War Handwavium

The incident took place in Anaheim, California. Orange County. The story is here:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/martinez-north-officer-2208731-police-running

 To sum up:

A police officer running after a group of suspected burglars early Tuesday shot and killed an innocent 20-year-old man (Julian Alexander ) who had come outside to investigate the noise, police said.

Julian was a 20 year old black male. Here’s a picture from the police conference:

http://www.ocregister.com/slideshow/martinez-north-officer-2208731-police-running?pos=0

Police Chief John Welter is a white dude, Special Operations Officer Joe Reiss is a white dude, and Captain Joe Vargas is a white dude, and they say the police will have to “investigate” what really happened.

(Welter) said the officer would be interviewed to determine what commands he gave to Alexander before shots were fired.

Uh, hello??? If a cop shouts “Halt!” and the guy doesn’t comply, that isn’t a free pass to put a cap in his ass. Or two in the chest. The “commands” that this cop shouted are irrelevant to whether Julian was a threat and whether the shooting qualifies as self-defense or as improper use of deadly force.

Witnesses say a broomstick was on the ground next to Julian after the shooting, which still is not a free pass to a claim of self-defense. Julian would have to be threatening the officer and the officer’s life would have to be in immediate danger for the incident to qualify as self defense.  The family said that Julian may have heard the burgulars running around outside and that Julian may have gone out to defend his pregnant wife.

I’ll bet the farm that Julian did NOT go outside to attack a random police officer.

To quote “The Clash”,

You have the right not to be killed. Murder is a CRIME! Unless it was done by a Policeman

http://lyricwiki.org/The_Clash:Know_Your_Rights

Update: All (yes, all) police firearms should have a guncamera mounted to them. Not only would it immediately answer questions as to what exactly happened when police shoot an innocent person, but it would also serve as far more objective and jury-swaying proof in cases where the police are involved in a shootout with violent criminals. The cost of the cameras would quickly pay for themselves by reducing court costs in convicting real criminals. Cops submit the recordings to the District Attorney, the DA shows it to the accused, the judge, and a jury, and the accused is quickly convicted. Long and expensive court cases hinging on who shot first would be greatly reduced.

 http://wcbstv.com/local/police.handgun.cameras.2.722036.html