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73-year-old Calif. man fatally shot by police was carrying crucifix, not gun (SF grandfather)
SF Gate via Washington Post ^ | December 14, 2016 | Travis M. Andrews

Posted on 12/15/2016 5:26:32 AM PST by jiggyboy

Slightly after midnight on Monday, police in Bakersfield, Calif., received a call concerning a man thought to be brandishing a weapon in a residential neighborhood.

Shortly after police arrived, 73-year-old Francisco Serna - who family members said was suffering from the early stages of dementia - walked out of his home and into his driveway. When Serna, who was unarmed, did not comply with officers' orders to remove his hands from his jacket pocket, one officer fired seven shots at him, killing him.

-- snip --

The 911 call came from a household on the block where Serna resided. A woman who lived there arrived home just after midnight. She was unpacking the car when Serna approached her.

Serna asked why she was at her house, according to Martin, and then asked if he could get into the car. Throughout this conversation, Serna kept one hand in his pocket.

The woman noticed a black- or brown-handled object sticking out of hispocket that she took to be a gun. She rushed inside and told her boyfriend, who called the police.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


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To: hoosierham

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/man-fatally-shot-by-police-monday-morning-was-unarmed-multiple/article_8c42d421-3500-52ad-b239-e94ca147a700.html

That’s the incident covered from a local reporter.

More info. Everyone who came in contact with that old guy that night was convinced he was armed. Old guy was being belligerent as well.

I may be disgusting but what I am not is an idiot that, while knowing that the media lies through its teeth on every issue at all times still insists that media which conforms to the destructionist narrative must, by default, be honest and true.

Of course it was just a “shoot first and ask questions later” because that’s what the media has been pumping out through its propaganda spigot for a year or more now. All must obey the media’s narrative. To contest the media’s narrative is to be evil and disgusting.

And you and those like you wonder how the left continues to win.


61 posted on 12/15/2016 9:47:31 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Romulus

Here’s where I know you are wrong. Dead wrong.

I know cops from my youthful idiot days when I was what normal people refer to as a criminal scumbag.

I know, full well, what evil waits just outside of view. I know, full well, what true horrors the cops keep off of the rest of us.

The sub-juvenile version of cops which is so popular amongst the self proclaimed cool kids and uselessly moralist hand-wringers is, usually, nothing more than unresolved daddy issues and is what the destructionists feed on to turn you out as their useful idiot on this issue.


62 posted on 12/15/2016 9:51:06 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER
Yes, but did the grandfather actually fire the Crucifix at them?

It was only loaded with rosary beads.

63 posted on 12/15/2016 9:52:46 AM PST by COBOL2Java (1 Tim 2:1-3)
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To: hoosierham

“It has been 30 years since I wore a badge with Indiana’s state seal but “shoot first,ask questions later “wasn’t the standard in my area. Other local officers talked a man armed with a rifle into surrendering when the apparently approved response now by some departments is shoot on sight any “civilian” with gun.”

I live in a rural area of southwest New Mexico. The local deputy has many many square miles to patrol, much of which (until recently) has no radio or cell service. About a dozen years ago, some undesirables moved to the area and rented a mobile. They must have thought that since they were out in the middle of nowhere that they could do as they please and us dumb hicks would be too stupid to pay any mind to them.

Turns out they moved to the area to cook meth and burglarize residences. It didn’t take long for them to start making mistakes, gaining the attention of the local deputy. He made contact with them a few times, pulling them over for speeding, and going to their residence to ask questions about the recent robberies. While standing at their door talking with them, he noticed they had a lot of guns laying around the place.

Some time went by, and one of the undesirables decided that he had had enough, wanted to go straight, and was just going to leave the area. Evidently, the others thought the guy was going to rat them out, so they murdered him. Continuing in their stupidity, they thought it a good idea to drive the body across the AZ state line and dump it in the mountain forest there. Of course the body was found by a local right away, the AZ troopers contacted the deputy out here, being the nearest ‘town’, and a federal case quickly developed.

Turns out the DEA had been watching the group previously over near Phoenix. It didn’t take long to start gathering evidence in the case, but they didn’t have quite enough. So, local deputy pulls one of them over for barely speeding, and finds meth and weapons. A judge quickly signs a search warrant for the mobile home residence the remaining undesirables are holed up at.

A little after noon, FBI, DEA, NMSP, USFS, and local deputy all pull up near the mobile home, surrounding it at a distance of about 200 yards. Turns out the main undesirable is not in the mobile home, but is taking a walk down in the arroyo behind the residence. He has a rifle in his hands and his daughter on his shoulders. This changes any plans the Feds may have had about how to arrest these guys. Being the solid man he is, local rural deputy suggests that he just walks on down into the arroyo to make contact with the armed murderer and have a talk with him. Bad guy is carrying rifle with scope, deputy has his Kimber .45 on his hip. Deputy gets in shouting range of murderer and hails out to him. Conversation ensues, deputy explains to bad guy how he is surrounded, does he love his daughter, etc. Situation ends peacefully and the others remaining in the mobile home come out peacefully.

That sheriff’s deputy has the respect of this community, not just because of that one incident, most people don’t even know about it, but because he’s here for the community. He’s at the basketball games at the school, walks around during the county fair, he makes himself available at all the community events to hear what’s on people’s minds and their difficulties before they turn into trouble. And when situations do get really bad, like the one I just described, he doesn’t rush in with guns blazing. I have no idea what pool some cities hire their officers from, or what psychological profile they seek during the hiring process, and to be honest, it doesn’t really matter to me, but why communities elect and allow the sort of officers that shoot first and ask questions later baffles me. Perhaps it’s the higher percentage of libtards as population density increases. I am SO thankful I don’t have to live in those areas!


