and wants it whether the cop is found guilty by judge or jury, or not. That is what makes them a mob.
Besides, I was in Memphis, back when [March 9, 1999] Millington TN PD officer Peter Nichelson was tried and convicted for shooting 17-year-old Black youth, Rodie Gossett, driving a car that did not belong to him with the trunk lock punched out, running a stop sign, and then leading police on a car chase. At some point in the chase, the car Gossett was driving collided with two police squad cars. However, Gossett and Reginald Miller, a passenger in the car with Gossett, were eventually cornered at a Memphis gas station by several Millington police officers and Shelby County sheriff's deputies, with at least one holding a shotgun on Gossett. The situation was completely under control and both Gossett and Miller were unarmed and had their hands up in the air when Nichelson walked up to Gossett and shot him in the back of the head.
Thing was, Millington had just recently switched over to Glock autopistols after years of using revolvers. Nichelson admitted shooting Gossett but said that the shooting was accidental, claiming the gun discharged when it accidentally hit Gossett's shoulder as Nichelson was trying to restrain/cover him and remove him from the vehicle.
Second degree murder? No. If Nichelson had been convicted of second degree murder, he could have faced 15 to 25 years imprisonment. However, jurors decided instead for a lesser included offense conviction for criminally negligent homicide, finding his actions reckless, but not intentional. And for which the penalty was 1 to 2 years imprisonment. I left the area [was in effect the Memphis/Little Rock/Nashville bureau chief for World Net Daily at the time] before the appeals had run out; I don't know how much of a hit Nichelson eventually took.
The 15 million dollar lawsuit by Gossett's family against the city of Millington, the Millington Police Department, the Millington police chief, Nichelson, and Millington's mayor for violating Gossett's civil rights had nothing to do with it, of course....
Hey, maybe they'll demand to bring back the guillotine for white folks who kill blacks! Or necklacing with burning car tires....
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