An unarmed Overland Park, Kansas teenager and beloved high school sports star was killed by police when after his girlfriend called 911 to tell them he may have been suicidal.
The post Video Released Showing Police Kill Unarmed 17yo Boy in His Driveway—No Charges appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
A Florida man was killed on video this week following a clash with police. He was unarmed when he was killed as witnessed begged cops to taser him.
An Oklahoma City police officer has been charged with 2nd-degree murder for killing an unarmed mentally-ill man on video.
A teenage boy committed suicide after he was left paralyzed and in chronic pain by a police officer who targeted him and shot him in the back 6 times.
After his son was executed by police, a veteran is now using the settlement he received from the city to call for a new investigation into his son"s death.
Las Vegas, NV — The response time of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department during a recent mass shooting has been called into question by an Iraq War Veteran who claims he told police exactly where the suspect, Stephen Paddock, was firing on concertgoers, which was above his room in the Mandalay Bay casino.
Chris Bethel told reporters he was staying in a room just a few floors below Paddock and notified police to the mass murderer’s precise location. Now, Bethel is demanding an answer to the question as to why it took the LVMPD Swat team 1 hour and 12 minutes to penetrate Paddock’s room to neutralize the threat.
According to a timeline produced by the DailyMail, the first reports of gunfire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival came in at 10:08 p.m. Bethel claimed he called the police to let them know from which floor and room the shooter was firing from. He is now miffed with incredulity that it took police 72 minutes to enter the room, only to find that Paddock had reportedly taken his life.
Recognizing the types of weapons being used, and the presence of explosives, Bethel described what he heard:
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Bethel said he called the front desk to tell them where the shooter was firing from but no one answered the phone. All the while, he could hear the shooter changing calibers and weapons as well.
READ MORE: Cops Kill Deaf Electrical Engineer, Detain the Only Witness and Delete His Video
He told reporters as he watched the police attempt to locate the shooter’s room, he noticed they were going in the wrong direction. Eventually, he was able to get someone on the phone to tell them, “He’s not over there. He’s over here!”
The first look into the officers’ view during the shooting was revealed after Body Camera footage was released on Tuesday, showing the sheer chaos and terror at the scene as they searched for the shooter.
According to the DailyMail’s timeline, LVMPD admitted they knew of Paddock’s exact location at 10:24 p.m., but they delayed in storming the room and taking out the suspect. It was not until 11:21 p.m. that the SWAT team used explosives to blow their way into the room, only to find Paddock reportedly deceased from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Bethel said he is filled with regret about the fact that it took LVMPD over an hour to get inside the room.
“I feel like I didn’t do enough,” he told CBS DFW. “I feel like I couldn’t get a hold of somebody quick enough to let them know. And it felt like it took them too long to get over there, to take him out.”
In all, 59 people were killed and 527 injured in the attack now known as the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. But LVMPD has not always been so slow to respond to reports of armed and dangerous individuals.
READ MORE: Cops Shoot Man 7 times, Run Him Over and Kill Him Because He Had a Bright Green Water Gun
In 2010, LVMPD officers were called to the Costco in Sumerlin because concealed carry permit holder and West Point graduate Erik Scott had been seen carrying a concealed handgun in his waistband. It took LVMPD less than 15 minutes from when they received the call from Costco security until they arrived on scene.
After they confronted Scott at the entrance to the Costco, they shot and killed the man many said was attempting to comply with their commands. Not only was he not brandishing a weapon and not firing upon innocent shoppers, but he had his arms raised above his head when he was struck by officers’ bullets with one piercing his heart.
The fact that the LVMPD was so quick to respond to the call to a local warehouse club where a man was threatening no one and yet, were so slow to take action while an active shooter was mowing down hundreds of partygoers, has not gone unnoticed.
While the gun grabbers are quick to push their unconstitutional initiatives to take away the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, some criticism should be reserved for a police department that arguably dragged its feet. According to Bethel, they could have truly saved lives by responding much sooner and taking action immediately after they were given the location where Paddock was firing from.
