I don’t understand why he had to shoot him in the first place. He was walking away from the officers. Once he’s down he is shot 16 more times. Fuck!!!
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Not one person checked on this kid. They just left him lying in the street (of course, after he took 17 bullets, I guess the point was moot) but this was murder. No doubt about it in my mind.
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Good point. Sleasiness abounds
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If ONLY there had been a good guy nearby with a gun this could have been avoi…OH, wait a frackin’ minute!
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Exactly. He was walking away in the middle of the street. He had a small knife and posed no threat. That’s a good question as to whose dash cam we are watching from, He should NEVER have been shot in the first place but then Van Dyke decides to pour 16 more bullets into the kid. WTF???
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I think the little kick was to kick the knife away, at least that’s my guess. Just another macho move to make himself feel tough, I’m sure. Pretty obvious, after pumping 16 bullets in the guy, that the knife didn’t present any danger.
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What is the back story here? Why were the cops chasing the guy? It does not appear the man was an immediate threat (AT ALL) to the cops. I understand the cops originally swore the man lunged at the shooting officer–which is obviously not true … so why were they even chasing him?
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This video shows exactly why the police were threatening to arrest anyone that didn’t clear the scene. The Police were running witnesses away from the scene!
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BECAUSE HE (WAS) BLACK
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And the city raised taxes to fund Police and FIre pensions, and is currently begging Springfield for money for the teachers. Maybe if the city dealt with Police misconduct years ago, it could pay it’s obligations.
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No, Illinois first degree includes lesser included crimes. Illinois got burnt this year when a cop was acquitted by a judge because, and it’s really screwed up, the prosecution didn’t charge him with first degree and the judge said he was basically guilty of first degree so he couldn’t convict him on lesser (it makes no sense, I know) They want to make sure they’ve covered bases.
No one in the legal community can make sense of it.
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BTW, Burger King confirmed that several officers entered the store and deleted 90 minutes of recorded video. So again, we have one guy charged with the shooting, but what about the cops that helped cover this up? This is why the city was quick to settle.
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And no one renders aid.
Edit: Oops, I see CVilleDem mentioned this downthread as well.
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I’m not too sure about that. One shot? Maybe. 15 shots, almost all with him on the ground? He even RELOADED while the kid was on the ground. And NONE of the cops there said the kid was posing ANY kind of a threat whatsoever. In fact other officers have stated they did not think ANY use of force was necessary, that he ran away when he heard sirens. I think jury deliberations will be about an hour and he is found guilty. Shooting a guy 15 times while on the ground, and it’s on video. He’s toast.
Oh, he also has 18 complaints against him for misconduct and excessive force.
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So much for the frequent claim of law enforcement that police o!icers only fire their weapons when the suspect poses an immediate, lethal threat.
Once again, we see evidence that the vetting process for determining the emotional stability of individuals who wish to become police officers – to see how well they handle stressful situations – is completely inadequate.
Bottom line: if you, an armed police officer, regard a person not in possession of a firearm – and who is walking AWAY from you – to be making you “fear for your life”, then you are clearly ill-suited for this line of employment.
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They got a report of a guy weilding a knife, and he had slashed a tire of a cop car. You can see the one kid point toward him as the police pull up, showing them where he was. So they had every right to be there, and all the cops there were fine…except of course the one who committed murder… All cops that were there said he posed no threat, and no use of force was necessary, never mind a gun. This asshole is going down big time, as he should.
Better write up here, including showing what TPM is not showing, that the cops at the scene did NOT back this asshole up, despite what you are seeing in some comments.
The reason why people are saying the cops were backing up this guy is because they did not release the video immediately, but that happens all the time.
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I think the poster meant the kick the poor soul’s body does absorbing 15 murderous high velocity bullets.
As for why they were chasing him, it looked like something had gone down at that small business (fast food?) place where the cop turned his vehicle around.
They did not release the video until a freelance journalist filed a suit and a judge decided the tape had to be released. Which coincidentally is why the officer is being charged now.
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You can see at least one “poof” of smoke as they shoot his body as it lies on the ground.
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?? All cops at the scene said no use of force whatsoever was necessary.