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Oh, you prize your perception of intelligence, do you? My god, the idiocy that gets pawned off on the populace due to ego such as yours. This was murder and you’re still manning the barricades defending this piece of feces. What seems to be your major malfunction? Are you Mormon or something? Worried about the perception of Mesa, Arizona as a result of this utter abomination of a “trial” and acquittal?

No, I am not defending him at all. In fact I said in my original post that this person does not need to be in law enforcement. I also said that that I was surprised that a jury found him not guilty. I contemplated if there was evidence presented at the trial that is missing from the article that made them come to this conclusion. I personally am appalled at the verdict. But the bottom line still remains that the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. If I offered any defense of the police officer it was on the charge that his commands were confusing. I certainly did not agree with that assessment, and still don't.

I prize the fact that my intelligence allows me to see the point of view of both sides. I cannot determine what the actual state of mind was of this policeman, but I can say that if you do not follow the instructions of someone with an AR-15 pointed at you, and that person is law enforcement you chances are the same result will be the case.

We have the benefit of knowing that he was indeed unarmed, that the police officer did not have. Thus when he reached for his waistband to pull up his pants (assumed reason for his actions) the officer had a split second to make a choice, shot and kill him, or not shoot and possibly be shot and killed himself. I personally would never even consider being a police officer, because you are damned for sure shooting him, and may be dead if you do not.

That's why for me it is a tough call. Because I do not want to make good cops afraid to defend themselves in situations where they face real threats, nor do I want them to think they can act illegally just because they think the person is a bad person that they have in the cross hairs of their weapon.