Three on One, Where's the Gun? Los Angeles Police Kill Homeless Man in Confrontation Caught on Video

[Riptide]

I hope the homeless guy had a gun ... err, wait, I mean, um ... What the ****?


A man suspected of robbery was shot and killed by the police in Los Angeles on Sunday during a confrontation that was captured on video in a downtown homeless encampment. ...

An officer drops his nightstick and rains punches on the man, knocking him to the ground. The officer then straddles the man, who continues to struggle as two more officers arrive. ...

While the remaining officers struggle with the suspect, the buzzing sound of a Taser can be heard and the officer straddling the man is heard saying, “Drop the gun.”

The officer repeats the command three times before a shot is fired, followed by four more rounds. Two officers can be seen with their weapons drawn as the man lies motionless on the sidewalk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/u..._id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000


Language on video is loud and profane, so NSFW.

 

[Starman]

He probably said Allahu Akbar or something. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Batman]

Here's a link to the video. The one embedded here doesn't seem to be working for me:

Graphic Video: LAPD Officers Shoot Man Five Times in Broad Daylight

A few things:
1) Good job by the two cops who took the dumbass woman out of the equation (seriously). She goes over, picks up the baton and looks like she's about to do something stupid with it. That's not smart no matter how you slice it. Two cops, including one who was outside the scrum, quickly handled the situation and separated her from it. Considering what happened next, they might have even saved her life.

2) Five trained Los Angeles police officers can't subdue one crackhead when there's no outside interference? Seriously?

3) The black cop is a moron. He drops his baton, nearly loses his gun initially, might or might not have lost it in the scuffle on the ground, and causes a fatal shooting. He lost control of two weapons. He is not good at his job.

4) The sidewalk is "clean" at the beginning of the video, but there are three items on the ground at the end. One is a cap that the woman dropped. Can anyone tell what the other two are? Saw some speculation that Black Cop's gun was on the ground, but I don't think it is. After the shooting, none of the dozen cops that flood the area (including Bike Cop -- what the hell is he doing there) seem overly concerned with them.

5) The guy sitting on the curb who just gets up and walks away kind of cracks me up. He's not even watching all this stuff go down behind him, then gets up and casually walks across the street about five seconds before the shots are fired. It's like he just said, "Man, **** this ****. I'm gon' go grab a beer."

 

[britwrit]

I think one of the Gawker commentators had it right:

"In the beginning of the video, the tall black officer pulls his baton. He drops it to the ground (which the female suspect then picks up), pulls his gun and engages with the suspect. During the scuffle, you'll see his gun fall to the ground. A few moments later, during the scuffle on the ground, he starts screaming about his gun. What he probably didn't realize is his gun is a few feet behind him, on the ground. He, incorrectly, believes the suspect has his gun."

Also, while I know shooting a man dead can be a little unsettling, to watch the cops stand around frozen after the shots went off was completely telling. Either they knew they'd screwed up or thought they were dealing with Jason.

 

[Boom_70]

Being homeless is not easy on the mind. I once got locked out of my house in 20 degree weather for 10 minutes
and was out of my mind.

 

[YankeeFan]

So, the cop was black?

I guess this story won't become a big deal.

 

[Vombatus]

Being homeless is not easy on the mind. I once got locked out of my house in 20 degree weather for 10 minutes
and was out of my mind.

Was it like losing your kid for three minutes?

 

[Stoney]

So, basically ...incompetent cop leaves his weapon on ground and then unarmed man is murdered because a weapon's on the ground ...is that the gist of what happened here?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

This is about to become a thing, isn't it?

 

[Batman]

I don't know that Black Cop's gun was on the ground. He does intentionally drop his baton (stupid) and is fumbling while trying to holster his gun, but I think he secures it just before Homeless Guy bumps into him.
As I said earlier, there's three items on the ground at the end of all this. One is a cap or bag. One appears to be a piece of trash that was there all along and got kicked around. The third is dropped during the initial scuffle and it's difficult to tell what it is.
Item No. 3 could be a gun, but none of the cops picks it up or even seems to give it a second glance at any point. If it were a gun, and considering their reaction when one of the suspects picked up a wayward baton, you'd think they would show some concern about it just laying there. It is a crime scene at that point, I suppose, but it's also a tense and dangerous situation that they need to keep secure. Leaving a deadly weapon on the ground isn't wise.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I guess it's news in LA. Just another day in Albuquerque.