“Ex-Marine” Who SWATted Black Shopper To Death in Walmart Changes His Story

[priell3]

“Ex-Marine” Who SWATted Black Shopper To Death in Walmart Changes His Story

Bearing Arms was the first to note that there was something wrong with the stories of April and Ronnie Ritchie, two white shoppers in a Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart who were trailing black shopper John Crawford III through the store as he carried a BB gun sold by the retail giant.

Ronnie Ritchie called 911 and claimed that Crawford was walking around the store pointing a rifle at other shoppers. The police response was immediate and overwhelming, and Crawford was shot and killed within seconds when Beavercreek officers arrived at the scene.

Ritchie is now changing his story:

http://bearingarms.com/ex-marine-swa...changes-story/

[ray h]

The "ex-Marine should be charged with a false report and the cop should be charged with murder.
We've got to start holding the trigger pullers responsible and not the people behind the scenes. I equate this to a no-knock invasion where the judge issued a warrant that he shouldn't have, the trigger puller is the guy on the scene and the one who makes the last and most important decision in a chain of poor decisions. The trigger puller has to have some culpability for the decisions he makes.

[GunLawyer001]

Some flavor of a murder charge sounds like it might be appropriate.

Walmarts videotape pretty much every foot of their stores, so there's an objective record of what the deceased did, and a recording of what the fake marine told the cops.

It's certainly possible that the deceased was negligent in letting the muzzle sweep other shoppers, regardless of whether it was loaded or just an empty BB gun. I've seen people do that. It's rude, and causes consternation.

It's also possible that it was one of the many realistic Airsoft guns that Walmart sells, that look a lot like M4 carbines.

But the key parts, if the fake marine lied about the gun being loaded, or aimed at people, would be critical to what the cops understood when they arrived on scene. We expect cops to respond appropriately, we expect them to show up to Columbine and shoot the rampaging kids at the first opportunity. So if you lie to them, if you tell the cops "he's killed already" or "he loaded up the gun and he's stalking people" or whatever, then the cops are expected to factor that in to their understanding of the situation.

I think that the cops probably over-reacted to what they thought they knew, and they certainly over-reacted to the true situation. But the guy who started this was the fake marine. And he should be criminally prosecuted for his "activism".

[Deleted]

The "ex-Marine should be charged with a false report and the cop should be charged with murder.
We've got to start holding the trigger pullers responsible and not the people behind the scenes. I equate this to a no-knock invasion where the judge issued a warrant that he shouldn't have, the trigger puller is the guy on the scene and the one who makes the last and most important decision in a chain of poor decisions. The trigger puller has to have some culpability for the decisions he makes.

Why would any of the officers be responsible in this case? Their decisions were based on the information they had at the time and based on that information known AT THAT TIME. The only question would be as to if their actions were reasonable.

[ray h]

At what point do we get sick of saying "the police overreacted but......."?
Is it time yet?

[spacemanvic]

Those two a-holes should be charged with false reporting and 1st degree murder. And then for his dad to hear his son breathing his last on the cell phone, just not right.

As for the cops, they rolled into a situation based on wrong intel, not their fault.

[Mitch10mm]

Why would any of the officers be responsible in this case? Their decisions were based on the information they had at the time and based on that information known AT THAT TIME. The only question would be as to if their actions were reasonable.

I agree. The couple are to blame and should be held accountable. They were giving the police damning information. In their shoes I don't see a way I would have reacted any different.

[spacemanvic]

At what point do we get sick of saying "the police overreacted but......."?
Is it time yet?

Dispatch told them the rifle was loaded and the gunman was waving it around. Add in the adrenalin....the guys that made the SWATTING call deserve all the blame.

[ray h]

Why would any of the officers be responsible in this case? Their decisions were based on the information they had at the time and based on that information known AT THAT TIME. The only question would be as to if their actions were reasonable.

They should be held responsible because they were there, they were the eyes on the ground, they had their finger on the trigger. The most unreliable source of information is a witness, you should know that, all police should know that.
They took a witness report and used it as an excuse for their poor judgement at the scene. Lets take away the witness report and say the officer was shopping and saw a guy carrying a rifle, should he have just shot him? certainly not.
The guys on the ground with their finger on the trigger have the final decision, anything else is a cop out. It's called critical thinking. Know who your target is.

[ray h]

Dispatch told them the rifle was loaded and the gunman was waving it around. Add in the adrenalin....

Dispatch told them what an unknown person on a phone told them to say. Adrenalin isn't a factor, the cops are professionals, it's what we pay them for, absolutely no excuse.