Another police shooting in the St. Louis area

[Derec]

Police: Off-duty St. Louis officer shoots, kills man who fired at him

And it's an 18 year old black man again but this time he was not unarmed and in fact shot three rounds at the police officer.

While on patrol, the officer saw three black males run away as he approached. He gave chase because one of them was holding up his pants in a way that made the officer believe the teen may be carrying a gun, Dotson said.
The officer and one of the three tussled. The teen ran off, then turned around and fired at least three shots at the officer, Dotson said.
The officer returned fire, killing the teen.
Off-duty officer shoots, kills man Singing protest shocks crowd Ferguson fights media over public records
Police recovered a 9 mm handgun. And Dotson said the teen was "no stranger to law enforcement." He didn't offer details, citing privacy concerns.
The two other males have not been apprehended.

Of course this didn't stop protesters from protesting again and his family is alleging that the perp was unarmed.

Relatives of the dead teen who came to the scene identified him as Vonderrit Myers Jr., 18. They disputed the police version. They say he didn't have a weapon.
Teyonna Myers, 23, of Florissant, said Myers was her cousin.
“He was unarmed,” Teyonna Myers said. “He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s like Michael Brown all over again.”

A sandwich that shoots 9mm rounds. Sure.

While CNN didn't elaborate on Myers being "no stranger" to the police, the local St. Louis rag did.

Myers was scheduled to stand trial in November for unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest. According to court documents, the incident happened June 27 in St. Louis. Myers was a passenger in a car involved in a high-speed car chase. The car crashed just after midnight in the 1100 block of South Grand Boulevard. Myers got out of the car, and a police officer yelled at him to stop. Instead, Myers ran off and tossed a gun into a sewage drain. Police caught him nearby. Police recovered the gun, a loaded .380-caliber pistol.

And that's the problem with cases like that. No matter the circumstances, there will be people claiming he was innocent, unarmed etc.

 

[prideandfall]

And that's the problem with cases like that. No matter the circumstances, there will be people claiming he was innocent, unarmed etc.

which is of course a travesty of justice and social morals, and yet the problem in cases like this where no matter the circumstances there are people claiming that the dead kid is an MMA fighting drug dealing bolivian assassin is just the fact that nobody else agrees with you how skittles are a deadly weapon.

you pretty much lose all rights to anything resembling moral outrage when it comes to dead kids when the only thing about kids being dead that you care about is whether or not you can find anything that they had done in the previous decade you even remotely disapprove of so that you can justify your glee in their being dead.

 

[Mumbles]

Let's put this all in comparison...

In Ferguson, Michael Brown was shot and killed, with his hands up. And that's wrong - although the cop who shot him claims that Brown attacked him, and I can understand him shooting *if* that was true.

But, the protests over Brown's shooting were met with violence by police. And this was caught on video, so there's no question that the Ferguson area police became violent when non-violent protesters showed up, pointing guns at people, firing tear-gas canisters at people standing on their own property, and just generally attacking anyone they saw. And that is a severe problem. And it's also very bad for the idea that the police are not violent - they very clearly are.

But, if this guy shot at a cop, and the cop shot back and killed him...well, that sounds like the cop did what was right.

 

[laughing dog]

I don't understand the facts here. Why was an off-duty police officer "on patrol"? And how does one hold one's pants in a way that makes an officer believe one may be carrying a gun?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I don't understand the facts here. Why was an off-duty police officer "on patrol"? And how does one hold one's pants in a way that makes an officer believe one may be carrying a gun?

A better article, perhaps?

The officer was patrolling for a private company. Allegedly a gun was recovered that fired three bullets. What I don't understand is how the mother knew the teen had a sandwich.

Shooting back would imply self-defense. Did he identify himself? And what legal rights does he have for chasing the teens.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, if he fired at the officer, he deserves to be dead. If not, what happened to the sandwich? Did the cop eat it to destroy the evidence even though it could have had some dead guy's blood all over it? Ick.

 

[laughing dog]

I don't understand the facts here. Why was an off-duty police officer "on patrol"? And how does one hold one's pants in a way that makes an officer believe one may be carrying a gun?

A better article, perhaps?

