Another unarmed black teenager killed by police

[laughing dog]

Jordan Edwards (15) was shot in the head by a suburban Dallas Police officer late Saturday and died. Initially, the police reported that he was a passenger in a car that was backing towards the police in an aggressive manner. That report has now been corrected because video shows the car was moving forwards. The police chief now says "“After reviewing the video, I don’t believe that (the shooting) met our core values.”
(source: “After reviewing the video, I don’t believe that (the shooting) met our core values.”).

This teenager was unarmed. He had not been charged with a crime. Apparently firing into a moving vehicle is not viewed as an effective police action:

Many major law enforcement agencies, federal officials and policing experts advise against shooting into moving vehicles, according to a 2015 investigation by the Guardian. The risk of harming an innocent party is too great, the Guardian reported, and the shots don’t often stop the vehicle.

In 2016, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department — the largest sheriff’s department in the United States — wrote a new policy essentially banning officers from firing into a moving vehicle unless they feel threatened by something else, such as a weapon.

This is just another goddamn tragedy caused by reckless police action.

 

[RavenSky]

Another heartbroken mom for the Mothers of the Movement club. I don't even know what to say beyond that.

 

[Toni]

Another heartbroken mom for the Mothers of the Movement club. I don't even know what to say beyond that.

Except: What is wrong with people? Seriously: what is wrong with people that we think that police shooting into a car full of kids is ok? That arresting a 10 year old for an incident that happened months earlier is ok?

My heart breaks for the family and friends of that young boy. And the community as a whole.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I'm sue well have plenty of people looking into the kids background to show that he (or a distant relative) was a thug and deserved it for being a passenger.

 

[ZiprHead]

From what I've read, he was a smart kid, beloved by his teachers and coach and had never been in trouble before.

The cops were there to investigate a noise complaint. The kid and his friends were leaving the party as the police arrived. How this went from a noise complaint to weapons drawn is still unclear.

ETA: I understand the cop was fired.

 

[LordKiran]

From what I've read, he was a smart kid, beloved by his teachers and coach and had never been in trouble before.

The cops were there to investigate a noise complaint. The kid and his friends were leaving the party as the police arrived. How this went from a noise complaint to weapons drawn is still unclear.

ETA: I understand the cop was fired.

Can we expect prosecution?

 

[Derec]

Can we expect prosecution?

Unless there is another shoe to drop, almost certainly.
It does look pretty bad for the cop.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I think there must be more to this case than we are seeing as the cop's shooting makes no sense at all here.

 

[laughing dog]

I think there must be more to this case than we are seeing as the cop's shooting makes no sense at all here.

Sometimes these shootings do not make sense.

 

[Toni]

I think there must be more to this case than we are seeing as the cop's shooting makes no sense at all here.

Early on, there were all kinds of 'more' being reported: the kids were aggressively backing into the police, were armed, were leaving the party because the police had been called, etc.

However, not only has eye witness testimony disproved this but so have the police's own video.

Whether the officer was an out and out bigot or whether he panicked, I don't know.

 

[Mumbles]

From what I've read, he was a smart kid, beloved by his teachers and coach and had never been in trouble before.

The cops were there to investigate a noise complaint. The kid and his friends were leaving the party as the police arrived. How this went from a noise complaint to weapons drawn is still unclear.

ETA: I understand the cop was fired.

Can we expect prosecution?

I'm very pessimistic on the idea of any prosecution ending in a guilty verdict. Even the guy who straight shot Walter Scott in the back and then planted his taser on him only got a hung jury.

 

[Derec]

I'm very pessimistic on the idea of any prosecution ending in a guilty verdict. Even the guy who straight shot Walter Scott in the back and then planted his taser on him only got a hung jury.

Slager just plead guilty to federal charges (which also disposes of state charges he got a hung jury on). He is going to prison.

