“Any police department (or university faculty, or military unit, etc.) is only as good as the worst psycho they tolerate.” ~ H/T RedStateRocker
Thank God I've never heard a noise outside and looked out the window to see what it was!
Posted on 10/12/2019 5:35:50 PM PDT by Drew68
A white Fort Worth officer fatally shot a black woman inside her home early Saturday after police were called to the house to do a welfare check, according to police and the neighbor who called them.
The woman who was killed was Atatiana Jefferson, 28, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police released a statement Saturday afternoon saying officers responded at 2:25 a.m. to a report the front door of a home was open in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue. James Smith, who called a non-emergency police number, said he saw the doors were open and the lights were on, which struck him as unusual. He knew Jefferson, his neighbor, was home with her 8-year-old nephew.
Police parked around the corner, so the woman couldn’t see them, according to Smith, 62. About 15 minutes later, he said, he heard a loud bang and saw several more officers rush inside.
Body camera video released by police on Saturday shows two police officers using flashlights to check the perimeter of the home, inspecting multiple doors that are open with a screen door closed. In the back of home, one officer appears to see a figure through a dark window, and he quickly twists his body to the left.
“Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” he shouts through the window, his gun drawn. He then fires a single shot through the window.
He does not identify himself as a police officer in the video.
Police said in the statement that the officer, who joined the department in April 2018, saw a person standing inside the home near a window.
“Perceiving a threat, the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person inside the residence,” the statement said.
snip...
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Be interesting to see how they to sweep this one under the rug.
Maybe not quite all of it, but the vast majority, surely.
Agreed.
I don't think this one vanishes so easily. If I were the cop, I'd be getting my affairs in order and bracing for a very long prison sentence.
And even if he did see a weapon, that isn't a reason to shoot somebody. If you come upon somebody, particularly somebody in their own home, who happens to have a firearm that isn't a reason to shoot them. It may be a tense situation for a police officer, since from the point of view of the homeowner they may not know what is going on, and the police officer has to deal with another armed person, but the police officer should be an expert in that kind of situation.
After all they expect non-police officers to be able to determine when it is, or isn't necessary to use deadly force in far more complex situations.
No “hesitation” there, that’s for sure.
“Why didn’t the police simply go to the front door and ring the door bell? “
Exactly. After all, they were called for a welfare check, to see if the woman living there was all right.
Welfare check, status DOA dispatch.
police were called to the house to do a welfare check
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-ambiguous-grammar
That is what I noticed too... “put up your hands! Bang! she didn’t even have time to “put up her hands”.
With a militarized police force, there are no suspects, only enemies.
“Any police department (or university faculty, or military unit, etc.) is only as good as the worst psycho they tolerate.” ~ H/T RedStateRocker
Thank God I've never heard a noise outside and looked out the window to see what it was!
Bad shoot, on video. Throw the book at this cop and throw him under the jail.
The police claim they found a weapon "in the bedroom", which is where the victim was shot, but did not say if the victim was holding it when she was shot. I can't guess whether the gun was hers, or a "throw down" gun placed by police. If I were her, and saw two guys creeping around my backyard with flashlights, I would certainly grab a gun.
There is no excuse for this. The officer should be tried for the killing, and the senior officer on the scene should be fired for his horrible judgement. It was a simple case of knocking on the door and announcing yourselves as Fort Worth Police Officers.
Even if she did have a gun, she had a RIGHT to until proven different.
Nope, “Put your hands up! show me your BANG hands!”
Apparently the poor woman didn’t have a dog for the officer to shoot.
I'd be curious to know if either he or Amber failed the required psych eval, and who waived the requirement that they pass to be qualified.
Then I want to see the person who knowingly gave a sociopath a gun, a badge, and summary execution authority over everyone they meet be sued out of everything they own.
It won't take long for word to get around that hiring a psychopath for your department is a VERY BAD IDEA, even if he is the mayor's kid...
The problem is that even with a “good” shoot, and a black person is shot, there will be riots. Or I am too pessimistic.
I think I covered that in my post:
“If I were her, and saw two guys creeping around my backyard with flashlights, I would certainly grab a gun.”
If people want to carry on their own property 24/7, that is their right, and not something the police can shoot you for.
These guys came in like they were serving an arrest warrant on a wanted killer, not performing a “welfare check”.
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