Cop Asks for Man's License, Shoots Him When He Reaches for It - Polidicks

[url]http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/cop-asks-for-mans-license-shoots-him-when-he-reaches-for-it/380775/[/url] [QUOTE]In the era before cheap video technology, this would be a story about a police officer who reported that he shot a man during a traffic stop when the man dove into his car to grab a weapon. Absent images, many people would give the police officer the benefit of the doubt, even when the motorist turned out to be unarmed, on the theory that cops have no reason to shoot men who comply with their orders. The motorist's behavior would be described as erratic and aggressive. People would believe that the cop reasonably feared for his life before shooting his gun. But this is the era of the dash cam. So this is a story about South Carolina Highway Patrol officer Sean Groubert being charged with armed aggravated assault. On September 4, he pulled over Levar Jones, who is black. He asked Jones, who was standing beside his vehicle, for his driver's license. Jones turned and reached into his car to retrieve it. And that's when the police officer panicked and started firing. All three shots are egregious, but take a particularly close look at shots two and three: [B][U]-VIDEO IN THE LINK- [/U][/B] What can one feel watching that display of reckless ineptitude save for anger, shock, and confusion? The incredulity of the victim is itself a powerful rebuke to the shooter. About the only thing one can say for the highway patrolman is that he doesn't seem as though he was trying to murder the motorist. He seems to have felt genuine fear, though it doesn't come close to being "reasonable." As video footage proliferates, people will continue to see more cases where police officers behave badly to a degree that many wouldn't have believed sans images. One hopes this will eventually lead to better training and fewer incidents. For now, it is leading to increased accountability that's long overdue, and serving as a hint to police brass that dashboard cameras are cheap enough now to be a moral imperative.[/QUOTE]

Only the 5th time it's been posted in here.

The kid really should have said "It's in the car, let me get it ok?". I'm not defending the cop, he definitely went WAY overboard by shooting the kid, but the kid acted really dumb in getting his license. He, without saying a WORD, turned and leaned into his car and started rooting around and when the cop yelled "Get out of the car" he swung out very quickly as if he had something. Also I really don't see why the news article has to point out the kid is african american, especially by writing "who is black". Jesus christ stop trying to turn this shit into a race war. Thank god he wasn't killed though. Good thing that cop was a shitty shot.

[QUOTE=Karishnikova;46110852]He, without saying a WORD, turned and leaned into his car and started rooting around and when the cop yelled "Get out of the car" he swung out very quickly as if he had something.[/QUOTE] Ok I'm not going to the defend the kid but he probably reached into his car very quickly without thinking what it would look like to the cop and at the same time when the cop starts screaming GET ON THE GROUND he freaked out and swung out very quickly. I don't know about you but when the cop calmly asks for my license and when I go to reach for it the cop starts screaming at me, I'm going to panic a bit.

Yeah I mean it's a combination of both of the people in this scenario being fucking retarded. The kid was dumb for not explicitly telling the cop that's what he was doing (seriously this is dealing with cops 101, you tell them what you're doing) and the cop was dumb for immediately opening fire on the kid as soon as he swung out of the car after he YELLED at him.

[QUOTE=Karishnikova;46110852]The kid really should have said "It's in the car, let me get it ok?". I'm not defending the cop, he definitely went WAY overboard by shooting the kid, but the kid acted really dumb in getting his license. He, without saying a WORD, turned and leaned into his car and started rooting around and when the cop yelled "Get out of the car" he swung out very quickly as if he had something. Also I really don't see why the news article has to point out the kid is african american, especially by writing "who is black". Jesus christ stop trying to turn this shit into a race war. Thank god he wasn't hit though. Good thing that cop was a shitty shot.[/QUOTE] Was he not hit? I feel like he was hit. He was screaming a lot at the end of the full video. More importantly, the cop was ENTIRELY at fault for this. I'm going to chalk this one up to a general lack of training. If you watch the raw video (not the cut one on the source), you'll see that the cop wasn't exactly pulling this guy over. He just drove up to him when the guy stopped in the gas station and started asking for a license. Usually drivers are made to remain inside the vehicle so this type of thing doesn't happen, but because the officer first approached him while he was out of his vehicle, well, there was no choice in the matter. Next, the officer asks for his license. Okay, so the kid does reach into the vehicle, but this shouldn't prompt any kind of hostile behavior. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to keep their registration or other papers in the vehicle. This should have been expected. Now sure, let's assume it's reasonable to think that he 'could' be going for a weapon. The thing to do then would be to say "Freeze" or "Don't Move." When he says "Get out of the car," it basically means "If you don't move, I'll shoot, but the second you move I'm going to assume you're turning around with a gun, so I'm going to shoot you anyways." This was a lose lose situation due to a lack of training. And honestly, all of this in response to a seatbelt violation makes it seem even more excessive.

[QUOTE=Karishnikova;46110852]The kid really should have said "It's in the car, let me get it ok?". I'm not defending the cop, he definitely went WAY overboard by shooting the kid, but the kid acted really dumb in getting his license. He, without saying a WORD, turned and leaned into his car and started rooting around and when the cop yelled "Get out of the car" he swung out very quickly as if he had something. Also I really don't see why the news article has to point out the kid is african american, especially by writing "who is black". Jesus christ stop trying to turn this shit into a race war. Thank god he wasn't killed though. Good thing that cop was a shitty shot.[/QUOTE] The cop opened fire before identifying an actual threat. That "kid" did nothing wrong whatsoever, he was just complying. Stop blaming the victim of an assault

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;46110910]The cop opened fire before identifying an actual threat. That "kid" did nothing wrong whatsoever, he was just complying.[/QUOTE] I didn't say the cop was in the right for opening fire on the kid, but the kid should have had the sense to fucking tell the cop his license was in his car instead of just turning around and grabbing it. Most people keep their license in their wallet on their person, right? You'd agree to that? So when, instead of reaching into his pocket when asked for his license, he turns and without a single word starts digging into his car, it's going to throw up a red flag. Once again. The cop was still in the wrong for shooting BUT I don't think you can blame him for freaking out and yelling at the kid to get out of the car.