The family/hangers-on are simultaneous claiming conflicting things. That he left out of the vehicle and ran up the embankment “to draw fire away” form the vehicle… and that “he was surrendering”.
They can’t both be true of course. But when you are looking for any port in a storm when trying desperately to rationalize how your friend or family member, brought about his own death (when shit gets real) and ignore that this idiot repeatedly and publicly called for, his own martyrdom… well it seems you can only blame the “evil government” for what went down as your only “out” of your mental fever-swamp.
That these clowns are neck deep in, and predisposed to embrace, paranoia and conspiracy theory Derp™ certainly doesn’t help either.
The surest sign that someone is full of shit is that their story keeps changing fundamentally. That’s true of governments and individuals alike. I’m not talking about revising small details or corrections, but the whole thing. Here we have a family that initially said he was shot after surrendering on his knees and/or lying on the ground. Now, after the video has been released, they’re telling a whole different story.
LaVoy Finicum’s family is grieving and angry. I understand that. But these are also people who started out convinced that the federal government is one big oppressive, tyrannical conspiracy. I’m sure it’s easier for them to believe that Finicum was assassinated than to recognize that a whole series of illegal and foolish decisions on Finicum’s part led to his death, and that they themselves might have helped prevent it by dissuading him in the first place.
These clowns were screaming the SAME thing after the North Hollywood shootout. They claimed the cops REFUSED to let paramedics through at treat the wounded robbers and didn’t let them through until they bled out. That turned out to be poppycock, just like this will be.
And going for your waistband is an involuntary movement? Twice? Since when?
I get that all these conspiracy types always look for the explanation that makes the government the most evil. What I don’t understand is dishonoring what they see as “brave”. In their eyes you’re brave for refusing to go to jail or submit to the evil federal government, and exercising your second amendment rights is the noblest way to go. Until it happens, then all of a sudden they are all talking about how you were a peaceful law abiding citizen complying with the police when you were gunned down in cold blood. Wasn’t there an interview with one of his children who said this was how he wanted to go, or at least he’d prefer this over losing his freedom (just like he said when he was alive). I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the inconsistency of conspiracy theorists…
My guess is that many people will never give up the belief that Finicum was murdered.
Police shootings are often justified by law enforcement with the twin claims that: (1) the deceased was armed or was reasonably believed to be armed, and (2) the deceased made motions that were reasonably perceived as “going for the gun.” The police are usually supported if both those claims are accepted.
Some Finicum supporters are attacking point 1 by claiming that he was not armed. We’ll find out eventually, but that is really beside the point. There are many images of Finicum wearing a shoulder holster under his left arm and law enforcement agents at the scene surely had a reasonable belief that he was armed. Others supporters are attacking point 2 by claiming that Finicum never reached in the direction of the (possible) left-side gun. But the video shows his hand reaching in that direction and, absent more, the discussion is really over.
But there is more. The final attack (again on point 2) is that law enforcement began firing before Finicum reached for the gun and that what appears to be “reaching” is merely an involuntary reaction. This attack can’t be disproved until all the evidence is revealed, which means it will be viable for a very long time. And, because it feeds into the mindset that the Feds are murderers, true believers will never accept contrary evidence if and when it emerges.
That’s the true beauty of a conspiracy theory, really.
Yep, consistency is not what you should be looking for. But this particular inconsistency is of a piece with other loony right-wing beliefs. It’s brave to talk about shooting law-enforcement officers, or to point guns at them. It’s not brave to get shot and killed in the process of doing so, because that means you lost. So you have to be an innocent martyr, because that’s brave again.
(It’s a little like the anti-choice nutters who claim to think that abortion is murder, but never consider the idea that logically that would entail women to go to jail for hiring a contract killer. Although many of those have lately been perfectly willing to let their misogyny trump their last remaining shreds of decency.)
Because the FBI had already made the fake video the day before showing him shot at the second barricade. You wouldn’t want them to waste tax dollars by making a whole new video, would you? Simple, really…
It’s interesting to me that the family really wants people to believe that Mr. Finicum was not serious when he said he would rather die than be taken alive. In other words, really not a man of strong convictions, but rather a coward. Of course, he wanted to die and he got his wish.
Believe they need any excuse that when thrown against a wall sticks… otherwise with the suicide by cop the life insurance company has an out and will not pay.
Cause it is hard to believe. The guy ran a road block, tried to run the other and hit someone with a car. The Cox story is already wrong by the video. Or at least not complete. He does have his hands up but then he reaches twice into his coat and may or may not have drawn a weapon.
Seems like cause to me given the things he said and others have said. And that they were armed and hated the government. This iwll not change their minds, but the conspiracy stuff is old. The guy will be a hero to the militia movement but nobody else.
It is funny with the coverage of this in general. A black kid gets shot by police and the conservatives run out of the wordwork to defend the police. Here they seem confused.
Not surprising (sadly) that Ted Cruz would have such a nutter for a state chairman. Not much vetting of key personnel apparently. These days the nutters seem to be coming out of the woodwork everywhere. Not good times.
