Quote:
Originally Posted by Bay Kid
(Post 1821928)
Major news reported a police shooting of a black man yesterday. Showed the black man refusing to listen to the police then reached into his car for something, then police shot him.
Why can't they just listen to the police for the moment. Now it is the policeman's fault. Bad kids.
|
Kenosha, Wisconsin. Proud home of the late American Motors Corporation. Ramblers! My first car was a used 1963 Rambler American. I loved it. Then the company closed down, and life got a lot harder for a lot of laid off employees, a couple generations ago. So to some extent, this shooting happened because we bought Japanese cars instead of Ramblers.
I’ve watched this video about ten times, and I think we need a lot more information. I don’t know that the officers had any idea who was in the back seat of that nice SUV, as the windows had dark tinting. Why is that even allowed? No wonder cops are nervous about traffic stops with windows like that.
It seems pretty clear that the officers had been talking to this guy on the other side of the SUV before he strode around to the driver’s door while being ordered to halt. Had they asked for his driver’s license and car registration? Perhaps he didn’t have his wallet in his pocket. Perhaps it was in a console compartment in the car, and he was reaching for it. Perhaps it was on the passenger seat. Perhaps the passenger door was locked (that often happens if the car is running, and this one may have been, as the windows were closed and there were kids in the back).
Had the police run the license plate number? Did they know the guy’s record? Did they thus have reason to fear that he might be armed?
Both officers had drawn their weapons before the video begins, it seems. This is pretty unusual. Had they done that because they had been told to assume the guy (sorry, but I don’t recall his name) was armed and dangerous? Did they draw because before the video began, he seemed prone to violence? We don’t know. Had they ordered him to the ground, and he refused? If his kids were in the car, worry about them could be a factor, and perhaps the officers, as I said, didn’t know.
So the officers follow the guy around the SUV. To me they look terrified. I could be wrong, but they look scared of this guy who wasn’t complying. He leans into the car to grab something. Could it be a black wallet? My wallet is black. Not unusual. But to them it looks like a gun, and one officer, terrified, starts shooting, and the other joins in, perhaps assuming the first cop may have seen a gun. But it seems there was no gun.
I’m sure this is a nightmare situation for the officers. They had to have known this would destroy their careers, ruin their lives, before they fired. If you have fired handguns, you know that when you have leaned deep into a car, across the driver’s seat, steering wheel in the way, left hand on the seat, it takes awhile to straighten, turn, swing a gun, and fire, even if you are unusually fast. Maybe you’d hit your head on the roof. Maybe the gun would get tangled in the steering wheel. Maybe you would shoot yourself in the foot. Try it and see! It’s a lot slower than drawing and shooting from a standing position. So really, even if this guy was fast, the officers had adequate time to wait until they had clearly seen a gun in his hand before shooting. He couldn’t shoot from that bent over and in the SUV position and hit the cops. He could straighten and begin swinging his gun and the cops could still shoot him many times before he could fire. After all, their guns were already drawn and pointing at him.
So, it seems to me that these officers were terrified, and this led to what seems to me to be a shooting that could have been avoided. Indeed, maybe the entire incident could have been avoided. We don’t know yet. Certainly, the guy resisting the police did not show much wisdom in his actions. How could he not know he was putting his life in danger?
I don’t think these officers will be found guilty of attempted homicide in any degree, but I think they will lose their jobs. Meanwhile, nothing that happened here is justification for rioting, arson, looting, or destruction of property.