Malakoff, TX — As TFTP has frequently reported, if police officers are not held accountable for their actions in one department, they will simply change departments and continue abusing citizens. We call them gypsy cops. One such gypsy cop is Ernesto Fierro, whose time has finally come.
In 2005, Fierro was allowed to resign from the Dallas Police Department after he was involved in two hit-and-runs in which he fled the scene. That would be a felony conviction for the average citizen, but police officers are often given a pass for their crimes, allowed to resign and be employed elsewhere at another LEA (law enforcement agency).
Later, Fierro was employed in 2011 with the Ferris, Texas, Police Department when he was involved in the death of a motorcyclist during a high-speed chase. Had Fierro been held accountable for his actions in Dallas and later in Ferris, he might not have allegedly killed William Livezey Jr. (70), of New Sharon, Iowa. But, he was not held accountable and was therefore allowed to strike again.
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Fierro, the gypsy cop, left Ferris and was employed in Malakoff, Texas in April 2014 where he was a police officer. While riding his own personal motorcycle, Fierro was involved in a road-rage incident with Livezey, who was driving a tractor-trailer load of reclaimed barn lumber from his business in Taintor, Iowa, to a client in Houston.
The incident began when Fierro perceived Livezey to be trying to kill him with his truck. According to the DesMoines Register:
Fierro claimed in testimony that Livezey, who lived in New Sharon, Iowa, had “homicidal intent with his attacks of road rage” and came close to killing him while he was on his motorcycle.
But Fierro’s claims Livezey was trying to kill him were disputed by more than one witness who saw the gypsy cop driving erratically.
But witnesses said they saw the motorcycle weave from side-to-side and dart in front of Livezey’s truck at least 15 times, forcing it onto the shoulder. At one point, Fierro allegedly kicked the truck’s tire, witnesses told police.
Fierro then arrested Livezey for “aggravated assault” and placed the elderly man in handcuffs. That’s when the truck driver said he wasn’t feeling well. He told the other officers he was afraid Fierro was going to kill him. Fierro claimed he was faking his illness.
When backup officers arrived, Livezey said his chest was hurting “and he thought the other man was going to hurt him,” the lawsuit says. Fierro claimed Livezey was “faking” and just “putting on a show” to avoid going to jail.
The other officers who were on-duty, apparently realizing the man’s health condition was grave, took him out of handcuffs and placed him into his vehicle, where he turned purple and stopped breathing. Shortly after, he was declared dead of a cardiac arrest. The family sued the city of Malakoff, the police department, and officer Fierro.
READ MORE: Veteran Arrested For Freeing A Dog From A Hot Car, "I"ve seen enough death and destruction."
A judge removed the city and the police department from the lawsuit and allowed the suit to proceed against Fierro as the solely responsible individual for Livezey’s death. A jury found him guilty and awarded the family $6.3 million dollars as a civil penalty for causing the elderly Iowa man’s death. Fierro will be solely responsible for paying the judgment.
The Livezey family’s attorneys claimed Fierro “wrongfully and illegally handcuffed, arrested, assaulted, and detained which ultimately caused his death at the scene.” The jury agreed. Finally, after two hit-and-run incidents, and the deaths of two citizens, Fierro was forced to surrender his Texas peace officer’s license.
Finally, after two hit-and-run incidents, and the deaths of two citizens, Fierro was forced to surrender his Texas peace officer’s license. If Fierro had been held accountable for his actions when he was in Dallas, and been charged with felony hit-and-run, for example, maybe the two other individuals would still be alive today.
Fierro’s story is precisely why we at TFTP do what we do, to expose the double standard, and hold police officers to the same standard to which the rest of society is held.
Los Angeles, CA — The parents of a 20-year-old man who was shot to death by police and then run over by a patrol car, are now begging for the officers responsible for their son’s death be held accountable for their actions.
Eric Rivera, 20, was killed by Los Angeles police officers in June, following a 911 call about a man with a gun. Officers Arturo Urrutia and Daniel Ramirez approached Rivera on the night of June 7. They claimed that they exited their vehicle so quickly, they forgot to put the car in park. As they were opening fire on the man they believed to be brandishing a handgun, the car continued to roll over the young man, but not before the officers struck him seven times, with at least one bullet piercing his skull.
