Police Officer Charged with Murder for Shooting Man in Back

Again...you are judging 400,000 people based on the actions of a select few. Most cops will go a 20 year career without ever discharging their weapon, that is a FACT.

I already told you I was career military. You refuse to tell me what you do because you obviously have never served anyone but yourself your entire life. That is fine, your perogative....my only issue is you crap on those who are serving so you can have that choice. Who are you going to call if someone is breaking into your house? Who are you going to hope stands on the front line should this nation and our freedom be threatened? What are YOU going to do? Where will YOU be? My guess is shivering under your bed trying not to pee your pants....yet you look down on us. Laughable.

Poor straw man argument attempts btw....I never claimed every cop was good, but here you are generalizing all of them for what a few do. I never said becoming a cop was the "hardest thing out there", I simply refuted your claim that it is not hard ot become a cop. I would love to see you get through a high standard police academy then tell me how "easy" it was. Can you even pass a polygraph? Most police departments administer them. And thank you as well for crapping all over everyone with an associates degree. You are a class act dude, seriously. Obviously you are some elitist holier than thou high and mighty guy who thinks he is better than everyone else. Thse "jobs" may not be up to your snobby standards, but I guarantee you most police and military do more important things in a year than you will accomplish in your entire life. What you consider inferior to you is actually hovering OVER you like an umbrella guaranteeing you can keep doing what you do.

You're welcome.

@toast_burner: Here in Finland. I also know that in Sweden and Germany cops use warning shots.

I was talking about aiming for the legs

They do that too. Even in the US there have been some incidents where cops have shot suspects in the legs.

and is it something they're trained to do?

They're trained to never shoot a fleeing suspect. This guy violated the rules of his training and shot a guy in the back. Unless there is some unseen circumsance, then he's likely guilty of murder.

I can't say for sure about other countries, but when looking through some cases where their police officers used guns, to me it seems that they aim for the legs mostly. Here it is part of the training. It's really rare that police kills anyone here.

He didn't shoot him during the altercation and had no reason to shoot him once he started running so what do you call shooting a person who is of no threat to you? I call it homicide. Having a badge doesn't change that.

Also, I don't think purposefully taking away someone's life can ever be called "simple overreaction"

I agree. So it would also be wrong to shoot him in the leg.

Yeah that's all easily said and done afterwards, but put yourself in the place of that cop. You stop someone for a taillight and then he tries to take your taser.

@commander: So you wait until he starts running, calmly draw your gun, give him a 5 second head start, shoot him and call it "heat of the moment?" The gun wasn't even drawn before the guy started running...the cop knew what he was doing, there was no panic there.

again easy to say when you're not a cop and put your life in danger every single day.

It's not because the guy was running that he couldn't do anything anymore. Indeed if the cop counted to 3 and analazyed the situation he would have realized there was no need to shoot him but that's easier said than done.

The guy went for his tazer, which is basically the same as attacking the cop.

@commander: He was obviously unarmed, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to take the taser...he was in the middle of the park; do you reckon he had friends hiding in the trees?

Besides, being a police officer IS a dangerous job and that's why they are trained and that's why a superior capability of making quick, sound decisions is expected of them. If you don't have it, don't become a cop.

that doesn't matter, the cop has no way of knowing what his intentions are, for all he knows he can come back when he's in the car or even go murder him in his own house.

You don't know what he said to the cop, he could have said he would kill him, he could have said he would kill his children. A video never tells the whole story, in a lot of cases it tells the wrong story because you don't see any context.

The way you put it it's of course wrong, but you can't know that, you don't know what happened before the cop shot him

Yesterday another individual got the crap knocked out of him by the supposed "finest" of society.

Unfortunately the incidents with police are so much more than a mere few. Using common sense, think how many incidents were never captured on camera and had nothing more to go on than words from the police officer(s) involved. You might be gullible and believe what they say but actions have shown us why we need to be apprehensive and more critical with their accounts.

Police are REACTIVE and not PROACTIVE. The difference is night and day. Police are under zero obligation to protect you. They are there to clean up the mess and file the report. I do look down on the profession of being swine thanks to how civilians are treated as the enemy and how Constitutional rights seem not to matter. The faster people realize this, the better.

