Cop Tries To Kill An Arrestee Because Nature Happened
from the faster-officer,-kill,-kill! dept
Cops see themselves as the roughest, toughest warriors to ever hit the mean streets. They adorn themselves with “blue line” flags and Punisher logos (hilarious, that last one), gear up in military garb, wave weapons at all and sundry whilst shouting at the top of their lungs. But when it comes to doing regular police work, they’re more skittish than that cast-off cop dog you adopted from the shelter, urinating itself the moment they’re startled.
And by urinating themselves, I mean opening fire into their own police car while an arrestee is handcuffed in back. And by cast-off cop dog, I mean a regular human cop that was startled into a one-way shootout by something that happens millions of times a day all over the nation.
Before we get to the rest of this post, let’s all enjoy (as much as we can, knowing there’s an innocent human being on the other end of this gunfire) Florida deputy Jesse Hernandez’s histrionics, as captured by his own body camera:
Wow. Just imagine the danger. I mean, Deputy Hernandez certainly did. Here’s Jordan Pearson, covering this debacle for Vice.
In a video that has gone viral on social media this week both for its absurdity and terrifying implications, Deputy Jesse Hernandez hears an acorn drop onto his car. In response, he dramatically rolls on the ground while repeatedly shouting “shots fired!” and unloading his sidearm into the vehicle, shattering its back window.
Man. What a hero. Running toward the sound of… um… acorns dropping. You know, like a squirrel. Except a squirrel isn’t packing heat and certainly wouldn’t have mistaken that noise for something life-threatening.
What’s not so funny is the fact that Florida resident Marquis Jackson was handcuffed and directly in the line of fire. He had no options other than to try to be as tiny as possible as Deputy Hernandez went all bullet hell because he mistook the sound of an acorn falling on his car (almost imperceptible in the video) as a gun popping off, presumably from the direction of his cruiser.
That would be stupid enough. But Hernandez immediately made it worse by declaring (in a very loud voice) that something had happened that actually didn’t happen.
After rolling on the ground, Hernandez shouted “I’m hit!”—he had not been hit—and told [Sergeant Beth] Roberts that shots were coming from inside the car. Roberts also unloaded her firearm at the vehicle as Jackson lay in the backseat.
Now, it’s two law enforcement officers responding to the sound of acorn fire. Hernandez, stud that he is, shouted “shots fired” four times and “I’m hit” one time. He was wrong five times. His partner was only wrong because she believed Deputy Hernandez at least once.
Any good news to report? A little. An internal investigation into this incident found Deputy Hernandez’s actions were not justified. His partner was justified in responding with deadly force considering she believed her partner was under attack, but even the sheriff said that arrestees have as much of a right to survive their arrest as the officers arresting them. In this case, Hernandez was completely in the wrong.
So, why was Hernandez employed by the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department? It certainly wasn’t his law enforcement experience (because he didn’t have any). It was likely because no one loves a man in a uniform more than other men in uniform.
[Hernandez] said that he did not have prior law enforcement experience but that he trained at West Point and served as an infantry and special forces officer for a decade, which included two rotations in Afghanistan.
Who doesn’t like someone who can remain cool under fire? A vet with years of experience? Sign him up.
Oh wait.
He said that he never faced combat because he was an officer.
The streak remains intact! He still has never faced combat! And he’s still an officer! Drinks all around! And why not, your tax dollars are paying for them!
As you know, I am very hesitant to criticize police officers because they face unknown dangers every day. Most of us have the luxury of living our lives in comfort without facing the day-to-day reality of being threatened by falling proteins. For that, we should be grateful. Because if it wasn’t for Deputy Hernandez and his swift reactions, an arrestee would have had no reason to legitimately fear for his own safety.
Filed Under: acorn, jesse hernandez, okaloosa, okaloosa sd, police
Comments on “Cop Tries To Kill An Arrestee Because Nature Happened”
This sounds like it came straight from the script of a cop comedy flick.
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Super Troopers
Altered State Police
meow, lol
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I dunno, even Frank Drebin wasn’t this incompetent.
Officer?
…. officers, as a general class, regularly face combat (and it appears that all Special Forces’ personnel are at least non-commissioned officers). There are various teams/groups that might not regularly face combat (such as intelligence).
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The officer appears to be the one qualifying that he never faced combat because he was an officer.
Re: Clarification on officer
Non-Commissioned officers are still enlisted, just more senior. They are on the ground leadership in most cases.
This guy was a commissioned officer, meaning he went to college before joining. Depending on his specific job, he may never have been in the field. A lot of junior officers are no better than assistants to more senior officers.
