Police Shoot and Kill Man for Watering Lawn

DestroyDestroyDestroy

minusinfinity
reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy

 

Okay I did a quick search and discovered that this happened in 2010. Why are you posting this four years after it happened?

The family of a man fatally shot by Long Beach police in 2010 was awarded $6.5 million in damages by a federal jury on Thursday.

ktla.com...

Could it be your source looks for anything in the news only to make people angry with the government?

The police were wrong but....

He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.42% and had Valium and THC in his system at the time of his death.

Not saying he deserved to be gunned down but he wasn't just out watering his lawn.

Get the whole story before you jump 2 conclusions.

The case was recently settled, hence the family getting 6.5 million out of it. This is the first time that I've heard about it.

Regardless of his mental and physical state at the time of the shooting, he posed no actual threat to the cops. Shoot first and ask questions later is cold blooded murder.

America sure is changing.

Stupid people should not wear badges.

greencmp
reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy

 

This is just too common, 12 rounds no less.

I believe we may have to consider passing legislation to disarm them in our towns at least then we can talk about cities.

I have some ideas for replacing the existing police system with civilians in a jury duty model.

edit on 9-4-2014 by greencmp because: (no reason given)

Exactly. This is the only way this will ever stop. The corruption goes up far past the judicial system to push for a reform and change of protocol they will never change policy .

What's next, take out the trash and get sodomized?

minusinfinity
reply to post by AngryCymraeg

 

Sorry but I find that hard to believe.

Supposedly there were quite a few police. He didn't know the police were there? I doubt they all arrived in one car.

Are you trying to tell me the guy had no chance to comply. Not buying it for one second.

I've said many times in my previous posts I believe the police used excessive force and didn't need to kill the guy but I think he was partly to blame.

He was drunk and high ,look at the autopsy report.

There are always two sides.

So being high and drunk is justification enough for little blue pigs to shoot you down?

Not complying is reason enough to murder someone? (though doing a little research it seems quite unlikely the man aware of their presence)

Basically what your saying is that people who like to feel good deserve what they get and that it is ok for police to shoot potheads on sight just for being potheads.



Troll elsewhere cop....

Officers should be expected to assume some risk as part of their
regular duty, and not be granted imunity by some divine right
when they open fire willy-nilly at any perceived treat.

They should be held completely accountable for
their actions just as any regular citizen.

To grant some perspective any officer approaching a vehicle
during any routine traffic stop is potentially MORE vulnerable to
a gunfire attack than any of these officers SHOULD HAVE BEEN
when they arrived at the scene of this shooting.

If it is true that this shooting played out as was reported,
then there should be murder charges.

My contention is that police are not above the law, and
IF ANYTHING should be held to a higher standard of conduct
than any regular citizen.

And to put THAT into perspective---if one of this man's neighbors--
fearing for his life (as the police contend was their motive for killing
this man)--had opened fire on him when a lawn sprinkler was pointed
at them, they would be facing murder charges at the very least.

The police already have enough protection with their union
and their thin blue line. We as a society need to hold them accountable
instead of granting them immunity.

reply to post by minusinfinity


Lol, so because he had alcohol, thc, and Valium in his system, means that he couldn't have possibly been outside doing just that, watering his lawn.

Think a little bit, before you bash someone else.

There are good and bad cops yes, but in this case I think the 6.5million dollar award sheds light on who was right and wrong in this scenario.
A vid from the time of the incident(2010) for additional perspective.

The nozzle made a sound like a gun? They say the guy was holding the nozzle with two hands like a gun. I wonder if there is any corroborative testimony to this? A tragedy for sure and I wonder if any of this was caught on officer's camera? This is why all interactions should be filmed.

Since these murderers are walking free , and the neighbors as accomplice and antagonist if i were that mans family i would be using that 6 million to make the lives of the idiots as unpleasant as possible. One huge bill board with the faces of the killers to constantly remind the community of what they are. They should be exposed even the neighbors.

minusinfinity
reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy

 

Okay I did a quick search and discovered that this happened in 2010. Why are you posting this four years after it happened?

The family of a man fatally shot by Long Beach police in 2010 was awarded $6.5 million in damages by a federal jury on Thursday.

ktla.com...

Could it be your source looks for anything in the news only to make people angry with the government?

The police were wrong but....

He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.42% and had Valium and THC in his system at the time of his death.

Not saying he deserved to be gunned down but he wasn't just out watering his lawn.

Get the whole story before you jump 2 conclusions.

What the hell does having a blood alcohol level of 0.42 or that he had taken valium and had THC in his system have to do with him being gunned down.

Next thing you'll be saying is DON'T DRINK AND WATER or suggest that people tape doctors prescriptions to their foreheads, blah, blah......

Maybe the guy consumed too much communion wine at the early morning mass...

AND, you should have posted more than the fact that he had ' chemical ' substances in him. Guess the jury didn't think as much about it as you did. So here's the article for those who feel you've discovered some pertinent facts and have decided not to read the article.

Zerby Family Gets $6.5M in Nozzle Shooting Case

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KTLA) — The family of a man fatally shot by Long Beach police in 2010 was awarded $6.5 million in damages by a federal jury on Thursday.

“The money doesn’t bring my son back, which is all I really want,” Douglas Zerby’s mother, Pam Amici, said after the verdict, chocking back tears.