You "were" career military but that says nothing of what you do now but believe me, I don't care what you do. You are just another nameless and faceless individual on a message board arguing his pov. Don't take offense but you are not a concern of mine where I want to get friendly.

Your position is clear. There are only a few bad apples out there is where you are standing. People are wising up to the reality of the situation and the days of believing the b.s. seems to be slowing down considerably. In my state to become a local cop all you need is a GED or H.S. diploma along with taking a course on becoming a cop. Unless one can not successfully add five plus five, the course is prime for a simpleton. How many highly intelligent and skilled people would want to do such a job when others are available with better compensation, less dangerous, etc..,

If individuals of this profession want respect, prove to the people it is deserved.

I agree that we don't have the full story and probably nobody ever will, so I need to form my opinion based on what I see and what I see is an unarmed man running away, get shot in the back several times, several articles state that the officer reported the man to have stolen his taser (which we obviously can't be sure of since we can't hear the officer) and then walking towards the now deceased man and dropping his taser at the man's feet. Based on the limited footage I have, to me it's homicide but if you say "it sure isn't" then you must have more information than I have, and no, saying "maybe he..." doesn't count. Plus, maybe he DID threaten the officer but please tell me that in the United States of America it's not lawful to end a life because of a verbal threat because I shudder to think of the ramifications if it is...

Still, maybe we should just agree to disagree...I have my opinion but if I were the one with the power to throw him in jail for a quarter of his life I wouldn't be so quick to judge so it's pointless to argue who's in the right here since the truth is probably in the middle.

@Solaryellow: I agree with you. Cops only protect the upper class with money. They protect the rich and abuse/harass the poor.

Sure, there are good police officers and they're only doing their jobs as directed, but policies are now made just to get money at the cost of the poorest citizens by design of heavy penalties for driving without insurance, unlawful seizures and nonsensical fines that punish... you guessed it, the poor.

For every good police officer I've ever come across, I've encountered 5 with bad attitudes and god complexes.

Just how many run-ins with the police have you had? I was only approached once...

Just you. The amount of police officers that have to use their firearms are vastly outnumbered by the ones that don't.

Er, what? Every piece of training I've received speaks of only a handful of situations where I am allowed to shoot somebody in the back. It's not a new concept.

I don't want this to come across as victim blaming or excusing the officer, but this whole situation started from a broken tail light, and then a warrant for unpaid parking tickets... If only people took care of what they're supposed to take care, they wouldn't end up in this situations.

With that said, based on what I've seen the officer was entirely in the wrong and I hope he is convicted. There was a number of different ways he could have handled the situation, but chose the most lethal.

I've actually been wondering about your thoughts on this scenario since you are basically our resident police officer. I know that laws vary from state to state, but based on what you know should this officer have had any reason to shoot this guy?

Personally I don't see a reason why the police officer couldn't have caught up with him in his own car or simply tazed the guy, but do you have an analysis?

Been on vacation, else I would have jumped in on this thread much sooner.

The scenarios that most readily come to mind where I can shoot somebody in the back is if I believe they're about to attempt to do serious bodily harm to somebody, or if they're running away from me holding a firearm.

Based on the video I watched, the officer didn't have any reason to shoot. He didn't even attempt a foot pursuit. I honestly don't believe they would go so far as to charge him if they didn't think there was serious misconduct. Also, to the person who said this is murder one, it's not. Murder one requires premeditation. It's probably going to be murder two.

This is why I'm a big proponent of body cams. I believe they're absolutely necessary for not only the protection of the populace from bad cops, but for the protection of good cops from the population.

When I was a teen, I was a real hell-raiser. :P Never did anything truly bad, just things that bad boys do when they're young. Most of my associations with police officers are from friends and friends of friends etc.

The only true friend I ever had who was a police officer, quit the force because he said he didn't like the politics of it and didn't like turning a blind eye to the corruption he saw. And then an ex-girlfriend who I kept in touch with dated one who was a drunk, and he'd always brag at parties about confiscating liquor from people, bust them and then turn around and drink it, on the job no less.

I'm with you on this one. There's a whole lot of messed up people out there on both sides...

@Bigboi500: Seems like you managed to find some real sleazebags.

This shit is scary when you take into account the fact that this stuff is getting out now when these past few years basically everyone has a smart phone in which they can record anything on the fly.. Which begs the question how much have these police officers gotten away before the era when people did not have smart phones and could not record stuff like this on the fly?

transparency is poison for corruption.

