OT:Ohio police shoot and kill unarmed black man in Walmart

[HarthorneWingo]

There is video. Cops lying again. They say Crawford was waving any gun around. Store video confirms lie. Walmart has not released the video, but the Crawford family and their lawyer were allowed to watch it in private.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/2 ... 21676.html

Cops Who Killed John Crawford III At Ohio Walmart Shot Him 'On Sight': Attorney
The Huffington Post | By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 08/27/2014 9:47 am EDT Updated: 08/27/2014 10:59 am EDT

Surveillance video from an Ohio Walmart shows that a man fatally shot by police earlier this month had his back to officers and was talking on a cell phone, an attorney for the man's family says.

John Crawford III died Aug. 5 after Beavercreek police responded to reports of an armed man at a Dayton-area Walmart. Crawford was not armed -- he had a pellet gun with him, which he had picked up in the store's toy department.

Attorney Michael Wright said that the video, which he was allowed to view with the man's family, contradicts statements by police and witnesses that Crawford ignored commands to drop the gun and “looked like he was going to go violently.”

“John was doing nothing wrong in Walmart, nothing more, nothing less than shopping,” Wright said in a statement. He said the 22-year-old father of two was shot "on sight" in a "militaristic" response by police.

LeeCee Johnson, the mother of Crawford's children, was on the phone with him when he was shot. She told the Dayton Daily News:

"[The] next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him... I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”
The Ohio attorney general’s office said that the gun Crawford was carrying was an MK-177 BB/pellet rifle, also known as a “variable pump air rifle.”

A special prosecutor is scheduled to present the case to a grand jury Sept. 22, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Tuesday.

Beavercreek Police Sgt. David Darkow, one officer involved in the shooting, returned to duty last week. The other officer, Sean Williams, remains on administrative leave.

One of the officers in Crawford's death was involved in a 2010 shooting that was ruled self-defense, according to the Associated Press. Authorities would not confirm which officer it was.

[Dbloc123]

SMMFH. Until they start charging these officers,,, Nothing will change.

[Bill Pidto]

There's some sort of politcal agenda here. No doubt about it.

All of these stories are coming out all at once. The media is trying to create a story bigger than the sum of its parts.

[j4remi]

Article really boils down to this line for me.

Attorney Michael Wright said that the video, which he was allowed to view with the man's family, contradicts statements by police and witnesses that Crawford ignored commands to drop the gun and “looked like he was going to go violently.”

If there's a video, we shouldn't have much trouble uncovering what happened once it's made public. The interesting thing is that the line above implies witnesses were co-signing the police version, so that's a shift from the Ferguson story and others like it imo. For this one, we can wait and see literally.

[Teppler]

How about this one

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/26/iraq-war-vet-was-warned-waffle-house-wasnt-safe-for-whites-gets-beaten-needs-brain-surgery/

20 black men upset with the Mike Brown case commit deadly assault on this war vet. Not categorized as a hate crime. Whats with the agenda here?

[HarthorneWingo]

How about this one

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/26/iraq-war-vet-was-warned-waffle-house-wasnt-safe-for-whites-gets-beaten-needs-brain-surgery/

20 black men upset with the Mike Brown case commit deadly assault on this war vet. Not categorized as a hate crime. Whats with the agenda here?

I don't know, but those guys will go to jail for a long time. The fact that criminals commit crimes is not news. When police shoot and kill unarmed citizens who haven't committed any crime is big news.

[spree2kawhi]

I said it in the other thread and have been saying it for years here: You guys have a gun law problem. Nothing like this happens in Europe.

[j4remi]

How about this one

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/26/iraq-war-vet-was-warned-waffle-house-wasnt-safe-for-whites-gets-beaten-needs-brain-surgery/

20 black men upset with the Mike Brown case commit deadly assault on this war vet. Not categorized as a hate crime. Whats with the agenda here?

Another case where there's video footage, so if the investigators watched and concluded "no hate crime" there's probably a reason that we'll find out if/when the footage leaks.

Edit: not to mention, someone's already been charged with aggravated assault and they're investigating others, so it's not like there's inaction or a cover up.

[Ignitowsky]

How about this one

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/26/iraq-war-vet-was-warned-waffle-house-wasnt-safe-for-whites-gets-beaten-needs-brain-surgery/

20 black men upset with the Mike Brown case commit deadly assault on this war vet. Not categorized as a hate crime. Whats with the agenda here?

I don't know, but those guys will go to jail for a long time. The fact that criminals commit crimes is not news. When police shoot and kill unarmed citizens who haven't committed any crime is big news.

I'll disagree. It's apparently NOT big news any more.

[NoLayupRule]

this didn't just happen but the video was made available to the family and legal team finally


this is a very interesting story

the 911 call claimed a black man was walking around the store pointing a gun at people. Did the man do this? Its unknown as the video that was released shows only a 5min period where Crawford was on his cell the whole time. Families with children were shopping next to him. He was clearly not a threat.


So if he didn't do this then why did the call to 911 claim he was walking around with a gun? When asked if it was holstered or not the caller said he was waiving it around and pointing at people


Clearly the police didn't act rationally but you also have to take into account what they were told they were responding to. Its understandable that they might think there was a crazy man with a gun about to go on a shooting spree because thats what the caller communicated.