In a tragic scene that undoubtedly could have been derived from an action movie, the car rolled over Rivera, pinning him to a wall and trapping his body underneath the police cruiser. As the investigation into the officer-involved shooting unfolded, a crane had to be called in to lift the vehicle from over Rivera’s body. The family’s lawyer described the young man’s torso as “literally mangled.”
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There were no firearms found at the scene. While a multi-colored water pistol was recovered, Rivera’s family told reporters it does not belong to their son. They are now calling for the prosecutor’s office to bring charges of negligent homicide against Urrutia and Ramirez.
The family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit but will drop the lawsuit under one condition. according to KTLA:
Rivera’s parents are willing to drop their federal civil rights lawsuit if Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey agrees to prosecute the officers involved, according to Casillas & Associates, the law firm representing the family.
Representatives from Casillas & Associates are turning up the heat on the prosecutor’s office, calling out the LA County district attorney by name. “This is a negligent homicide. Jackie Lacey, do your job,” Attorney Arnoldo Casillas told reporters.
READ MORE: Crowdfunding Project Nearing Its Goal, Promises to Release CIA Database to the World
Officers Urrutia and Ramirez have been cleared of all wrongdoing, according to the KTLA, and are reportedly back on the field performing their regular duties—citizens of Los Angeles, beware.
Lawyers for the Rivera family produced an animated video describing how they believe the alleged homicide occurred. However, the LAPD claims their animation is not based on any evidence that the department is aware of. They countered the video production in a statement saying:
“We do not know the basis for the video graphic produced by the attorney for Mr. Rivera’s family. What we do know is that the video does not take into consideration the substantial evidence collected by [LAPD investigators] as part of [their] exhaustive investigation of the incident.”
Valerie Rivera, Eric Rivera’s mom lamented her loss. “I’m never going to be able to hug my son again. We’re never going to be able to spend holidays with him again. He’s not here with us,” She said.
Casillas said his department located an eyewitness, a security guard who passed Rivera on the sidewalk. The guard reportedly told the legal team Rivera was acting normally and posed no threat to himself or anyone else. Casillas said the squirt gun found on the scene looked “like Buzz Lightyear’s ray gun.”
The Free Thought Project will continue to provide updates on this story as the legal proceedings continue and video obtained through the officers’ Body cameras or Dash cameras are released.
Madeira, CA — On Friday, another man lost his life in a hail of police bullets. Madeira, CA Police shot and killed 32-year-old Sergio Valdovinos, a mentally ill man who police says was swinging at them with a large stick.
Valdovinos was known to police. They’d been out to his home before. In fact, they’d responded to his home on at least 50 occasions over the last two years. He was mentally ill and reportedly suffered from schizophrenia.
For years, his mother had attempted to get him help, to no avail. Surely his condition was wearing on her, as well as the community who lived in adjacent homes. But neither his medical condition nor the frequent police calls to the home were any reason for law enforcement to kill him, according to critics within Valdovinos’ family.
Video from the SWAT team entry was recorded by a neighbor. It shows the team, in line formation, turning the corner around the garage, and engaging the young mentally ill man on his front porch.
After commands were given and apparently ignored, police opened fire, killing Valdovinos with eight quick shots. It was over. No more would his mother be terrorized by his supposed irrational, impulsive behaviors. No longer would the community have to worry about the schizophrenic man down the road. But questions remain.
Could the police have ended the situation without killing him? Could they have disarmed him without using deadly force? For answers to that question, KMPH News reporters spoke with Madeira Police Chief Steven Frazier. He told them;
This is not what a Madera Police Department wants to happen.
The chief displayed a table with a large stick, screwdrivers, and a makeshift “shield” that was made with a griddle which was reportedly taken off of his person before police shot and killed him.
We’ve been out there before where he’s threatening us with machetes, knives.
Chief Frazier indicated he was a dangerous person, having once set his garage on fire.
Sergio began swinging the stick at our officers. The officer that was closest to him ended up firing eight rounds to defend himself from getting struck by the stick.
