Cops shoot and kill good samaritan

[Kchristy]

Tosh.0 Production Assistant Gets Killed by Police

Posted Friday, April 11th 2014 @ 8am

According to the Los Angeles Times, John Winkler, a production assistant for Tosh.0, went to a neighbor's apartment Monday night to try to help three people who were being held captive at knife point on Monday night.

Officers responding to the call shot Winkler when he was running from the apartment with one of the victims.

Winkler was shot once and died later that night at a local hospital.

In a statement, the Sheriff Department said:

As deputies continued attempts to contact the people in the apartment, the apartment door suddenly opened and a male victim came rushing out. He was covered in blood and bleeding profusely from the neck. Simultaneously, Victim Winkler ran out of the door, lunging at the back of the fleeing victim. Both ran directly at the deputies. Winkler was similar to the description of the suspect and was wearing a black shirt. Believing Winkler was the assailant and the assault was ongoing and he would attack the entry team; three deputies fired their duty weapons at him.

Devin Richardson, a friend of Winkler, said to the Los Angeles Times, It's just a really sad story...He basically went to help some neighbors and ends up getting shot."

Winkler had only been living in Los Angeles for 6 months at the time.

DEADLY MISTAKE: TV producer mistakenly killed by deputies in West Hollywood http://t.co/6zQoeHChsv pic.twitter.com/qrBSsWYTSf
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) April 10, 2014

Remember, if someone is trying to kill you or someone else, the cops may not take time to favorably assess the situation before acting "for officer safety." I really wish they would think about "citizen safety" once in a while though.

[ChemicalReaper]

It's also concerning that three deputies discharged firearms (presumably each person fired more than once), and only one bullet actually hit its intended target.

[RockIsland]

Wow, that really sucks! Good for him for trying to save his neighbors' lives. It's a shame that the LAPD killed him for it. I really like Tosh .0. It's one of the funniest shows on tv.

[RXM]

They must get their training from Spetsnaz operators. Glad to see they went home safe.

[unclejumbo]

And if they had stood there assessing the situation while a bad guy plunged a knife into the back of a victim, the same folks would be here criticizing their actions.

It's a terrible set of circumstances with Winkler dressed similarly to the assailant, and tripping/lunging/sprinting toward an obviously injured person. I guarantee in a shoot/don't shoot scenario, it would be a coin toss as to whether you make the right call.

[RXM]

And if they had stood there assessing the situation while a bad guy plunged a knife into the back of a victim, the same folks would be here criticizing their actions.

It's a terrible set of circumstances with Winkler dressed similarly to the assailant, and tripping/lunging/sprinting toward an obviously injured person. I guarantee in a shoot/don't shoot scenario, it would be a coin toss as to whether you make the right call.

You need to get on the bandwagon and start joining in on the Monday morning quarterbacking and cop bashing...err...never mind...

[normanvin]

And if they had stood there assessing the situation while a bad guy plunged a knife into the back of a victim, the same folks would be here criticizing their actions.

It's a terrible set of circumstances with Winkler dressed similarly to the assailant, and tripping/lunging/sprinting toward an obviously injured person. I guarantee in a shoot/don't shoot scenario, it would be a coin toss as to whether you make the right call.

Hey I'm ok. They did not shoot a dog.

[unclejumbo]

Besides, he was an aspiring TV producer. They may have saved us from the next Honey Boo Boo or Dancing with Homeless Addicts.

[Hawk]

IANACH (I Am Not A COP Hater).

More:

"As it turns out, police are not the indiscriminate murderers some of us make them out to be. They are actually very careful to treat their own kind with a certain level of dignity and respect. As was the case in West Hollywood earlier this week, when the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department gunned down John Winkler, a 30 year old production assistant for the Comedy Central show Tosh.0.
Of course, it wasn’t John Winkler they treated with respect. It was the knife wielding attacker, who they had far more in common with.
On April 7th, Winkler went to his neighbors Santa Monica Boulevard apartment after hearing screams. His neighbors were being held hostage by a man with a knife, and Winkler was attempting to help, according to Winkler’s friend Devin Richardson.
CBS Photo from Scene of John Winkler’s Shooting

Simultaneously, deputies were responding to a call about an assailant with a knife inside one of the units. Upon their arrival, they were told by a witness that there were two men in the apartment and that the assailant was a thin white man wearing a black shirt. As the deputies approached the door of the apartment, they announced themselves, and shortly after, two men came bursting through the door. One, bleeding profusely from the neck, and behind him, a thin white male in a black shirt.
Deputies opened fire, striking both the bleeding victim, and said thin white male, who turned out to be Winkler – not the attacker. It seems the officers had thought they had done a fine job, standing over the young producers corpse, before they heard “sounds of a fight coming from inside the apartment,”. Investigating those sounds, they entered the apartment to find Alexander McDonald choking a third victim. This seemed like a fine time to holster their weapons, and take McDonald into custody, and charge him with the murder they had just committed."

[StonewallRabbitry]

If any one of use non badge wearing gun owners would have made the same "mistake" we would be in jail, but since they have a magical badge the most they will get is some paid time off