Well, I successfully called that one.
Sad.
I have not followed the case closely, but this sounds like a very tough case. The police officer was chasing a suspect who was armed. To find the officer criminally responsible for not understanding that the suspect was throwing away his weapon, or to stop firing in less than 2 seconds from the time that happened, is a long stretch. On the facts as stated in the article, I think I would have voted to acquit, with no difficulty.
He was running away.
What if the police officer would have been White? Would you still have had no difficulty? This is not meant as a cutting remark or as snark in anyway. We have been almost conditioned to see police shootings in a certain way depending on the races and genders of those involved. I’ll admit that I have been, though I try to push myself not to be. Race would have effected my thoughts had I been on the jury though. Does that make me racist? I guess if I’m truly asking myself that question, I’m probably a lot better off than the people who never even consider how they think.
And yes, for some reason, I seem to be talking a lot today.
If the officer had good reason to believe that the guy running away was a major threat to others in the neighborhood, he had some justification for shooting at him. Otherwise, he had zero justification, since the officer could not be in jeopardy when he was the aggressor by running after him. I would have voted to convict the officer.
If the suspect is black there’s just a police mentality of it’s ok to unload your gun on them with no worry of being held accountable. That’s just the fucking bottom line.
Yes, I would have voted to acquit if he were white, brown, yellow or green with red polka dots.
The man was armed. A police officer who tells an armed suspect to stop and then shoots when he does not will not be convicted, and should not be. Suppose the suspect ran around a corner and turned and came out and shot the officer? Or turned to shoot without going around a corner? What would you say to the officer’s family?
And please don’t say that the officer should wait to shoot until the suspect actually tries to fire. Or should shoot to wound. That isn’t the way things go in the real world, whether the suspect is a black male or a blond white guy, or anyone else.
I cannot understand how the officer was not convicted in the Castille case last week. But this was a different matter.
I actually just asked–more or less–if the races would have made any difference. I can’t agree without you though; I really, really would have a problem with red polka dots. That’s just not natural.
Annnnd it’s 5:00, so cheers for the night.
OK now…so it ISN’T a ‘jury of your peers’ if you are a black person…
If an officer could be acquitted for killing Philando Castile, I am not shocked or surprised by this verdict.