May be the cop thought it was a Cell phone gun?
Not that I'm defending the cops actions in either way.
Posted on 06/13/2003 2:21:21 PM PDT by tomball
The incident happened in a supermarket car park in the town of Shreveport and was captured on CCTV.
The 25-year-old man jumped out of his car and pointed what the officers say they thought was a gun. They responded by shooting him eight times in the back as he ran away. They then discovered his supposed weapon was only a mobile phone.
Police had chased him to the car park after he jumped a red light. A spokesman for the local police said they had studied the video tapes of the shooting. They decided it was justified because the officers felt threatened.
Shreveport police chief Jim Roberts said: "They felt their lives were in danger."
He said he believed the victim had engineered the incident to get himself killed in a "suicide-by-cop".
There may be a cause and effect relationship at work here.
be smart, be polite and obey their commands and stay ABOVE GROUND for another day.
Be polite or die? Seems a little extreme.
And upon further review of the photos, Marquise Hudspeth is clearly a dumbass.
You got that right. If a perp is entering your front door you can shoot to kill. Before the serial killer was caught here Gov. Foster was telling the ladies to get a gun and learn how to use it.
Hardly. See this report. I'll excerpt it for you, addding emphasis where appropriate.
"A Shreveport man was fatally shot by police late Saturday after a chase that began when he was observed driving erratically - two days after an unrelated police chase in which an officer was shot after a botched getaway attempt following an armored car robbery. [I guess that officer thought he saw a cell phone, not a gun]
Saturday's 25-year-old shooting victim was identified Sunday by police as Marquise Hudspeth, of the 400 block of Seneca Trail. He was killed by Shreveport police just before midnight Saturday after a nearly five-mile chase that ended with his cellular phone being mistaken for a pistol.
Police Chief Jim Roberts said Hudspeth was observed driving "erratically, dangerously," and a chase between Hudspeth and police officers took off on North Market Street, proceeding four or five blocks to the intersection of North Market Street and North Hearne Avenue, then continued south to Midway Avenue, about six blocks south of Interstate 20.
"When police attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver refused to stop and continued driving erratically southbound on Hearne Avenue," said police spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave.
She said Cpl. Denver Ramsey and patrolmen Michael Armstrong and Steven Hathorn were about to end the pursuit when Hudspeth's gray Cadillac pulled into the parking lot of a closed Circle K just off Hearne Avenue, at Rightway and Midway avenues. Hudspeth left the car and walked away from the officers.
After ignoring several commands to stop, Hudspeth turned and pointed a "chrome, shiny" object that appeared to be a gun, but turned out to be a cellular phone, Roberts said.
"He was holding it like you'd hold a pistol in your hand," he said. "It was chrome, shiny, and he was holding it with two hands, as though it was a weapon." Roberts said the distance was "maybe four or five feet between the suspect and the officer."
[end excerpt]
Sorry, but if you try to spin this as anything but justified, then at least disclose your agenda. Mine is anti-crime and working from the facts.
tahiti responds: "I believe this is a direct quote from Josef Stalin."
And I believe that response is a direct quote from someone who doesn't know the difference between being a conservative and being an ignorant buttwipe.
Office pulls up to the scene and as he opens the door and starts to step out he can be seen ducking for cover through the back window of Hudspeth's car.
"Officers don't get out of police cars and duck unless we have perceived something is wrong," Sgt. Gary smith said. "He has perceived a threat to his life here."
At the same time, on SPD 138SPD 138 03:10
Hudspeth can be seen pointing an object that was latter found to be a silver cell phone at the office who ducked.SPD 138 03:11
Hudspeth pushes away from an officer with his left arm.
Because Hudspeth was a perceived threat to the officer who ducked, he waits until his fellow officer is out of the way before firing two rounds. SPD 138 03:12
"He fires two rounds at that threat perceived," Sgt. Smith says.
As Hudpseth walks away, his left arm now immobilized by the shots, the officers who are still in survival mode because of the threat they perceive, command Hudspeth to drop what's in his hand and stop.SPD 138 03:13-03:15
They are doing what's called a shuffle step," Smith sadid. They are telling him to stop and drop his weapon with each step."SPD 138 03:15-03:16, also on 185 03:09-03:10
Hudpseth, his left rm now wounded and not working properly, turns around and again points the object using his right hand at the officer, who ducks.
"He swung around with the right arm and points something at the officer," said Smith. "He's still a threat to them. They don't want to shoot him again, but he just did something here that's going to cause them to do what they have to do."SPD 138 03:16-03:18
The officer on the right now sees the threat and begins shooting.
Smith said Hudpseth, who was repeatedly told to drop the object in his hand and stop, was a perceived threat from the time the officers saw the object until Hudspeth was on the ground.
Congratulations! You have won the dumbest comment of the week award.
Into the whiskey already?
Excellent point. I cannot believe some of the posts (actually I can believe them.) I see these comments pop up every time a LEO has to fire in line of duty.
Pure bad luck? But don't stop trying.
Yeah, I've heard it called that, "chicken shit", "cowardly", "murder", ... things like that.
Right. Perps didn't point guns at cops, or shoot cops.
Now, cops are in fear for their lives every time they step out the squad car.
It's not their fault.
May be the cop thought it was a Cell phone gun?
Not that I'm defending the cops actions in either way.
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