Quote:I've thought from the beginning that there must be more to the story.  Something just doesn't add up.

 

The FACTS as we know them are that a police officer shot and killed an unarmed 6'4 292 pound "child".

 

I have yet to see a police report that details the events that led up to the shooting.  Supposedly there is a "witness" that says that the "child" had his hands up when the officer shot him.  I wonder if this "witness", being the model citizen that he is actually came forward and gave his sworn testimony to officers investigating the incident.

 

Other evidence seems to indicate that this "child" committed a strong armed robbery prior to the altercation with police.  Surely this "child" wasn't robbing a local business of cigars for himself.

 

Reports indicate that initial contact with police were the result of this "child" and his companion walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic.  Hmm... a recent graduate that is college bound would certainly know that it is not right to walk down the middle of a street blocking traffic.  Surely he knew that the proper place to walk is on the side of the street/sidewalk.

 

Finally, from my first hand experience with law enforcement, in most cases an officer won't draw his weapon let alone discharge it without very good reason.  Factors involved to simply draw the weapon would be physical size/appearance of a subject, the subject's demeanor and/or whether or not the subject is being cooperative.  An officer will never draw his weapon and fire for no good reason.

 

 

Quote:And in the end this officer shot a person in the back that was moving away from them. An unarmed person. You can spin that however you like but that is still wrong. 

 

The bolded part is why people are enraged over events like this.

 

The suspect was shot multiple times.  Was the first hit in the back?  We don't know that.  I can guarantee that an officer is not going to shoot a suspect running away from them with their hands up.

 

As a side note, an officer does have the right to shoot a fleeing felon in the back.  I'm not saying that this is what happened, but if a fleeing suspect is a danger to society, then the officer can stop the suspect by whatever means necessary up to and including deadly force.

 

If people are so enraged about the protocol that police have, then they need to spend a day in the life of a police officer.  I'm 5'7 and weigh about 140 if I'm soaking wet.  If I am a police officer and encounter a "model citizen" who is 6'4 and around 292 that happens to be "just walking down the street blocking traffic" I'm going to take precautions when approaching this person.  Nothing has been revealed as to how the initial exchange took place.

 

My theory is that the suspect became aggressive initially, and when confronted with deadly force, decided to run away.

 

Like it or not, police DO in fact profile people and make decisions based on that.  Profiling is not really based on race, it's based on "perceived danger".  Race can come into play based on location and circumstances.

 

Contrary to what is being said and implied, police don't just go out shooting people for no reason.

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