Re: Re:
So that’s why he mistook an acorn for a gunshot?
Re: Re: REMF
Presumably he was a staff officer, or something. Intelligence would certainly be an option. But, basically, he was pushing paper somewhere, for somebody; and never actually got away from his desk.
Just more anti-police hate speech from Tim. That acorn was dangerous and after it saw what happened to the back window of the vehicle, it’ll think twice about scarin’ the bajeezus out of that there brave deputy. Bet you wouldn’t be so brave as to unload a clip when a violent acorn comes for you!
Acorns Can Assault Badges!
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ok troll
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Whoosh!
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Meant to stick that to the “ok troll” troll not you.
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i mean mr wilson looked like he was being serious so idk why
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he didn’t put /s
Re: Re: Re:2
i can’t tell if you are, or not. MrWilson was beyond obvious.
Re: Re: Re:2
To be fair, if this was a less dumb timeline it would have been obvious that MrWilson was joking, but there do exist a non-zero number of people who genuinely think that cops can just spontaneously combust from someone casting a less-than-happy look in their general direction.
While the story is beyond absurd and and people are going to make lot of jokes about it, the dreadful fact remains that Jackson was deeply traumatized by this, and will be scarred for life.
It’s really stupid, but it’s also really sad
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Re: Well, deep subject?
Cops being cops aside…
If Marquis Jackson had not been abusive in his relationship, stolen his intimate partner’s car, driven around her safe-house/friend’s neighborhood (who she might have been banging don’t know, have not seen her OF yet) for almost six hours starting at about 03:00am, honking the horn like a Canadian Trucker causing multiple 911 calls, sent threatening text messages to her, and then approached the deputies & tried to intimidate his about to be X-Twitter Gurlfriend, then he never would have been in the back of a police cruiser.
Alternatively;
If any other mutha-fucka mag-dumped into an occupied vehicle for gross-acorn-atak they would be in slam you in the azz, blak & wite striped, litter picking, ditch clarin, azz likin FLORDA MAN PRISON, just like that effing ZERO greenberet douche-copter should be behind that SIG 320 with the red dot on it. (& If you are gonna do a reload, do an effing reload SOLDIER! TOO SLOW GET BACK!! DO IT AGAIN WORM>)
But hey, I’m livin in the reeel world just like all y’all.
So it could have been worse, what if a person in protective custody was in the car, a ride along, a journo (one can hope), or a cadet? Wwhat if Winer Soldier had been responding to a domestic in a Houston Apartment, a ‘break-in reported when it was actually the legal home-owner/tenant, & he shot them through the window without shouting orders first, with his partner doing the same?
At least Beth was somewhat-sane…
Re: Re:
where did the spelling go?
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Re: Re: Re:
Your mom knows where the spelling went.
Re: Re: Re:2
In your dad.
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I’m gonna stop you right there.
Marquis Jackson was in the cruiser for a bunch of horrible reasons—to that, I will admit. But in regards to the shooting that could have harmed him or even taken his life: He did nothing wrong and did nothing to deserve being shot (at). He could’ve died because a cop mistook the sound of an acorn hitting a car for the sound of gunfire and shot at his own car instead of finding cover and assessing the situation.
Like, feel free to mock the cop for reacting the way he did and do some armchair psychoanalysis about why he reacted like that. Knock yourself out with that, champ. But don’t try to justify a man nearly being shot to death by implying that he deserved to die only and specifically because he was in the back of a cop car. You won’t pull that off and you’ll make yourself look like a bootlicker in the process.
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I think this might be an example of Poe’s Law, at least that 2nd paragraph makes me think so.
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Shut up, wokeywokewoketard autist.
Re: Re: Re:2
I still can’t tell if this is satire or an actual rightoid thinking they’re clever.
Re: yadda yadda.. the guy’s a thug… yadda yadda
and other vaguely racist driven statements as to why the guy handcuffed in the back of the cruiser wouldn’t be in that situation if he had paler skin
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Congrats, this incident was memed to death 3 days ago.
…by much abler defenders of liberty than you are (aka: any libertarian)
Literally all the facts were known 3 days ago, too, it’s not like anything new has come out. Yes, the cops totally suck. Yes, we have high school shop rejects lording over all of us with guns. Yes, it’s “funny”, but also really not.
What is the point of this site again? There are way waaaaaayyyy better libertarian sites (you guys are mostly shitlibs).
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Oh no. Multiple sites covering a story. Whatever will we do.