Pretty crazy how this started because they wanted to arrest him for not paying child support.

Was the officer justified in shooting the fleeing man in the back? No, the cop's life wasn't directly at risk.

Of course, all that transpired could have been avoided if the guy stayed in his car like 99% of people do. He's just the 1% of the populace that was dumb enough to jump out and run, which when a guy runs from a traffic stop, puts not just himself at risk, but people around him with the police response going to be several patrol cars racing to the scene at high speeds.

Not saying that he should have been shot, but if he thought about what that action could cause to others, well... that's the thing: people don't think. The black dude didn't act smart and he paid for his stupidity, the cop acted like a vigilante and he will likely pay for it with his life.

There are no winners here.

There are certainly bad cops and it is a profession where abuse can easily occur given the authority that they hold. But to broadly paint the entire police force as thugs is false. We need the police and I am far more concerned with an area that would lack police protection than from the police themselves. This country has proven again and again what happens when authority is not around.

Kind of makes the Chicago police force's attempts to outlaw the video taping of police officers rather suspect, huh?

Frankly, I think it begs the question, "How much are police officers getting away with NOW because the incidents aren't video taped?"

A lot. Especially in major cities where most of the officers don't have dash cams.

Much of what you see is not because of a lack of authority but thanks to those who do not respect anyone or anything. Police are not everywhere yet most people still act civilized. Is it because of the thought of police? Nah. I'd say it is thanks to fear and common sense knowing other law abiding people are out there who wont put up with crap.

Glad to see you're on board with the concern here.

I've known that bad stuff goes down on police forces for a while (you'd have to be pretty naive not to, as well as completely oblivious to history), but the fact that it's caused this friction between the public and the officers has raised the stakes. It's important to clean up the force on it's own merits, but it's also important to restore some of that confidence in the force, I think.

Well it's true. There's a greater chance of being corrupt if you don't have any way of being held accountable. You think guys walking the beat in the major cities (Chicago and NY) don't know how to work the system?

Putting a body cam on each and every single regular duty officer is a good step in cracking down on corruption.

What I do now has zero to do with the fact I spent my entire life ensuring YOUR freedom to come on this message board and insult police and military. Do you have one ounce of critcial thinking skills? Do you need everything spelled out for you? What have you EVER done that could possibly compete with what someone who serves does on a day to day basis? And we have plenty of military (enlisted even) and cops with Bachelors and Masters degrees who are plenty qualified to do other things, they do what they do because they CHOOSE to serve. This is what you don't get because you don't think that way, you are not cut from the same cloth as those who have heard the call. You will never understand, you are honorless.

I'm done with you and your ridiculous, simpleton generalizations. I rather go bang my head against a brick wall than read another one of your posts.

This same guy screaming all police are bad is the same one who would be pissing his pants under his bed waiting for them to come and save him. Can't stand people like this, so freaking narrow minded.

Why do you want to live in an obey or die police state?

I think that view is incredibly naive. You don't have to have the police on every corner to stop aggression, but just have to have them available. Every country has and needs a police force. Without them, things quickly break down. While I dont give them a free license to do whatever they want, they do serve an incredibly important role in a civil society.

Good. Yet another discussion where you tuck tail and run. Was that taught to you as you were "protecting" my freedoms?

That really makes me chuckle a great deal because it is a complete misnomer. You honestly believe being in the military means you were/are protecting my freedoms? Were you actively fighting a force that wanted to come here to the States and eliminate my rights and freedoms or were you fighting a force our politicians deemed as evil because of what they (government) did? Save the crap for someone who will believe it. I'll admit I used to think like you some fourteen years ago but then I grew up and was able to ascertain what was happening by leaving emotion and naivety out of the situation. When I say "think like you" I believe our military were the best of the best and no one could touch them. I believed certain groups and nations formed hate based on nothing our nation did. Boy was I wrong. Your handlers did a bang up job at manipulating your thinking. Highest marks to them!

@sonicare

You can call it naive but it is reality. Civilians greatly outnumber the police force wherever you are in America but the vast majority of people choose to obey the law(s) while a small number do not. L.E. might be a deterrent to a point but I believe the major deterrent are the law abiding people who might or might not be a 2A user and those who will lawfully defend and protect themselves.

