[coloradan]

Caste system alert: how often are non-officers given "the benefit of the doubt" when there is a shooting murder?

[Ground0]

Perhaps there is a missing piece to this puzzle...what if the upstanding cop had some type of personal vedetta agaist the "suspect." Sleeping with his wife/daughter/son..whatever. Sold him some bad viagra, beat him at bowling last Tuesday night. Who knows?

The point is, even the non-accused "suspect" is presumed innocent until PROVEN GUILTY. Or has something changed? A man should not have to die over a simple case of mistaken identity...no matter how unsavory his character.

[Cicero]

It's always difficult to decide what happened when there's only a single witness, who may not be lying but who would have a strong motivation to lie if he were guilty.

My guess is that the young man who was shot was drunk, or on drugs, or acted foolishly. But it's just a guess, based on what we are told about the police officer not being known as a troublemaker. The family of the victim or the perp always says, "He was such a good boy." And the policeman's colleagues always say, "He is a good officer." Hopefully the jury listened to the various stories and used their best judgment.