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it’s really that they’re so hilariously late to it.
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Your hangover from the binge drinking and posting last night finally wear off?
Libertarians don’t know shit about liberty. It’s always been a grift.
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that one day where matt turned into a clown and was talking to a spammer which made him even more of a clown
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Clownception
Re: Re: Re:2
[hoooooooooooooooooooooooooonk]
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…you literally don’t know shit about anything.
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[Projects facts contrary to extensive evidence]
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Every accusation a confession.
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The only “government tyranny” libertarians oppose is age of consent
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Reminds me of two jokes:
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This author is a terrible human being who revels in the misfortune, suffering, and humiliation of others.
He wants to defund the police, empower thugs and illegal aliens, and bring anarchy to your communities.
Re: the author
of your stupid comment maybe…
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…projected the mentally ill criminal.
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Won’t someone think of the poor police car!? It could have gotten a slight ding from that acorn!
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Welp. Now it has more than a slight ding.
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Just curious – would you want to live in a community with no police, or a community in which police aggressively defended the property rights of productive citizens?
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I want to live in a community where far right degenerates don’t create false dilemmas and molest kids
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Re: Re: Re:2
So move to Chile and enjoy being poor, Communist!
Re: Re: Re:2 pigs never dedended me and i dont care about productive
i was born with incurable disabilities that make me read at half the regular speed and get headaches from thiking and have less muscle than a preteen boy when im an adult man. I will never have a job due to reasons outside my control. I dont give a damm about your profuctivity. cops never helped when I called for help. I just want you and these pigs dead, and if I need to take your stuff to live, so be it. Your life means nothing to me, and neother do you so-called propert “rights”. the only rights i believe in are to do what you need to personally survive no matter what the cost is to others. Fuck others. They never helped me.
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Re: Re: Re:3
How would you ever hope to accomplish that given your own admission of being mentally and physically defective?
You should probably kill yourself.
Re: Re: Re:4
Disability ≠ inability
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Re: Re: Re:5
There isn’t a single pre-teen boy whose ass I couldn’t kick.
Re: Re: Re:6
Was that supposed to be some kind of brag?
Man, imagine being so insecure you have to tell the world that you can physically beat up people weaker than you.
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False dilemma. We can have police who are trained to defend and protect people—“productive” or otherwise—instead of police whose training makes them so paranoid that the sound of an acorn hitting a car makes them immediately react like they’re under fire in a war zone.
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Roof Koreans would like to remind you that the police never cared about “serving and protecting” unless yhou’re white.
And that even exercising your 2A rights to protect your property, business and body are frowned upon for minorities.
So technically, the police are for white people only.
Re: Re: Re:2
Police exist to protect the property rights of the wealthy first and foremost. They prefer to protect the white day-to-day, sure. But they’ll crack a million poor white heads to protect the billionaire class, and they don’t give one lick whether it’s white or black heads they’re cracking when they get a go-ahead like that.
Re: Re: Re:2 fair summary
Right. In fact, that is a fair summary of the creation and history of police forces in the U.S. The goal was to keep what we now call ``minorities” in line.
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I live in a country where the cops don’t carry guns, all firearms are properly licensed so have never had to fear one being let off as an act of malice. I don’t live in a permanent state of fear of violent crime, drugs and -pasp- property damage, despite living in a relatively poor region where the police are rarely seen. There is a reason nowhere outside of the most oppressive regimes police like America does.
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Actually, armed officers in the UK do indeed carry guns, including H&K MP7s in public areas after terrorist attacks, and there are plenty of unlicensed handguns amongst the criminal gangs in urban areas, resulting in Thusha Kamaleswaran being paralyzed from the waist down at the age of five years old.
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False dichotomy. Both are problematic.
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The author of the comment I am replying to is an idiot troll who revels in lying about people for no reason.
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Police are thugs. Choose one.
Ossifers under attack from acorns! Whatever next?
Monty Python would not have been allowed this as a sketch, on account of it being too improbable. It would never have got into A Fish Called Wanda …
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Have you watched their skits?
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How …? Never mind.
It it clear from this video that acorn trees must be outlawed and removed from all states.
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“Acorn trees.”
🤣
i’m sorry that’s just the best.
…Which just serves to prove that some cops are just downright “nuts”. But yeah, many do love seeing all those other cool uniforms being displayed all about the locale! Makes you just wanna go out and hunt Black people.
US police departments: We only hire the best of the best of the best
I can only imagine that after such a sterling demonstration of skills and mettle the department is fast tracking the officer in question to as high a position as they have available.