There needs to be accountability if the threat level was exaggerated by the wallmart employee or caller as much as there needs to be accountability to the police who apparently ran in shooting basically. Crawford could be heard on the cell yelling "its not real" as he was being shot apparently. He was also holding this beebee gun barrel down and leaning on the stock as if it were a cane. Clearly not an imminent threat. Unless being black and male is enough of a threat now days

[Teppler]

A white war vet in a waffle house gets beaten to the point of brain damage in a waffle house by 20 guys upset about the mike brown case. Can you imagine a situation where this is not racially motivated?

The insensitivity to this case also outlines the hypocracy of that morally outraged crowd who cried about the sanctity of life post mike brown shooting.

[NoLayupRule]

There's some sort of politcal agenda here. No doubt about it.

All of these stories are coming out all at once. The media is trying to create a story bigger than the sum of its parts.

thats silly

the political agenda is that its reached a boiling point for many americans


this has been happening for years but now the ubiquity of videos makes it possible to share the evidence and make it less about simply taking the police's word for it, which in the past was always the case.

when its the word of a police man vs a dead man the police always win
its not being made up for a political point


and besides, which side of the political spectrum is not outraged by extrajudicial killings, government militarization and the covering up of evidence? If this wasn't a predominately black/white situation no one would be talking about political agendas.

[stuporman]

It's basically to the point that if someone doesn't comply with police commands as quickly as the officer wants that person is in danger of being shot.

[NoLayupRule]

A white war vet in a waffle house gets beaten to the point of brain damage in a waffle house by 20 guys upset about the mike brown case. Can you imagine a situation where this is not racially motivated?

The insensitivity to this case also outlines the hypocracy of that morally outraged crowd who cried about the sanctity of life post mike brown shooting.

thats asinine

how are you going to use the actions of a group of horrible thugs behaving like savages as justification for ignoring a separate incident, separate issues and separate circumstances?


Never mind. I know how. Because you cherry pick facts and anecdotes to create what IMO is a moronic and painfully ignorant argument time and time again

I expect nothing less from you

[NoLayupRule]

It's basically to the point that if someone doesn't comply with police commands as quickly as the officer wants that person is in danger of being shot.

actually there are mounting examples where people didn't even have the opportunity to comply before being shot

[stuporman]

It's basically to the point that if someone doesn't comply with police commands as quickly as the officer wants that person is in danger of being shot.

actually there are mounting examples where people didn't even have the opportunity to comply before being shot

That's why I said as quickly as the officer wants.

There are even examples of deaf people being brutalized and shot by police because they didn't comply with commands that can't even hear.

[HarthorneWingo]

How about this one

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/26/iraq-war-vet-was-warned-waffle-house-wasnt-safe-for-whites-gets-beaten-needs-brain-surgery/

20 black men upset with the Mike Brown case commit deadly assault on this war vet. Not categorized as a hate crime. Whats with the agenda here?

I don't know, but those guys will go to jail for a long time. The fact that criminals commit crimes is not news. When police shoot and kill unarmed citizens who haven't committed any crime is big news.

I'll disagree. It's apparently NOT big news any more.

Yeah, you're right. Sadly, it's like a daily occurrence now.

[stuporman]

Not just body cameras but ones that instantaneously upload to the cloud and can be watched real time from any desktop, laptop or smart device.

http://www.iveda.com/iveda-collaboratin ... forcement/

[Capn'O]

There's some sort of politcal agenda here. No doubt about it.

All of these stories are coming out all at once. The media is trying to create a story bigger than the sum of its parts.

thats silly

the political agenda is that its reached a boiling point for many americans


this has been happening for years but now the ubiquity of videos makes it possible to share the evidence and make it less about simply taking the police's word for it, which in the past was always the case.

when its the word of a police man vs a dead man the police always win
its not being made up for a political point


and besides, which side of the political spectrum is not outraged by extrajudicial killings, government militarization and the covering up of evidence? If this wasn't a predominately black/white situation no one would be talking about political agendas.

Pidto's half wrong for the reasons you mentioned. Police misconduct is happening and has been happening. I do think he's onto something about why these stories are popping now.

There were two watershed moments in the Ferguson case. Obviously, there was the Brown killing and subsequent events around that. The one less talked about was the arrest of the HuffPost/WashPost reporters and tear gassing of Al Jazeera. I said in another thread that these incidents would make it personal for the national media. Attacking the supposed protectors of the 1st Amendment made Ferguson more universal for them. It could be anyone.

[HarthorneWingo]

It's basically to the point that if someone doesn't comply with police commands as quickly as the officer wants that person is in danger of being shot.

actually there are mounting examples where people didn't even have the opportunity to comply before being shot

Exactly. That's what's so - if you permit me to use the term - stupefying. (With apologies to Stup.)

And it's not like they're not trained to handle these situations more deftly. I really think there's a mind set going on here and a disregard for the sanctity of human life. Even if you commit a crime like theft or even assault, that's not a death sentence without a trial. But these days, if you commit almost any crime you are by extension a deadly threat to the officer who now has inherent justification to execute you on sight.