Once again you lack critical thinking....do you really think the protection of your freedoms are all active and never passive? Just by having a HIGHLY TRAINED volunteer military out there you are safe. Just by having millions of men and women willing to sign on the dotted line stating "yes I will die to protect this country"...you are safe. It has nothing to do with the actions we are actively in around the world. Open your mind.

As for your cop thing, i will leave you with this. .....

https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Warmer-Shade-of-Blue-Stories-About-Good-Things-Cops-Do/139769922849558

http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/6143672-10-amazing-photos-thatll-make-you-proud-to-be-a-cop/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/good-cops/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/reminders-that-there-are-actually-good-cops-in-the-world#.bsk8ZL2MgD

That took me literally 2 minutes to find and post here.....look and ye shall find.

/now I'm done

I thought the military teaches people to persevere rather than run when the going gets tough? I understand all the "G.I. Joe Real American Hero. It's G.I. Joe against Cobra the enemy........... " but it has become frivolity when military members always use the "I keep you free" card.

The world is not my concern because this discussion pertains to here in the States. Cops are great. Hence why trust is extremely low as well as respect. Both have to be earned. We're told all of the wonderful things they do and yes, you gave some links to such heart warming pictures but I'm positive we can go tit for tat and expose lengthy wrong doings by those entrusted with authority and responsibility. I'd be much more willing to subscribe to your interpretation if such recklessness and lawlessness were isolated but it seems to be a trend these days.

lol do people who serve actually believe this bullshit? Protecting my freedoms from people half way across the world who in NO WAY could actually deprive me of any actual freedom?

You sound paranoid and it sounds like you live your life in the hot pan news flashes.

Another anti-military American who can't see past the nose on their face I see. So tell me, if we had no military when Japan attacked us on Dec 7th, 1941 do you think they would have stopped at Hawaii? You don't understand that our freedoms have been secured for hundreds of years based on the fact other nations know we have people prepared to bring it should they try us? This has nothing to do with Iraq or Afghanistan, this is a basic fundamental principle that yes, your freedoms ARE protected by our military. You're welcome.

How cute, you think I have ceased debating you because you brought a difficult argument. No worries, our men and women will continue to serve to protect you and your freedoms even though you insult them. Isn't that cool of them?

Another anti-military American who can't see past the nose on their face I see. So tell me, if we had no military when Japan attacked us on Dec 7th, 1941 do you think they would have stopped at Hawaii? I know it is a stretch me assuming you even know what happened on that date. You don't understand that our freedoms have been secured for hundreds of years based on the fact other nations know we have people prepared to bring it should they try us? This has nothing to do with Iraq or Afghanistan, this is a basic fundamental principle that yes, your freedoms ARE protected by our military. You're welcome.

@vfibsux: 'the military' and you are not interchangeable.

Let's just say that many soldiers end up with.... Flawed character traits.

Edit: Also, why the **** do you have 73 year old officers on the streets? The latest reported shooting was a cop who mistook his gun for his tazer ffs.... I don't believe it till I read his age... 73??? that's 13 years too old for active duty, at best.

You remind me of those individuals after 9/11 who bitched and moaned and called people anti-military if they did not bend over and kiss their boots while supporting the "war" they were fighting. As I said earlier, your handlers have indoctrinated you well.

Myself, well, I prefer to view whats happening in terms of reality rather than from an emotional rant like you are doing. I know were supposed to believe G.I. Joe and the po po keep us free and civilized but that's not really the case. Your same lament reminds me of Vietnam and the tensions which lasted during and after the conflict. Peopple would protest the conflict and speak against it and the Joes would give you some b.s. how their fighting is what allows people to exercise rights and freedoms.

Since you mentioned Japan (and BTW our military was not great when Japan bombed Pearl) do you know what stopped Japan from seriously trying to invade and conquer? The people and the fact that we were/are a society where arms are a big part of our lives was the deterrent.

You make it seem like these people are forced against their will to join the army or become police officers. As far as I know conscription is illegal so men and women become soldiers/police officers by their own accord. Why do you think citizens should be so grateful to them? It's just like any other job. Working in the military for example gives you a lot of benefits that some people can only dream of. And the danger that the careers in general face are very overstated - being a police officer isn't even in the 10 deadliest jobs in the US.