Lightning quick to open fire at the nearest defenseless person and just as quick to lie to justify it? Sure sounds like ideal cop material to me.
Re: In his defense
He was a REFM. For the rest of his life, one cop will have to always address the acorn in the room. If this idiot ever gets hired by another department, he will forever be finding acorns in his locker and acorns being tossed at him in the locker room..
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Googling for it.
REFM: Real Estate Financial Modeling. (A handful of other expansions appear, like Renewable Energy something, and something about Fisheries, but they all add up to a small minority.)
Adding “cop” as a search term, I also got some police related site that told me that I “searched for: refm” (which I already knew) and that was all it told me.
Giving up.
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I’m guessing the previous commenter meant to type REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker). See also: In the rear with the gear. Someone who had a non-combat job. Supply, intelligence, admin, etc.
I would not be surprised if somehow they try to make Jackson pay for the damage to the patrol car.
Is there something in the air or water in Florida that causes people to act out in such absurd fashion? Could it be the proximity to a certain grandson of a pimp ex-President? I can think of no scientific explanation for the “Florida Man” syndrome, nor any adequate method of testing to determine its actual origin. I will say this- I wouldn’t go there if you held a gun to my head…since I could be fairly certain that something even more dire would likely befall me upon my arrival in the Gunshine State.
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Florida man is most likely to have lead pipes out of all states. So it is possibly lead, but you would expect to hear more craziness out of other lead-poisoned areas.
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It’s mostly the open records law that lets you find out instantly evey crazy thing that the cops run into daily.
Not that people there aren’t insane in special ways or anything.
Given all the swampland down there? Probably.
Re: yes.
Florida man it’s a thing.
Doesn't every cop car in the United States say "the finest"?
For the rest of his life, one cop will have to always address the acorn in the room. If this idiot ever gets hired by another department, he will forever be finding acorns in his locker and acorns being tossed at him in the locker room..
Slight correction
He is no longer an officer. He (rightly) resigned following his fuck-up. We can hope for charges, but he’d probably get off due to the details. They had reason to believe the arrestee had a suppressed pistol they may have missed, so he was primed for worst case. Court may grant immunity for that, but we can hope.
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Minor quibble, after being searched and locked in a police vehicle, wtaf would there be a suppressed pistol from? Not something missed during a pat down, and not something that sounds like an acorn. Mufflers aren’t silencers after all.
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Even if they did somehow have reason to believe that (and I doubt they did), how did they expect him to fire it if he was handcuffed?
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His penis is not a suppressed weapon.
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How? And even if he did, how would that make the reaction remotely reasonable, especially where the officer proclaimed he was hit when he clearly wasn’t.
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They had reason to believe he owned a suppressor, and he was patted down before being put in the car. Unless Hernandez was actively doubting the thoroughness of the search he had carried out just moments before and thought he could somehow have missed a suppressed pistol (how?!), his reaction was absolutely not the result of a logical conclusion based on knowledge of the situation. It was the lizard part of his brain reacting in a panic, demonstrating a complete unsuitability for the job and exposing the poor training and assessment that missed this.
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So a bunch of goons armed to the teeth, belonging to an organization well known for going beyond what is necessary for physically manhandling and subduing targets while outnumbering said targets at least 6 to 1, still had reason to believe they may have missed out on a weapon on a target that had been physically restrained.
Was this intended to be a chest-thumping defense of the officers in question? Because it sure as hell ain’t. It explains why they might have done something incredibly dumb and why that’s somehow okay. And people in power wonder why the average citizen gets annoyed about having to fund this dumbfuckery if this is the level of service they’re getting.
What movie it this?
or is this a New cop series?
I’m not a LEO but I sure as hell can differentiate between the sound of a gunshot and the sound of an acorn hitting the roof of my car. But then again I live in the country. Maybe all loud noises are shots fired to the uninitiated…
Did the acorn survive, and if so, will it get trauma councilling?
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The follow-up was: Lucky Escape Acorn Mauled By Squirrel. “I was buried alive for 5 hours!”
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Im going to find these pigs and kill them
you shoot at unarmed people in your custudy, you get killed. Antifa has placed a million dollar reward for the head of each of these cops.
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Not only does the site owner allow advertising from literal drug dealers, he allows (and seemingly encourages) anti-police hate speech up to and including the placing of bounties on the lives of our brave officers!! Very depraved!!
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You are aware of the “actual malice” standard, yes?
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That one poster is one big example of the “actual malice” standard in action.
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Obvious plant is obvious.
