Officer acquitted in shooting death of Milwaukee man

[laughing dog]

Officer Heaggan-Brown was acquitted of first degree murder charges in the shooting death of Sylville Smith.

Much of Heaggan-Brown’s trial centered on the justification of a single shot. The incident first began at around 3:30 p.m. local time on August 13, 2016, when Heaggan-Brown pulled Smith over for a traffic stop. Smith reportedly fled the scene, then turned back toward the officer while armed with a semi-automatic handgun. This prompted Heaggan-Brown to fire the first shot, which both parties said was justified. The shot occurred at nearly the same moment that Smith flung his weapon over a chain-link fence, rendering him unarmed. Exactly 1.69 seconds later, Heaggan-Brown fired a second shot at Smith’s chest while he was on the ground, which ultimately proved fatal.

(source:https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/milwaukee-police-officer-found-not-guilty-in-death-of-sylville-smith/531222/)

The officer had already been fired when the acquittal occured.

On the night after the shooting, prosecutors claim that Heaggan-Brown sexually assaulted a man after drinking heavily at a bar. According to prosecutors, the officer “bragged about being able to do whatever” he wanted “without repercussions.” The allegations prompted an internal investigation from the Milwaukee Police Department, which led to Heaggan-Brown being fired. After pleading “not guilty” to charges of sexual assault, Heaggan-Brown awaits a separate trial in August.

Yes the police have a difficult and dangerous job. But we when we let these unfit types off the hook for their murderous actions, we end up tarnishing all police.

 

[repoman]

Is the compromise that there is a charge of "murder/manslaughter while cop" which means never being a cop, security guard ever again?

I don't care if there is an automatic one or two degree subtraction of the charges as long as there are actual convictions that stick. Sentencing for the convictions should be the same as for non cops.

Why be a cop if you are on the hook too much? They already are dealing with violent people, and now they would have a lot of risk to go to jail if the system treated them like everyone else.

On the other hand, why trust a cop or decide to not be violent against cops if they almost NEVER get convicted of murder and manslaughter for pretty clear cases?

Some compromise has to happen.

The cop like in the Daniel Shaver case (look it up), if I were family of Shaver I would seriously consider hunting down and killing that scumbag cop. Same for Castile.