The cops were the intruders. They were there to ostensibly check on the wellbeing of the couple and ended up killing an innocent man.
The post Cops Kill Innocent 86yo Navy Vet as He Protected His Wife from Intruders, No Charges appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
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 high school track and wrestling star was gunned down by police conducting a welfare check. He was unarmed and merely backing his car out of his own driveway.
The post Unarmed High School Sports Star Killed by Police as He Backed Out of His Own Driveway appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
A high school track and wrestling star was gunned down by police conducting a welfare check. He was unarmed and merely backing his car out of his own driveway.
New York, NY — After years of police accountability activists demanding NYPD officers wear body cameras, a pilot program began in April in which select precincts began to wear them. Now, for the first time ever in the history of the NYPD, the department has released footage of an officer killing a mentally ill man — 31-year-old Bronx resident Miguel Richards.
Richards’ landlord called police to do a welfare check on him as he had not been seen in weeks. Upon arrival to Richards’ room, the young man can be seen wearing dark sun glasses and standing in the furthest corner of his room by his bed. Immediately, the officers noticed he was holding a knife. Later, it was observed he also had a toy gun which was obviously a toy.
For an agonizing 15 minutes, officers appeared to have done their best to talk down the young man—by yelling at him constantly to put down the knife.
They began considering shooting him at about the 7-minute mark in the body camera footage. One officer asks if they’re on the top floor, seeming to consider where the bullets would go if Richards continued with the standoff. He then told Richards he was “seconds away” from getting shot and to put down the weapons.
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There were four officers on the scene when the decision was made around the 15-minute mark to take Richards down. “You wanna take him down now?” “Okay, just hit him (assuming with the taser),” the officers said to each other.
When Officer 3 moved in with the taser, it appeared Richards moved slightly and then officers one and two opened fire, shooting over Officer 3 to hit Richards. They hit him 16 times, killing the young man. The officers who opened fire were identified as Mark Fleming and Redmond Murphy.
READ MORE: Body Cam Shows the Danger Faced by Innocent Autistic People When Approached by Bully Cops
Richards didn’t have a prior criminal record, nor a history of mental illness, the New York Daily News reported. “He did not deserve to die this way,” his distraught father, 61-year-old Belvett Richards, told the newspaper. “He was murdered… cold blooded.”
The entire incident serves to illustrate just how risky it may be to call police for any situation. Keep in mind, it was supposed to be a welfare check, to make sure Richards was all right. Upon seeing the man standing in his own room, holding his own knife, and a toy, the police could have backed away and called his family. Instead, they continued to escalate the standoff, using absolutely no training in basic mental health.
According to the NYPD’s official statement:
The officers asked the individual if was holding a firearm, whether or not it was real, and then ordered him to drop it. The officers told the individual that they did not want to hurt him. Again, the officers received no compliance. The individual then proceeded to raise his right hand with the gun in the direction of the officers, at which point one officer deployed the taser and another two officers simultaneously discharged their service weapons.
Having reviewed all of the body camera footage provided there does appear to be one discrepancy between the official police statement and what may have transpired on scene. Once the decision was made to go in and taser Mr. Richards, it seems as though one of the officers actually fired his weapon before the taser was deployed. This is entirely based on one observation, the lighting which was cast from the firing of the weapon seemed to originate from outside the room, not from within, where Officer 3 had already positioned himself with the taser.
READ MORE: Cop stands on hood of car, fires 15 rounds through window, kills two unarmed people
Unfortunately, Mr. Richards lost his life because presumably the landlord did not go and check to see if his/her tenant was okay. Instead, guys with guns were called who promptly dispatched the terrified man.
Below is the Body camera footage from the four officers who were present at the scene.
Officer 1:
Officer 2:
Officer 3:
Officer 4:
Saratoga, CA — The widow of an 86-year-old Navy veteran who was gunned down by armed intruders in his own home, has filed a lawsuit against her husband’s killers — the Santa Clara County sheriff’s department.
Eugene Craig was gunned down by police as he attempted to shield his wife from armed intruders who’d just broken into his home. The armed intruders were cops.
On Sept. 12, 2016, according to Harue Craig’s attorneys, prior to the shooting, deputies kicked down two doors before opening fire inside the Craigs’ Saratoga home on Titus Avenue.
As KTVU reports, attorneys said their client stated that both she and her late husband were “very scared” and did not know why their doors were being kicked down.
The elderly couple thought they were victims of a home invasion, so Eugene grabbed his .38 caliber revolver and bravely stood in front of his wife as they listened to the intruders come into their home.
When the intruders opened the bedroom door, they saw the elderly vet standing there with the revolver and one deputy opened fire. Although there were multiple deputies in the home, deputy Doug Ulrich was the only one who felt the need to begin shooting.
Eugene died on the scene.
According to police, they were at the home to conduct a welfare check. The sheriff’s office said that deputies clearly identified themselves, called the home phone, and tapped on windows repeatedly before entering.
in spite of their alleged efforts to identify themselves, the couple still didn’t believe them. After all, they were both entirely innocent and cops coming into their home was a far-fetched idea. Any home invader could simply claim they’re the police to easily gain entry into someone’s home.
READ MORE: Cop Fires on Unarmed Man and His 6-Year-Old Daughter on Their Way to Get Asthma Medicine
The tragic irony of this situation is that police claim they were there to protect the couple, noting that they had gotten word that someone inside the home was in distress. Sadly, this is what happens when militarized police are sent into an innocent couple’s home to check on their wellbeing.
After he killed the innocent elderly Navy veteran, Ulrich was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings in the county.
Naturally, after they killed the innocent man — while ‘protecting’ him — police immediately attempted to justify their actions.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said, “By law, officers are allowed to use deadly force when they or others are faced with imminent danger.”
However, the only ones who created the threat of imminent danger were the police.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, they are still reviewing the incident, noting their office “investigates all fatal law enforcement encounters to determine if the lethal force was legal.”
Welfare checks, as they are known in the United States, are crap shoots that have the potential to explode into violence at any moment. The Free Thought Project has reported on numerous instances in which police have shown up to ‘protect’ someone who may be suicidal or in distress only to end up hurting or killing them.
One such instance is Benjamin Burruss, 58, who narrowly escaped with his life after police targeted him for a welfare check.
As we previously reported, Burruss had not threatened to harm anyone, was not suspected of any criminal activity, and was not mentally ill, when a police tactical team confronted him, surrounded his truck, deployed a “stinger” device behind the rear tires, launched a flash grenade, smashed the side window in order to drag him from the truck, handcuffed and searched him, and transported him to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and mental health hold.
READ MORE: For the First Time Ever APD Cops Will Be Charged with Murder for Killing Someone
There is also the story of Kayden Clarke, whose video about living with Asperger’s went viral and touched millions. However, when police were conducting a welfare check on him, after reports that he may be suicidal, they barged into his home and killed him.
Nothing will bring back Harue Craig’s beloved husband. However, her lawsuit will serve as yet another reminder of the effect of police violence on situations that require no force at all. When law enforcement’s only tool is a hammer — everything begins to look like a nail.
