NYPD Shoots Unarmed Motorist

[ewrski]

This seems like an anger shooting to me.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/ny...l?ref=nyregion

[jerkin]

I'm guessing he needed a few weeks off and was out of vacation time.

[Ruger402]

I'm going to preface by saying, we do only have 1 aide to this story, and I like to give police officers the benefit of the doubt but man this story sounds pretty bad!!! It sounds like a bunch of tacticool types amped up on red bull out for a night of no nock warrants!!!!!

[RXM]

If we take the article at face value and this was a bad shoot by the NYPD, he'll probably just get fired. On the other hand, if that were any of us mere civilians, we'd be in jail.

[American1776]

From what the article reports, this is absolutely terrifying. All we have to go by is the article at this point, and I don't have a reason to doubt what is there. (Until I have evidence to doubt it, I'll assume it went down like witnesses say it did).

I'll preface this by saying I am not anti-LEO. I have friends who are LEO's. They are good people. But, it's terrifying that some LEO's can and will shoot anyone of us, with witnesses right next to you, because they are pissed, or don't like your face, or had a bad day, or whatever.

What's even more terrifying is that the top brass will outright lie about recent police shootings, reassuring the public that it was JUSTIFIED for NYPD officers to accidentally shoot 8 innocent bystanders. Or that it was JUSTIFIED to shoot the man running from a store robber. These are NOT JUSTIFIED shootings. At best, they are accidental (and therefore, EXCUSED). More likely, they were purely negligent and therefore not even excusable. But to say they are justified is to say they were right to do what they did---that's outrageous and nefarious to tell such things to the public.

Would it be JUSTIFIED if any one of us armed citizens accidentally shot 8 innocent bystanders while protecting ourselves from assault? (it wouldn't even be excused) Would it be JUSTIFIED if we shot the wrong man?

It's becoming a very scary world it seems. Philly PD fires an LEO who pimp slaps a clown at a parade, but all these LEO's seem to be immune from any such punishment when outright negligent (or premeditated) homicides and shootings enter the picture.

What is going on here?

[DaveM55]

I'm guessing he needed a few weeks off and was out of vacation time.

And you base this wild assumption on what facts?

I'm going to preface by saying, we do only have 1 aide to this story, and I like to give police officers the benefit of the doubt but man this story sounds pretty bad!!! It sounds like a bunch of tacticool types amped up on red bull out for a night of no nock warrants!!!!!

Simply inflammatory remarks. No facts of what they might have been drinking, what they were wearing or what they were doing.

Ok I'd like to hear a lot more facts about the case. If there were three people in the car I'd like to hear the other two witnesses statements.

The statement that jumps out at me is by Edward Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. “For the most part, they are all coming back as justified. This is the first one that’s up for question.” What does he mean for the most part? For the most part is not acceptable.

[ewrski]

A few additional items came up.

One of the passengers in the car was an Off Duty NYPD Officer.

The guy who was killed had 2 jobs plus was in the NY National Guard.

No guns found in the car (the officer was unarmed) though a power drill was in there..

Seems like a complete mess again.

[Jon Doe]

Do any of you remember the Sean Bell shooting? In that case Bell had no gun in the car but he brushed a cop's leg with his car and collided with a police van when he accelerated.

This one is even worse because they found no gun, the car was stationary and the deceased made no attempt to assault or hurt the officers

[GunLawyer001]

This looks pretty bad for the cop, it looks an awful lot like road rage with a badge.

It's particularly disturbing that the PD can't even offer a reasonable explanation, after a full search of the vehicle, after a while to get their stories straight, and they STILL have nothing.

If a non-cop shot another driver under similar circumstances, he'd be in custody right now. No doubt about it. Remove the part about the cops pulling him over for the bad driving, let's say that you and another driver stopped at the same traffic light, and you jumped out and shot the other driver, and you had no particular explanation. You'd be in jail, pending murder charges.

This doesn't even have the usual "I stepped in front of his car and then felt threatened because his car was aimed at me" story that has become so popular in police shootings of unarmed people lately.

Very troubling, I anxiously await the story they cobble together to explain why this is not road-rage murder.

[SHTF]

Everybody aware about brotherhood in Leo ranks and how they protect each other but sometimes they are separate them selfs from regular citizens and won't accept that one of their own did something bad and has to be punished.

It seems like its always us (cops) against them (gen. Pop.).

And the worst part is that most of these cover ups are favors for past or future coverups for other cops. Each cop feels comfortable knowing that if he messes up others will cover him same way.

Just want to add that nothing will come out from this story. Victims witnesses are what you call unreliable. One with two DUI and another is a cop busted for shoplifting. On the other side you have elite emergency unit cops. Almost untouchables. If other cops can see a gun instead of a wallet expect power drill found in a car being a key detail.