When asked if the level of force was appropriate, the chief responded by saying his team had to neutralize the “threat” and that there was little time to contemplate whether the force was excessive. He said:
We need to use a level that stops that threat. How many shots that takes? I don’t know. There’s so many factors that come into play. From the time that you start pulling the trigger, to the time he falls, by the time your brain catches up with that, you could have fired three or four more rounds just because you knew you had to…Eight rounds sounds like a lot. I don’t think that’s excessive at this point.
Unfortunately, the keywords we often hear at TFTP are: “in fear for my life” and “stop the threat,” all of which begs the question of whether a taser should have been deployed. After all, the man was suffering from a mental illness.
READ MORE: Cop Arrested After His Own Body Cam Refuted his Report, Shows Him Pummeling Teen
The chief responded to the suggestion a taser should have been used by saying, “the opportunity did not present itself.”
But other officers have been faced with equally terrifying situations and created space and opportunity sufficient enough to deploy a taser. In one such instance, a man who was either schizophrenic or on a drug such as “bath salts” or “PCP,” took all his clothes off and laid down in a busy city street.
When one solitary officer arrived on the scene, the crazed man got up from the ground and quickly walked toward the officer in a threatening manner. Instead of drawing his service pistol, which he could have deployed with justification, he chose his taser, and dropped the man like a bag of bricks.
So how is it a team of SWAT team members could not have done the same? Maybe they’re not trained to de-escalate. And therein may lie the problem. Police need better training to deal with mentally ill, and de-escalate dangerous situations.
Ray Tensing may be the next killer cop to walk free after shooting dead an unarmed motorist, Sam Dubose, as he drove away on video.
Picture this. A sergeant with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) calls another police officer to a local gas station because his vehicle is big enough to transport two brothers who’d just been arrested. When officer Timothy James arrived to lend a helping hand to his fellow boy in blue, he decided he’d give a knuckle sandwich to one of the teenaged suspects in the back of his squad car.
He repeatedly punched one of the arrested and handcuffed teens, a 17-year-old child, in the face. According to the reports, James climbed into the back seat of his patrol car, where the teens were waiting and handcuffed, and began punching one of the brothers in the face. The sergeant saw it all from his own patrol car and then, like a good cop is supposed to do, he arrested James.
Jesus Campos, the eldest brother, said, “I hope my brother’s all right,” and added, “I never thought this would happen to my brothers.” As of this story’s publication, he still did not know how his brother was doing, following the reported attack.
The damning part of this story is that it’s not the first time James has been arrested by his own police force. It’s the second time — inside a month. But that’s not all. In fact, this model cop has already killed a pedestrian with his squad car too. And while JCSO is prohibited from discussing his priors, investigative reporters with First Coast News uncovered his personnel file, which reveal the officer’s sordid work history.
On at least 10 different occasions, James has been in violation of departmental policy. Killing pedestrians and beating handcuffed kids is not the upper limit of this cop’s corrupt ability. In April, he’s alleged to have spit on and abused a mentally ill man at UF Health, the University of Florida hospital.
READ MORE: Cannabis Kills: Cops Execute No Knock Raid, Murder Man Over Non-Existent Plant
Undersheriff Pat Ivey, all but confirmed James to be at the center of the investigation which occured at the hospital by discussing the incident which took place at the hospital in the same press conference as the one which addressed James’ arrest.
In May, James hit and killed a pedestrian and was ordered to undergo counseling. Attorney John Phillip is representing the victim’s family and openly wondered when informed of James’ arrest if he was “psychologically cleared” to return to duty.
Officer Timothy James has been charged with “Battery” in the beating incident, but has not been fired, which would be standard procedure for most occupations and professions wherein an employee assaulted someone while on the job. Instead, he’s on paid administrative leave, stripped of his officer’s privileges, and has been relegated to desk duty should he desire to work while the investigation takes place.
In all, James has been involved in disciplinary actions on at least 10 separate occasions from violations of the department’s social media rules to a firearms violation. It’s unclear if the latest abuse of power/excessive force battery charge will be enough to end his career or if he’ll be allowed return to the profession which has, so far, permitted him to abuse the citizenry with impunity.