Note that this case (again, unless another shoe drops) is much more clear-cut than the Walter Scott case, where Scott did flee from a traffic stop and then fought with Slager before breaking free and running again. Shooting at a car and killing 15 year olds leaving a party is not even in the same ballpark (as far as we know).

 

[Toni]

I'm very pessimistic on the idea of any prosecution ending in a guilty verdict. Even the guy who straight shot Walter Scott in the back and then planted his taser on him only got a hung jury.

Slager just plead guilty to federal charges (which also disposes of state charges he got a hung jury on). He is going to prison.

Note that this case (again, unless another shoe drops) is much more clear-cut than the Walter Scott case, where Scott did flee from a traffic stop and then fought with Slager before breaking free and running again. Shooting at a car and killing 15 year olds leaving a party is not even in the same ballpark (as far as we know).

Slager was convicted on fed charges AFTER a hung jury. Scott did not fight with anyone.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I think there must be more to this case than we are seeing as the cop's shooting makes no sense at all here.

Holy fuck!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

link

Jordan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office said he was killed by a rifle wound to the head.

A rifle?

Meanwhile in the shooting someone while fleeing because innocent people don't flee... except if they hear gunshots...

 

[Derec]

Slager was convicted on fed charges AFTER a hung jury.

I did not claim otherwise. In fact, it is the hung jury that led the state to agree that the federal plea deal will dispose of state charges, so they don't have to try him again.

Scott did not fight with anyone.

Yes, he did. Even Mother Jones admits that much.

But moments later, Scott got out a second time and ran toward an open field, the site of an abandoned trailer park, and onto a painted asphalt path known locally as the Yellow Brick Road. Slager pursued on foot, warning that he was preparing to fire his stun gun: "Taser! Taser! Taser!" Scott didn't stop, so Slager hit him with two darts.
The electricity brought Scott to his knees, but he refused to surrender. Slager then "drive-stunned" Scott—put the business end of the Taser directly on him and pulled the trigger—but could not cuff him. The men scuffled on the ground, and a winded Slager pleaded for backup. "One-five-six," he said into his radio, calling out the badge number of the officer he knew was closest. "Step it up!"
[..]
Slager had cuts on his hands and lacerations on his knees after the encounter,

It is irresponsible to claim that they did not fight.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I think there must be more to this case than we are seeing as the cop's shooting makes no sense at all here.

Early on, there were all kinds of 'more' being reported: the kids were aggressively backing into the police, were armed, were leaving the party because the police had been called, etc.

However, not only has eye witness testimony disproved this but so have the police's own video.

Whether the officer was an out and out bigot or whether he panicked, I don't know.

Even a bigoted officer isn't going to out-and-out shoot someone for no reason.

Panic would imply there was something that made them panic. What?

 

[Mumbles]

Even a bigoted officer isn't going to out-and-out shoot someone for no reason.

Tamir Rice, John Crawford 3rd, Philando Castille, Sean Bell, Levar Jones, Terence Crutcher, and Charles Kinsey all say hello.

...well, Jones and Kinsey do. The rest are dead because jumpy police shot them without cause.

 

[laughing dog]

Early on, there were all kinds of 'more' being reported: the kids were aggressively backing into the police, were armed, were leaving the party because the police had been called, etc.

However, not only has eye witness testimony disproved this but so have the police's own video.

Whether the officer was an out and out bigot or whether he panicked, I don't know.

Even a bigoted officer isn't going to out-and-out shoot someone for no reason.

Panic would imply there was something that made them panic. What?

"Thugs".

 

[ksen]

Early on, there were all kinds of 'more' being reported: the kids were aggressively backing into the police, were armed, were leaving the party because the police had been called, etc.

However, not only has eye witness testimony disproved this but so have the police's own video.

Whether the officer was an out and out bigot or whether he panicked, I don't know.

Even a bigoted officer isn't going to out-and-out shoot someone for no reason.

Panic would imply there was something that made them panic. What?

Black people.