We cannot have it both ways- we can’t keep passing SYG Laws and EXPECT people to immediately comply with Police commands to drop a weapon.
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Another “important piece of evidence” would be if the cops told the fuckin truth about what happened.
I’m typing slowly. The cop who shot the homeowner was not threatened. If he was actually threatened, he would have emptied his clip and his partner would have,too. Simultaneously. There is no evidence that cops who are actually threatened in Charleston, SC stop shooting until they are out of bullets. The "important piece of evidence " is the ammo clips with unfired rounds remaining.
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This is a hard one. If it went down as the officer said I think the officer is in the clear, but if he didn’t give the homeowner a chance to drop his gun I might change my mind. The homeowner was either in his doorway or on his porch.
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I would put very little credibility in what the police are saying. They have been proven themselves to be liars. They are the last people I would believe. I want to hear the poor man who was shot by them. I bet they did not even tell him to drop the gun but instead immediately opened fire or only gave him a split second to respond and then shot him.
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“The man was either leaving or standing at the back door of the house and was armed. One of the two deputies shot him after he refused to drop his gun, Watson said.”
The police may be telling the truth, but I would not take it as given. We’ve had too many instances where what happened does not match what the police say happened.
Unfortunately I doubt we’ll really know in this case seeing as there were no body cameras. Perhaps the dashboard camera caught something.
Umm, I assumed it was obvious that my comment was based on the article being correct in how the incident played out. I didn’t really think it was necessary to say out loud “ASSUMING THIS IS REALLY WHAT HAPPENED” I think the majority of readers automatically assumed my comment was based on the story as reported. So Umm calm down skeeter, ain’t nobody trying to make you believe anything.
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If the police are telling the truth I think this is merely tragic. But that’s a mighty big if.
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I totally agree. Recent history proves that being given the benefit of the doubt is a white privilege.
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There’s no doubt that if the homeowner was white, he would not have been seen as a threat the way the black homeowner was. I’ll just say this, if it was me (I’m white) I would have dropped the gun. (Whether the cops are being truthful, well that’s a whole other story)
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Think I’m just gonna have to wait before I come to any conclusions. One thing that has to be kept in mind is that sometimes 911 calls are made to set the police up for an ambush.
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I’m still wondering who actually made the call. It’s uncertain to me if the homeowner who got shot was the one on the 911 call. Considering the potential with current police affairs, who’s to say the invaders didn’t stop still within sight of the trailer and call police, knowing the liklihood of a shooting based on the homeowner being a black man armed with a gun?
More information being released should clear this up.
Citations?
Walter Scott didn’t have a gun either, but that didn’t stop him from being shot in the back.
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Yes, the police did not know whether the man on the porch was the burglar or not. He might even have refused to drop the gun. Even so, THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT OK TO SHOOT HIM.
Jesus, it may not be obvious, but it’s possible to find out. Call out the guy’s name: “Mr. Wilson! Put the gun down!” And if you don’t know the name of the caller, find out. Wait a few minutes. If he is the prep, you’ve got him cornered. He’s not going anywhere.
You defuse the situation.
Ask Questions First. Shoot Later.
It’s a weird idea, but it might be time to reverse conventional wisdom on this.
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Oh, I see, if he empties the clip, he took too many shots. If he does not, he did not take enough shots.
I’ll wait for more facts to emerge.
Of course they knew he was the perp and not the home owner… he was black. D’uh.
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No, but he was a black man, confronted in his own house by the police who were responding to a burglary call–he’d locked himself out and had been seen crawling into his own window. After he identified himself as the homeowner, he was lured out onto the front porch and arrested. My point is that he’s lucky the Cambridge police didn’t feel “threatened” and shoot him.
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Bull Phucky… just another Thug-w-Badge. I’m white but have still had similar experiences with cops when they have been called to the neighborhood. Example: I owned a double home, the tenets were having a BBQ on a hot summers evening with friends. A neighbor called police, stating loud noise, drugs, etc. I had just gotten home and since I had saddles in the car after some vigorous riding, while date was cleaning saddles, I was washing car. Did not need that smell to fester on a hot muggy summers night in a closed car. One cop showed up and approached the BBQ’er. He asked who the owner was and when they pointed to me he came over. He said not a word but demanded that I call my parents. When I asked why he demanded to speak to the owners. I told him I was the owner. Again he demanded to speak to my parents. When I said he had better call his Sargent he pulled his gun and screamed and swore as he held me at gunpoint. At that point my tenets called 911. Sargent and a couple of squads came blazing down the dead end street, one actually crashed into the barrier at end of street. Sargent talked to cop holding me at gunpoint, then he talked to me. All he could say as he shook his head rookies… that was 1970, not much difference today, no improvement, no training, etc.
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Hoocoodanode that bullets don’t distinguish between “good guys” and “bad guys”? Also, this would seem to give credence to the argument that all police officers should be wearing body cameras. Notwithstanding the possibility of tampering, I think visual evidence would be a good thing for both the police and the accused. There is, however, no question in my mind that we have reached “peak gun” in this country, and it’s well past time to step back. Weapons do not make you any “safer,” at best they equalize the situation. Unfortunately, once lead is thrown, there is no telling where it will end up. Ban the NRA, they are a terrorist organization at this point.
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There’s no point speculating what happened here - this is a confusing situation for sure. Hopefully the dashboard cams clear some of this up. I will say this - based on those 911 calls, I don’t envy the situation those officers were put in, but again, it remains to be seen what actually happened.