No not really, remember the 1950's and 60's with racism going on, now onto the topic i think the officer overreacted. 

He was being sarcastic.

Oh my bad. 

No not really, remember the 1950's and 60's with racism going on, now onto the topic i think the officer overreacted. 

I was being 100% sarcastic.

It's all fun and games, until you're the victim it's happening to.

Edited September 26, 201411 yr by Dippa

I'll rip what I wrote on a friend's Facebook post about this topic. Watch the video on YouTube if you haven't already, and read at least one article about the trooper himself and you'll see what I see in the video and get a better understanding of what happened and why.

 

The deal is this: I know what the cops thought process was. Most people have their wallets in their pockets. The guy reached into the car to get his wallet and he (in theory) could have been going for a gun. However, the victim never "dove into the car" as the trooper put it, nor did the cop even wait for him to spin around. All within fractions of a second of each other, he said "Get your I.D., get out of the *bang bang bang* car get on the *bang* ground!" It's a literal case of shoot first ask questions later. He even fired a shot or two at him when he was standing away from the car with his hands up in the air. It's adrenaline and fear. The same trooper had been involved in a gun battle the previous year and is probably suffering from PTSD paranoia about people pulling weapons on him.

That being said; if it was me conducting the traffic stop, I would have stayed behind my cruiser door as cover, and had my hand on my weapon ready to pull it if I was a tad nervous, instructing him not to reach in. In an extreme case where I really felt threatened, I could have pulled my weapon and pointed it, ordering him to step away from the car. A person who's formally trained to use a pistol, already aiming at a target can get a shot off before an enemy target can raise a weapon from a down position to fire it.

Bottom line: I know what the cops though process was, and I have a theory (PTSD) as to why his thought process was that way, and why he shot so many times (adrenaline and fear). But this IS a case of bad police procedure. He was over protective of himself on a stop in a very crowded pubic place with more than one camera on a person who simply took his seat belt off too early. The trooper doesn't deserve to die or anything, but he deserves time in jail and some intensive psychological therapy for it. This incident didn't need to happen, and a well trained trooper of sound mind and body would have never done this.

I watched the video several times so to come to an educated opinion. Now I was a field training officer and I would have hoped that if the trooper had been one of my trainees that they would operate under a reasonable assumption that if you give a person a command that that person will follow that command. This person did not exhibit any signs of hostility or aggression nor did he appear to want to do anything but comply with the troopers order to get his i.d.The trooper acted on fear not based on his training. He was completely wrong in this shooting and has been terminated and charged accordingly. I was really surprised to see his response especially ordering him to the ground while still firing at him

I completely understand why the trooper did what he did. Being a cop is a VERY dangerous job, and people are out there to kill cops. When the trooper asked for his ID he didn't expect the guy to go straight into his car, and I don't blame the trooper, he's only trying to be safe. I think both parties did some things that should have been different.

 

I disagree with you, during my years of service and conducting a traffic stop i always positioned myself so that i was able to see the person's hands activities and if need be was in a safe position in case they did pull out something other then a wallet purse or Id. The officer made the wrong choice by telling the guy to get his license without aquiring a good visual first. Secondly over three shots is considered  overkill or trigger happy is you want to be blunt .

The cop wasn't thinking straight the first thing he should have done was to have the guy step away from the vehicle as a police explorer i know that is an important point they try to teach us all the time. Second if a guy did go back to the car like in this case the cop should have went backwards to take cover behind his door and yelled for him to get away from the car until he could see the guy actually had a weapon. Like Pavelow said he was probably still on edge from a previous shooting therefore not operating at full mental capacity. As for possibly facing up to 20 years thats rediculous, there are gangbangers out on the street that rob and shoot people and get less time ive heard of murderers getting less time

I disagree with you, during my years of service and conducting a traffic stop i always positioned myself so that i was able to see the person's hands activities and if need be was in a safe position in case they did pull out something other then a wallet purse or Id. The officer made the wrong choice by telling the guy to get his license without aquiring a good visual first. Secondly over three shots is considered  overkill or trigger happy is you want to be blunt .

 

Yes, all I was say is I understand why the trooper shot, and if you notice and the end of my post I stated, "Both parties could have done things differently."

 

The officer had no right to shoot him in anyway. He had the right to be suspicious about the guy, but as soon as he goes to get the licence THAT YOU ORDERED for him to get, ya shoot 'em? .... Seems like that the officer was a little trigger happy. The officer may have been in a firefight before this but, just think, you could have tazed him, called for back-up, and then checked the vehicle for any weapons and if he grabbed a gun or had one YOU WOULD SEE IT.  The officer could have been charged or prosecuted or whatever for the taze, but at least he wouldn't have killed him and serve many years in prison or whatever he has to do. This is just obscene and unlawful in my view.

Edited September 26, 201411 yr by OfficerAndrew