James’ case highlights what we at TFTP have concluded. Police officers routinely abuse their authority, often kidnapping, caging, and killing innocent civilians in the line of duty. Rarely do they see prosecution.
Instead, like James, they’re given “administrative leave” which simply allows them to have a paid vacation long enough to be hired at another department or retire before facing consequences. We call these officers “Gypsy Cops.”
READ MORE: D.A.R.E. Officer Resigns After He was Caught Selling Drugs to High Profile Bourbon Thieves
They travel from one department to the other abusing people, never answering for their crimes. To the sergeant who arrested James, we salute you.
St. Louis, MO — On Wednesday, St. Louis Police Swat team members executed what appeared to be a no-knock raid on a home, killing 21-year-old Isaiah Hammett. According to the Riverfront Times, Hammett was suspected of dealing in drugs and weapons, but his family is telling a very different version of events from what the St. Louis Police Department is sharing.
“A bunch of shots was going on. My grandson was trying to protect me, threw me on the floor,” his grandfather told reporters. “Then I hear screaming. He went in the dining room. I see my grandson laying dead on the dining room floor. And police SWAT team out front told me to come out. I come out. I didn’t know what was going on,” he said still in an apparent state of shock and disbelief.
Police say they had a search warrant to enter the home, but the grandfather made no mention of seeing a warrant or hearing police announce their presence. Nonetheless, the SWAT team penetrated the home. They’re now saying Hammett opened fire on them, according to Lt. Colonel Lawrence O’Toole, acting St. Louis Police Chief.
O’Toole told reporters, “I can describe it only as being a firefight that was inside the residence…Numerous rounds were fired.”
Hammett’s family disputes those claims.
Gina Torres, Hammett’s mother said the young man and his grandfather believed someone was breaking into the home, and tried to hide. “The cops came in and they killed my son,” Torres said matter of factly.
“I needed my son and I feel like dying right now,” she cried in the street as she conveyed her heartache. “For no reason. They shot my son to death,” Torres said, tears streaming down her face.
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O’Toole said his SWAT officers did a “Fantastic” job executing the search warrant and that Hammett shot at them first with an AK-47 they recovered at the scene. The semi-automatic rifle is sold in gun stores throughout the U.S. and is not illegal to possess by most citizens. O’Toole proudly displayed the rifle, which is commonly used for self-protection against such home invasions.
Noticeably absent from O’Toole’s press conference was any mention of drugs being found at the home. Also not mentioned was any discussion about other weapons found on the premises. Conventionally left out of the press conference was any reference to body cameras being worn by officers, the footage of which rarely lies. In other words, all the police found at the home was one solitary rifle, a weapon which cost one young man his life.
The family, convinced largely by the testimony of Hammett’s grandfather who was with his grandson at the time of his killing, believes the police are lying. Hammett’s grandfather reiterated to reporters his eyewitness testimony of the events which took place Wednesday.
“I just heard a bunch of gunshots, my grandson coming in. He took me out of the bed, put me on the floor, more shots was being involved. The next thing I know, he’s laying on the ground dead,” his 71-year-old grandpa said. The family admits to there being more guns in the home but insist their son did not fire first.
As TFTP has documented on numerous occasions, citizens are often surprised when SWAT teams execute search warrants, some even conducted without firstly knocking and identifying themselves as officers. The “no-knock” search warrant is especially dangerous as many citizens do not know it’s police who are knocking down their doors attempting to make entry.
READ MORE: Peer Reviewed Study Shows Cops Kill Black People at 3 Times the Rate of their White Counterparts
Often times innocent people are killed in the process, and sometimes it’s the police officers who are killed. In Texas, where the “Castle” law is in effect, several officers have been killed executing such warrants, with at least one homeowner being exonerated for killing the intruders.
Oddly enough, Hammett may have had every right to fire on officers, especially if they did not announce their presence before throwing in the flash-bang grenade. The law states according to GunLaws101;
Missouri’s Castle Doctrine. The use of force to defend one’s self is justified when the person believes there is a certain risk of death, or great physical harm. This also applies when someone is trying to break into an occupied vehicle or home.
