I think you can hear, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!", but the video is shaky and that (lady?) picking up the police baton gets in the way between then and when the shooting starts. People in the crowd affirm that there was no gun, but does anyone know if it has been confirmed either way if the homeless man really had a weapon? Or is this one of those situations equivalent to when officers automatically yell, "Stop resisting! Stop resisting" out of habit, regardless of the situation? (I understand he was visibly resisting compliance) I'm referring to a parallel situation whereby officers seem to bark commands that cannot be followed, because they are not being broken to begin with; he can't very well drop a gun he doesn't have. But these commands may give legitimacy to audio-only recordings and/or grainy video that may be used as evidence if force is used against the person. It's like extra insurance, because it shows the officer may have "perceived" a threat, which as I understand it, in many (most?) states that's all an officer need to pull a gun on you or taser/mace you.
Right away my instinct is to say no, the guy was held down by 4+ police officers and was being tasered after being punched...he was being manhandled. So unless he was on something like PCP or meth, with 4-6 officers in the vicinity I doubt he could have put up much of a fight beyond maybe getting in a sucker punch or something like spitting/biting after he was restrained. If they had him pinned down by the arms, neck and torso, what ability does he have to reach for a gun much less point it at anyone or use it in any meaningful manner? I understand accidents happen and any discharge would put the people in the immediate vicinity at risk. But wouldn't backing up from him, drawing your weapon, removing the safety and shooting him (which doesn't necessarily immediately stop the threat) be more of a risk because you no longer have control over his extremities? If he had a gun and you had him pinned with multiple officers, wouldn't you want to disarm him before letting him go in any capacity?
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ri ago
I think you can hear, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!", but the video is shaky and that (lady?) picking up the police baton gets in the way between then and when the shooting starts. People in the crowd affirm that there was no gun, but does anyone know if it has been confirmed either way if the homeless man really had a weapon? Or is this one of those situations equivalent to when officers automatically yell, "Stop resisting! Stop resisting" out of habit, regardless of the situation? (I understand he was visibly resisting compliance) I'm referring to a parallel situation whereby officers seem to bark commands that cannot be followed, because they are not being broken to begin with; he can't very well drop a gun he doesn't have. But these commands may give legitimacy to audio-only recordings and/or grainy video that may be used as evidence if force is used against the person. It's like extra insurance, because it shows the officer may have "perceived" a threat, which as I understand it, in many (most?) states that's all an officer need to pull a gun on you or taser/mace you.
Right away my instinct is to say no, the guy was held down by 4+ police officers and was being tasered after being punched...he was being manhandled. So unless he was on something like PCP or meth, with 4-6 officers in the vicinity I doubt he could have put up much of a fight beyond maybe getting in a sucker punch or something like spitting/biting after he was restrained. If they had him pinned down by the arms, neck and torso, what ability does he have to reach for a gun much less point it at anyone or use it in any meaningful manner? I understand accidents happen and any discharge would put the people in the immediate vicinity at risk. But wouldn't backing up from him, drawing your weapon, removing the safety and shooting him (which doesn't necessarily immediately stop the threat) be more of a risk because you no longer have control over his extremities? If he had a gun and you had him pinned with multiple officers, wouldn't you want to disarm him before letting him go in any capacity?
Lt_Leeks ago
The Anti-Media ran a story on it. http://theantimedia.org/los-angeles-residents-respond-lapds-execution-africa/
It has more details of the incident.