The officer was patrolling for a private company.

Then what was he doing chasing anyone who had not acted against the company?

 

[Derec]

The officer was patrolling for a private company. Allegedly a gun was recovered that fired three bullets. What I don't understand is how the mother knew the teen had a sandwich.

No idea either. Maybe he had a sandwich also. Those two are not mutually exclusive.

Shooting back would imply self-defense. Did he identify himself? And what legal rights does he have for chasing the teens.

He was in police uniform and thus not really "off-duty". I think they call it "secondary duty" instead.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

A better article, perhaps?

The officer was patrolling for a private company.

Then what was he doing chasing anyone who had not acted against the company?

You misunderstood, he was patrolling for the private company.

 

[Derec]

Then what was he doing chasing anyone who had not acted against the company?

He was still a unformed police officer.
Why are you concerned about that technicality and not about a thug who was shooting at police?

I guess if he'd managed to shoot and kill the white police officer he could have streets named after him and give college commencement speeches.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I guess if he'd managed to shoot and kill the white police officer he could have streets named after him and give college commencement speeches.

Or that guy who orchestrated the murders of all of those British soldiers and then got a city named after him.

 

[Derec]

I don't understand the facts here. Why was an off-duty police officer "on patrol"?

He was not really off duty. Still in uniform, still able to enforce law, even if he was doing security for some company.

And how does one hold one's pants in a way that makes an officer believe one may be carrying a gun?

I think it has to do with not having a holster and having the gun tucked in the waistband. You don't want it falling down your pant leg while running so you hold it through the pant fabric.

 

[Derec]

Or that guy who orchestrated the murders of all of those British soldiers and then got a city named after him.

Are you really going to compare warfare to cold-blooded murder?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Or that guy who orchestrated the murders of all of those British soldiers and then got a city named after him.

Are you really going to compare warfare to cold-blooded murder?

I'm sorry. I thought that armed members of the government getting killed by criminals and then those criminals getting celebrated was relevant to the point you were making.

 

[laughing dog]

He was not really off duty. Still in uniform, still able to enforce law, even if he was doing security for some company.

Since it is not against the law to run away from the police unless they are trying to arrest you, I fail to see your point. BTW, he was really off duty. The City of St. Louis does not paid police to do private security.

 

[Toni]

If the kid really did fire at the police officer, then the officer had a right to return fire. Whether this was prudent in a residential neighborhood is a different question.

So is: why are police officers working privately allowed to wear their police uniforms and carry their firearms on private duty? Why do neighborhoods get to hire private duty armed patrol? Why was this officer authorized to give armed chase to three people he did not observe or have a report of coming a crime ? Was he in a patrol car? If not, why would these youths not run?

 

[Sarpedon]

Can we wait to trade barbs until after it is determined whether or not someone other than the officer fired shots?

 

[ZiprHead]

People in mourning and shock say stupid things. So what?

 

[Jayjay]

Her grief is understandable under the circumstances, I'd be pretty upset if I had lost a sandwich too.

 

[Derec]

People in mourning and shock say stupid things. So what?

It isn't just his grieving family members that are saying stupid things. It is also race activists and politicians:

Police say Vonderrit D. Myers was shot Wednesday after he opened fire on a white, off-duty officer, but Myers’ parents say he was unarmed. Some activists and lawmakers say Myers was targeted because he was black and are asking the Justice Department — which has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Brown, who was unarmed — to investigate his shooting.
‘‘This here was racial profiling turned deadly,’’ said state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat.

No, it was a thug on bail who didn't want to be arrested again for the same thing so he shot at a police officer. Had he not died attempted murder charges would have been forthcoming.

‘‘This is a racial powder keg,’’ said Jerryl Christmas, a St. Louis attorney who was among more than 20 black leaders who joined Nasheed at a news conference Thursday outside police headquarters. ‘‘All this is going to do is escalate the situation.’’

... he said while doing his best to escalate the situation.

Nation of Islam member A. Akbar Muhammad of St. Louis said, ‘‘You have to ask the question: Is there a culture of racism in the police department?’’

That's ironic since when I see words "culture of racism" Nation of Islam is one of the first things that comes to mind.