Unfortunately, Isaiah Hammett will not get a chance to prove his innocence in a court of law because police became his executioners, and we at TFTP do not think there is anything “fantastic” about that. Hammett’s only prior conviction was for possession of marijuana, a God-given plant, which is legal to use either recreationally or medicinally in 29 U.S. States. He now becomes one of the latest victims in the failed War on Drugs.
Appleton, WI — Police shot and killed a man last Sunday at Jack’s Apple Pub. Jimmie Sanders, of Milwaukee, was fatally wounded when police arrived after someone at the pub called 911.
Sanders and Henry Nellum got into a fight. Nellum pulled out the gun witnesses said he brought with him to the bar. Nellum told police he was attempting to hand his gun to a friend when the fight broke out. But witnesses told police that wasn’t true.
Nellum allegedly put the gun to Sanders’ neck just before Sanders wrestled the firearm away from him. During the scuffle, the gun went off. That’s when police were called to the scene.
When police arrived, Sanders had just gotten the gun away from Nellum and, according to witnesses, this resolved the situation. However, seeing the gun in his hand, police opened fire on Sanders, killing him. Now, police have charged Nellum with attempted homicide but it wasn’t Nellum who killed Sanders. It was the Appleton police.
The whole ordeal has left the Sanders family with more questions than answers, especially after the criminal complaint filed against Nellum made no mention of their loved one’s death by cop.
A person purported to be Sanders’ cousin described the incident in a Facebook message submitted by The Free Thought Project.
This past Sunday my cousin was shot by the police in Appleton Wisconsin. Jimmy was in the bar with a friend. A fight broke out. During the fight the unknown male pulled out a gun. During the scuffle my cousin was trying to get the gun out the man hands. The gun went off in the mist of trying to take it from the guy. The police were called. When the officers entered the bar they seen a black man with a weapon and fired.
The family believes the police wasted no time in killing their loved one and said they can prove it. They claim to have witnesses who say absolutely no attempt was made to deescalate the situation. They also claim, as the criminal complaint alleges, it was Nellum’s gun and did not belong to Sanders. The message continues;
Witness said the officer didnt even give my cousin a chance to surrender or drop the weapon. when the police came into the bar they seen a black man holding a gun and shot him. The man he was fighting was the one who pulled the gun out.
The message even claims the family can prove Nellum pulled the gun on Sanders who, understandably, disarmed his attacker. The cousin believes, according to the testimony the family received from witnesses, that no attempt was made to get Sanders to drop the gun.
There was even a video that the man pulled the gun out and Jimmy took it from him. Please share my cousins story I believe that the police saw a black man with a gun a opened fire not giving him a chance to surrender. He was not even given a command to comply.
The District Attorney handling Nellum’s case, Carrie Schneider, described to reporters the charges against Nellum, who’s also a convicted felon. Nellum was charged with First Degree Intentional Homicide, Felony in Possession of a Firearm, Wrecklessly Endangering Safety and several misdemeanor charges. Even though it wasn’t Nellum who killed Sanders, he’s been charged with his death by being ultimately responsible for the presence of a gun inside the pub.
READ MORE: Retired Cop Shoots Man in Subway, Video Shows NYPD Arrest the Man Trying to Save Him
According to Sanders’ family advocate, Torrey Lowe, the wrong man was killed. “It was an unfortunate incident which took place and it looks like the man who was shot was not the one who brandished the gun,” Lowe told reporters.
Schneider said “additional charges” could be filed in Sanders’ shooting death, but did not indicate whether or not she was referencing the unnamed Appleton police officer who killed Sanders. Currently, Green Bay police are investigating the officer-involved shooting which took Sanders’ life.
As The Free Thought Project has advocated on numerous occasions, police officers need to be trained and in some cases retrained in deescalation methods. The Salt Lake City Utah Police Department has retrained all of its officers to deescalate conflicts such as the one which took Sanders’ life. Since the 2015 implementation, the department has not had one officer-involved shooting which took the life of a citizen.
As of this Sunday, Jimmy Sanders’ was the 482nd person killed by police so far in 2017. What’s more, his death will more likely than not be ‘officially’ counted by police as they are charging another person for it.