64 posted on 12/15/2016 10:39:51 AM PST by Carthego delenda est
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To: Grimmy
Sometimes evil -- and cowardice -- wear a uniform.

unresolved daddy issues

Sounds to me like a personal problem. Like gratuitous anger.

65 posted on 12/15/2016 10:41:32 AM PST by Romulus
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To: Carthego delenda est

+1


66 posted on 12/15/2016 10:45:05 AM PST by Romulus
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To: Grimmy
"Dumbass didn’t comply and there was absolutely no reason not to assume the dumbass was armed."

I think in these types of situations the cop should backoff and take a defensive position, and take time to reassess the situation and call for backup. Todays cops seem way to eager to become the aggressor when sometimes it is not necessary. But I supposed that is how they are being trained these days?
67 posted on 12/15/2016 10:58:26 AM PST by jaydubya2
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To: School of Rational Thought
Right. An old man with dementia is a threat to a cop merely by standing there. The earlier poster who mentioned that the cop should be treated the same way any normal citizen would for shooting an unarmed man who posed no credible, or even identifiable threat was on target. The cop should be fired and go on trial for manslaughter. It is exactly your mindset that makes many people give credence to the BLM bullshit.
68 posted on 12/15/2016 11:11:12 AM PST by zeugma (I'm going to get fat from all this schadenfreude)
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To: Grimmy

It is the last couple sentences in your post that I replied to that are so disgusting and uncalled for.The spigot and so on.

But I still think too many officers are too quick to shoot-—and too many citizens pay with their lives for minor mistakes.

A nation of people trained to “freeze” instantly and obey without question is ridiculous,unAmerican, and evil. People are going to look,turn, and ask what? when someone ,even police, suddenly start yelling orders;it is human nature. To execute anyone who does so is WRONG.And SEVEN shots is a sign of either lack of control or a determination to kill.


69 posted on 12/15/2016 11:14:08 AM PST by hoosierham (Freedom isn't free)
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To: zeugma

Please provide evidence that cop knew old man had dementia.


70 posted on 12/15/2016 11:19:07 AM PST by School of Rational Thought
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To: Celtic Conservative

If you mosey up to him and he pulls a knife on you even if you have your firearm drawn and get off rounds he is more than likely going to stick you. If they are within 20 ft. and have a knife unless you get a spine or head shot they will stick you. That is why you don’t mosey up to someone with their hand in their pocket who refusing to obey commands.

On the other hand if they were within taser range I would question why that wasn’t deployed. Total tragedy for all involved.


71 posted on 12/15/2016 11:27:10 AM PST by sarge83
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To: dinodino

If the crucifix was in his pocket and not visible what would you do? You have a call of a a man with a gun to begin with. He is failing to follow commands and the officers have no knowledge he has early stage dementia. All the fixings for a disaster.


72 posted on 12/15/2016 11:28:35 AM PST by sarge83
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To: Gay State Conservative

It wasn’t visible by the original complainant according to the article, it was an object in his pocket which the complainant thought was possibly a gun he was trying to pull. Cops would have no way of knowing this.


73 posted on 12/15/2016 11:32:05 AM PST by sarge83
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To: zeugma

How would the cops know he had dementia? Unless the caller told the dispatcher they would have no way to know this. Only a call of a man with a gun and a man walking toward them who will not follow commands and take the hand out of his pocket. This was a tragic accident. The only fault with the cops I might have is 7 rds. fired to stop the man, why so many?


74 posted on 12/15/2016 11:35:46 AM PST by sarge83
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To: sarge83

And we all know that initial calls from frightened civilians are totally reliable, right? The same way we know that when it comes to a life-or-death decision, it’s always best to assume and act upon the most extreme, least likely possibility and rule out the numerous innocent ones. Besides, cops are trained that dementia never happens in the real world, so they will never encounter it — right?


75 posted on 12/15/2016 11:39:29 AM PST by Romulus
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To: School of Rational Thought

Please provide evidence that the shooter cop had never heard dementia (or deafness or mental impairment, etc) and therefore cannot be held responsible for having failed to consider that possibility.


76 posted on 12/15/2016 11:43:37 AM PST by Romulus
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To: sarge83
Please explain exactly what it was that the old man did that actually threatened the cop. You don't get to shoot people just because you're a scared little girly man.

Then again, maybe they do. After all, what's the life of a citizen when compared to one of the protected class, who might piss his pants if he were faced with someone who actually was a threat. I'm sure the 73-year old man was a frightening specter to behold.

77 posted on 12/15/2016 11:49:41 AM PST by zeugma (I'm going to get fat from all this schadenfreude)
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To: sarge83

Well, I sure wouldn’t empty a magazine into him, which is what the story seems to indicate! You think that sounds like a reasonable and restrained response?


78 posted on 12/15/2016 11:53:45 AM PST by dinodino
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To: sarge83

I hope you’re not a cop, if you think this police response was appropriate!


79 posted on 12/15/2016 11:56:07 AM PST by dinodino
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To: Night Hides Not

Ooops..We have already apologized to our kids.....

We actually taught our kids the art of small talk and role played it. It gave them a great deal of confidence. They are very good at meeting people and getting to know them.


80 posted on 12/15/2016 12:08:40 PM PST by super7man (Madam Defarge, knitting, knitting, always knitting)
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