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Originally Posted by fxashun  What we do know is that we have a team of armed plain clothes officers who "say" that they heard one of these men get into a confrontation and say he was going to get a gun. But they didn't get a gun, they got in a vehicle and were leaving the scene. So these plain clothes officers decided to stop these men who they admit were already in a confrontation and trying to leave. Before it was over, they had shot 50 rounds and a man who had committed no crime yet is dead. That is my opinion of the situation.
And no I don't "know" that the race of the victims amplified the situation, but again, I know that it has happened in the past, and there had to be something that makes a human being fire that many rounds at another human being that is not firing back. I don't see where they might have thought that was okay. And even if they DID think it was okay to do it, they should not be policemen. Because it isn't okay to shoot 50 times at another unarmed unthreatening human being. Especially when you are purposely dressed as a plain citizen.
I read a synopsis of the judges verdict. And I can't disagree with his conclusion that the prosecution presented a weak case and the witnesses had poor credibility. | I actually agree with the judge's opinion that several of the prosecution witnesses testimonies contradicted.
But that takes us back to my original point. Yes, police have discretion to use deadly force to ptotect themselves and any innocent parties in deadly situations. But where was the threat? Words? Sorry, not considered to be a viable excuse to believe the officers were in danger by me.
My other issue- at what point in time did the officer who fired 31 times 1) decide he was in mortal danger to make him need to use his weapon; and 2) Why did he even stop firing? What changed to make him think that he was no longer in danger?
My guess is that these officers suddenly realized that they hadn't even been fired upon. And somewhere between several re-loadings of his weapon one of these officers woke up to this fact.
I am sure that the US Justice Department- if not the US Attorney General- will be reviewing this information and transcripts of the trial. I'm going to offer my opinion that these officer will be found guilty of use of excessive force, and possibly a wrongful death civil suit will follow.
Having said all of this; what really set me off was that only one of the officers even acknowledged the fact that parents lost a son, a woman lost her husband-to-be, and children lost a father. You could tell from his post-trial statement that he felt true remorse at this whole situation; while the other officers and their spokesman were "thumping their chests" thanking the judge and reminding the remorseful officer that he should thank the judge also.
The next few weeks and months will be tense in New York, to say the least. |