Salt Lake City, UT — It’s a tale of two Michael Brown’s, one a police chief for Salt Lake City, the other deceased, killed by Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson. Salt Lake City Police Chief Michael Brown decided his town had seen enough officer-involved shootings and retrained his officers in de-escalation of force techniques.
“Can I shot this guy,” Wilson asked himself as Brown was allegedly punching him through his cruiser’s window. Wilson went on to shoot and kill the unarmed Michael Brown, a shooting which touched off grassroots protests throughout the country objecting to police brutality and the escalation of force implemented by nearly all of the nation’s police forces.
And while Chief Brown knows there are times when police can and should take someone’s life, it appears now his department wants that decision to be the last resort. “People don’t call us when they’re having the best day of their life. They call us when they’re having a crisis,” Brown said.
The Salt Lake City PD is proud of their new de-escalation program, even offering officers incentives and awards for deescalating encounters with citizens. One such encounter was captured on video, and Brown says there have been 37 such instances since the program was enacted in 2016.
Chief Brown stated, “The Salt Lake City Police Department is probably one of the leading agencies in the country as far as how we train and deploy and use these tactics to de-escalate and save lives.” But it hasn’t always been that way.
As TFTP’s Matt Agorist explained in 2014, the state of Utah had an epidemic of officer-involved shootings. Agorist wrote, “deadly force by police surpassed even violence between spouses and dating partners.”
READ MORE: VIDEO: "Show Your Hands," BOOM! Cop Shoots Unarmed Man Before He Can Comply
That was then. This is now. To date, there have not been any fatal officer-involved shootings in Salt Lake City since 2015.
The de-escalation techniques used by Salt Lake City PD involve variations in voice commands, backing away to provide space between cop and suspect, and switching to less than lethal methods before resorting to deadly force.
One encounter captured on video highlights their achievements. An officer pulled over a motorist who promptly exited the vehicle carrying a knife and moving in the direction of the officer who started first with his voice commands.
“I’m not gonna do this, I’m not gonna do it. Don’t make me do it,” the officer screamed at the man. “Get back in the car, it’s not worth it,” he said yelling also, “it’s a freakin ticket!”
The officer switched to his taser, and then tased the man he could have justifiably shot and possibly killed with his handgun. The entire incident made his chief very proud.
“It’s amazing to see the training go into effect,” Brown said adding he gave his officer, “a big hug. I told him ‘nice work. I think he saved a life.”
Salt Lake City’s police department, led by Michael Brown, is setting the example for how police departments can use common-sense de-escalation techniques to subdue citizens, many of whom are having their worst day.
Those measures are the ones TFTP has been calling for since our inception. It’s nice to see, in light of over 1,000 deaths by cop each year, one department is now taking their jobs very seriously attempting to protect and serve rather than punish and kill.
READ MORE: The Answer to the 2016 Spike in Cop Deaths is Ending the Drug War
For those that don’t recall, Dillon Taylor was one of the cases which highlighted the serious need of SLC cops to be retrained.
On August 11, 2014, Taylor was gunned down in broad daylight by Officer Bron Cruz.
The confrontation happened because Cruz confused Taylor with a possible criminal in the area.
Taylor, his brother, and his cousin were exiting a 7-Eleven in an area where police were searching for a suspect who had allegedly been waving a gun around. These uninvolved young men allegedly matched the description.
When the three men exited the convenience store they were surrounded by officers and ordered to show their hands. Two of the men stopped and complied, Dillon Taylor, listening to music, kept walking.
Barely 40 seconds go by from the time Dillon is approached until he is shot by Cruz.
“He couldn’t hear them, so he just kept walking. Then … they had guns pointed at his face. That’s when he turned off the music,” Taylor’s brother Jerrail Taylor told the SLC Tribune. “I saw them point guns at my brother’s face, and I knew what was going to happen.”
One officer told Taylor to get on the ground, while another told him to put his hands on his head.
“He got confused, he went to pull up his pants to get on the ground, and they shot him,” Jerrail Taylor said.
Officer Cruz was never held accountable.