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[citation needed]
He “allows” the same from bigots, and nothing he’s said suggests that he encourages the placing of bounties on the lives of any officers. Also, the post in question was hidden, demonstrating that this isn’t welcome here.
Oh, and as for “brave officers”, the officer in question was certainly not brave if this is how he reacts to an acorn and a person in custody in the back of a police car.
Re: Re:
Literally a 95% chance you posted that yourself so you could pretend to be outraged about it.
Tim, you left off the best part.
The Chief defending officer Fife’s actions by saying that he was completely justified in his fear to respond that way.
Chief – we do believe he felt his life was in immediate peril and his response was based off the totality of circumstances surrounding this fear.
I gotta think the Chief would have a really difference response to a PoC getting afraid and shooting the cop who pulled them over on questionable reasoning. I mean they keep shooting PoC so they would feel peril and the response of shooting the cop first would be based on the totality of circumstances surrounding this fear.
That somehow a suspect, detained, searched, cuffed, placed in a vehicle by the officer was able to hide a super secret weapon that was able to shoot at him without breaking any of the windows.
Maybe its time to question why police keep behaving like PoC have super powers that only appear when dealing with the police & the police have to shoot first before they unleash their evil powers on them.
Re: Do you want ACAB? Because that's how you get ACAB
Well that certainly bodes well for the rest of the department if the head of it is willing to defend ‘Hear a noise? Open fire and lie about being shot to encourage other officers to open fire as well’ rather than condemning it.
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At this point, I have to give all cop killers the benefit of the doubt. I’m a middle class white dude, and I still fear for my life when I have to interact with cops. As the chief here is proving to us, the whole bunch has long been spoiled by the few bad apples. The problem is institutional, and it starts at the top.
The only way I can see this as even remotely justifiable is if the LEO had PTSD from his time in Afghanistan and the acorn drop triggered it.
That said, even if that’s true (and I think that’s a BIG reach at best, given that he claimed he never saw combat, and IT WAS A FREAKING ACORN), it speaks to the lack of mental health training and awareness – someone with that sensitive of PTSD that could result in an episode like this absolutely SHOULD NOT have made it through the hiring process, much less the academy.
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PTSD is not an excuse for mag dumping an unarmed, handcuffed man.
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“You squirrel there, step away from that oak tree, with your front paws in the air! Keep your paws away from that acorn, do you hear me!”
Sounds of pistol shots.
Later, Chief of Police: “The squirrel was reaching for an acorn. My brave officer felt his life was in peril and fired to defend himself against an imminent threat.”
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The article already states that the officer in question, in fact, had no frontline experience that would lead to any sort of PTSD.
But the rest of your point is spot on: such an individual who poses such a potential risk absolutely should not be put in a position where violence is likely. If not for the risk to the public, then for the risk to the cops, which often seem to be the only lives that law enforcement cares about.
Then again, police departments constantly defend these practices to the point where I wonder if the point is to get these troubled ticking time bombs to unalive themselves and several inconvenient people, then shrug and say that they couldn’t possibly have seen this coming.
Just a reminder that being a delivery driver is more dangerous than being a pig.
“His partner was only wrong because she believed Deputy Hernandez at least once”
I’ll believe you at least once if you can tell me what the brave independent woman was shooting at?
Bad, but lacking in post
Real body cam has moor footage.
So he was being detained for grand theft. I had seen the videos before the 14th when this was posted. The write up left that out, as well as the stalking.
Let’s knock something out first. The ‘ping’ can clearly be heard on body cam, which is softer than real life.
There is an outside chance an inexperienced officer could perceive the sound to have been a small calibre shot from within the sealed vehicle. Especially because they did not properly search him before sticking him in the car.
So they were wrong off the bat by placing him in the car, knowing he had been stalking his ex girlfriend, was less than ‘all there’, and was in a crazed state.
The inexperienced officer heard a noise that reminded him of the sound of fire from great distance or from inside/outside a sheltered area.
As he fell, he hit hard, adding with the adrenaline, thinking he was shot. (Tim left out the “am I hit” etc).
The problem here isn’t so much the officer’s reaction to the perceived deadly threat as much as the stupidity of the placement in the first place.
You have a deranged former lover stalking his ex and stealing her car: clearly some basic actions in the beginning could have kept this from happening! A proper search.
Basics in training.
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Do you clerk for a judge in the Fifth Circuit, by any chance?
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Was any of this meant as an apologism for the cops? Because even by davec and Lodos standards, it does the exact opposite.
You’re The Borg, aren’t you? No, thanks…