Cop got acquitted. Disgusting, but not surprising. Watch below at your own risk: Have to be honest, if I had money I'd be offering it to anyone who can provide proof they killed Philip Brailsford (the officer giving the commands).
We only saw the video and while I agree the video shows the cop shooting the guy and it looks preventable we don't really know. We did see the guy reaching as if he had a gun and that's what the cop, the guy with his life on the line, saw. If he did have a gun in his belt then we would consider this a fair shooting, eh? He was told to not reach his hand toward his belt or he would be shot and the poor dumb fucker did exactly that. The asshole cop's attitude is the very reason I can't stand fucking cops.
He saw that because that's what he wanted to see. They were waiting for a reason. That guy was dead the minute he came around the corner. They put him in that position purposefully, with every intention of killing him from the beginning. The crazy instructions, unnecessary escalation of tension, continual threats. They were clearing themselves, covering their asses for what they knew would happen.
It's important to note that the cop speaking is not the cop who shot the kid, that's not immediately obvious from the video. I agree that the cop speaking really lives up to the term "pig". On the other hand, why in God's name did the kid reach towards his pants like that? That video definitely upset me, but I can see why the jury didn't convict. It's easy to sit back with 20/20 hindsight and criticize the video frame by frame, but real life isn't like that and he did reach. These have to be some of the dumbest cops I've ever seen though. Their orders were needlessly complex, and did you see how it took them like half a minute to open that hotel door? "Huh it's locked", "Oh yeah KEYCARD KEYCARD!" Dumbfucks
You're assuming you're right. When the dude was shot neither the cop or us knew if he had a gun in his belt but if he did have one then we saw him reaching for it. The cop should have had him turn around and raise his shirt so he'd know but he didn't. Your logic is that since you can read minds then you know what the cop intended to do and he made a plan for murder and then carried it out. Maybe he did but we don't know that with enough certainty to kill the cop.
The idea that they set out to kill this guy is a bit of a reach. They got a call about a rifle pointed out the window, maybe that was an exaggeration, maybe not, but were expecting to deal with people who were potentially armed. Combine that with the kid's reach and I don't think I could vote to convict either if I was a juror. Other things like the other cop's disgusting attitude and the fact that this kid was clearly terrified make the video hard to watch, but the actual shoot looks defensible. Watching that video, I went in skeptical but that clear reaching motion is hard to argue with. I was like "Why kid? Why?!"
Absolutely terrible. We are ruled by bureaucracies. The cop got acquitted because "technically" he did nothing wrong, since the kid did make the gesture towards his hips. That gesture is what makes the shooting legally justified. Like it or not, that is the bureaucracy that currently governs this for us. That same bureaucracy trained and psych-evaluated that officer and cleared him for duty. To any one of us watching this from the comfort of our screens, there are a dozen better ways that could have been handled.
The cop shot an unarmed man. He deserves a bullet in the head. No trial, no jury, no goodbye to his family. Just his brains spread across a shitty motel floor. That is all he afforded to the victim, and he deserves nothing more for himself.
This is truly shocking and disturbing to view. What compounds it though is the usual suspects out making excuses for the cops. This is murder, pure and simple.
I guess the reason they weren't willing to just approach him and cuff him was they were worried there was still someone armed in the hotel room, so they didn't want to walk in front of the door to arrest him, which seems reasonable enough. I'm no fan of police in general, but I can't really figure out how to argue against reasonable fear when the guy does appear to reach toward the small of his back or his waist. First rule of interacting with police is don't reach.
In what other scenario is someone touching their back a justifiable reason to murder them? I agree its not a good thing to do with cops, but it is that way because police have been trained to have a shoot first mentality. What if the roles were reversed, and someone thought a cop was about to pull a gun and shoot them without cause? Do they then have the right to shoot the cop due to reasonable fear? Hell no, they would go to prison, if the other officers let them make it that far. Sorry but cops shouldn't have special treatment that allows them to murder people more easily.
Of course they are trained to shoot first, if you wait until you actually see a gun to shoot it's too late. This whole situation is shitty, but they were told the guy might be armed and he did make a clear reaching motion before they shot him. It's not really special treatment, civilians can also use deadly force in Arizona if they can demonstrate reasonable fear, and the Supreme Court has made some rulings supporting justifiable homicide against police in some situations. Granted, juries tend to be much more reluctant to convict cops than regular citizens, but what can you do, it's a jury.
By that logic it would be ok to shoot the cop. It is guaranteed that he has a gun, therefore his movement establishes reasonable fear. Putting your hand somewhere isn't reasonable fear when the guy is on the ground and trying to comply with orders. It is a complete double standard and one that many people are sick and tired of dealing with. The guy committed no crime, had no gun, and was crawling on the ground when that asshole murdered him. Shit like this is why cops are getting ambushed and killed, and they are too fucking dumb to realize that they brought it on themselves with the mentality that it is acceptable to kill anyone as long as you can "justify" it according to policy.
He may or may not have committed a crime, if the 911 call was accurate he probably did, but that's beside the point. They had reports he was armed, and yeah he was complying, but then he reaches behind his back for no clear reason. Go on Youtube and check out some clips of cops getting shot. One second the person is calm and compliant, split second later they are shooting. I get that you don't like cops, but try to see it from their point of view before you break out your torch and pitchfork.
I think I read somewhere dude had on basketball shorts, y'all try and crawl on your knees in those...they'll be around your ankles in no time... It doesn't matter what happened beforehand or your view on the police. We should be able to trust the police to police themselves but they are deterring from their training and getting sloppy. It's a messy, disgusting cycle and someone needs to be held accountable....the whole goddamn system has been failing us forever. This cop was an inexperienced, trigger-happy little asshole. I don't care how podunk of a town you're in, there's a senior officer with more training that should be on the front lines. Not a two year old rookie cop who was waiting for some shit like this. Didn't his rifle have "you're fucked" carved into or something? Why? This isn't Nazi Germany, it's fucking Arizona. If I am ever in a situation like this, I ain't moving for shit...they can just shoot for me for not complying & playing dead...because that's exactly what's gonna happen. You're not going to scream and yell confusing orders at me while I'm terrified and catch me slipping. Fuck that. Fuck a bad cop.
Maybe that is because they know that the cop will not comply with orders. Shooting an innocent person is shooting an innocent person. It doesn't matter if they are a cop or a homeless drug addict. If police want to continue with their current mentality then that is their prerogative. I am just not surprised when they receive the same treatment. People will only take so much bullshit.