“I would just rather have Doug standing here next to me right now. But this is all we can hope for, and I’m very happy with the result.”

The jury deliberated for one day before ruling that officers Jeffrey Shurtleff and Victor Ortiz were negligent and used excessive force when Zerby was shot and killed.

At the time, Zerby, 35, was on a friend’s porch in Belmont Shore, holding a water nozzle that a neighbor thought might be a gun.

Apparently, unbeknownst to Zerby, police arrived and surrounded the area.

When police say Zerby appeared to be pointing what they thought was a gun toward one of the officer’s positions, police opened fire.

Autopsy results revealed that Zerby was shot 12 times in the chest, arms and lower legs.

He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.42% and had Valium and THC in his system at the time of his death.

“The most important thing is they never announced their presence,” said the family’s attorney attorney, Garo Mardirossian.

“They didn’t give him an opportunity to at least cooperate, to do what the officers wanted him to do,” he continued.

“The first time he realized there were cops there is when they shot him, and that just should not happen in America,” he said.

“I’m happy that we got justice and I’m glad that they got to go home feeling bad for themselves,” River Sentell, Zerby’s now 10-year-old son, said on Thursday.

But Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, who was in court for the verdict, said he was disappointed by the decision.

He says the officers were cleared in an internal probe and still defends their actions.

“Their actions, we believe, were in immediate defense of life,” McDonnell said. “That’s the way we judge — based on the circumstances known to them at the time.”

McDonnell said that city attorneys are still evaluating all of their options in terms of a possible appeal in the case.

So in the words of minusinfinity, hey that's you.... pick out and post the pertinent facts ".... before you jump 2 conclusions." which appears to be that you think that the alcohol and valium and THC caused his death not the barrage of bullets.

reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy


A sad case. The monetary "reward" does nothing to help the grief of his family. There should have been true justice in this case. Obviously the cops should have seen jail time but the person(s) that called 911 in the first place should be committed to some kind of mental hospital. I blame the 911 caller(s) for this mans death just as I blame the police.

I mean, come on, how pusillanimous does a person have to be to call down the law on this man? Or perhaps, as I mentioned above, mentally disturbed? Or a combination of both. The very least thing you can do if you think you see a gun is attempt to verify it from a safe distance or obscure location. Look at the awful results of blindly calling in the cops.

There needs to be real accountability held against people that call 911 and give false information.

reply to post by minusinfinity


I am amazed at that point of view of yours. A man might be high on drugs & alcohol. That doesn't mean he can't water his lawn. Also for you to believe that he was up to something nefarious simply due to the drugs in his system says to me that you have little to no experience associating with recreational users. Watering a lawn can be an interesting experience inebriated.

Lastly, you chastise others not to jump to conclusions yet you do the very same thing by assuming he is up to no good because he is high. I am pointing that out for you in case you did not realize this.

reply to post by minusinfinity


Do you not understand how high a .42 BAC is? Not to mention valium (another sedative) and THC. If the autopsy numbers are accurate he could have been nothing more than an incoherent meat bag at the scene.

The only 3 logical scenarios are:

1 The police shot a man so messed up he wouldn't have been able to even move his own arms let alone point anything at them
or
2 The coroner lied in the report in an attempt to vilify the victim
or
3 This guy had superhuman powers that made him immune to alcohol but copper jacketed lead was his kryptonite

Take your pick

The neighbor that called police should also be held accountable! AND are they all blind? There's a long hose with water coming out!
This is beyond sickening!

This is one of those cases you have to read between the lines. Let's assume no one actually thought the man was holding a gun. That's just an excuse. An excuse by a lousy neighbor who probably wanted an aggressive police response to someone they disliked or were beefing with, and an excuse by a lousy police force looking to cover their asses after shooting an unarmed man watering his lawn.

I believe there is a small percentage of whiny bitchy people who love to call cops on others and throw in the "He's got a gun" claim just to ensure the police come out in force. Personally, those people should be put in jail if it's learned they lied like that.

These are the problems where guns are involved..there's very little room for mistakes and mistakes involving guns are very often fatal.

12 shots though thats an epic fail.

reply to post by dashen


I'll take half of the idiot remark dashen, I agreed with you.

I think this needs to be said...

There are over 200 million guns in the US and over 300 million
people.

So, at anytime, it would be quite likely that SOMEWHERE
in this country there WOULD BE "a man with a gun."

In fact, I think it would be nearly impossible for there NOT to
be "a man with a gun" at anytime, anywhere. Couple this with
standing law of the land "...the right to keep AND BEAR arms
shall not be infringed," and you have a report that should be
(in this country) common-place, run-of-the-mill and ho-hum.

Instead, we react with a dozen police, helicopters, negotiators, etc.

The 911 call should have went like this.

"So you are saying there is a man with a gun? Is there any cause
for alarm? Is he shooting it? Is he threatening someone? Is he acting
IN ANY MANNER that could be considered dangerous?

"No, he is just sitting there, but I don't know who he is?"

"Okay, I understand your concern. But unless you consider the
man dangerous, there should be no cause for alarm simply
because he has a gun. However, we will send someone to
check it out. You should stay inside and let us investigate."

"Ok, thx."

...and the police should have INVESTIGATED....not OVEREACTED
to the VERY normal report of a "man with a gun."

How can that spokesperson rationalize the action of the cops.

Maybe he meant it made sounds like a water pistol.

I read through this thread pretty quickly, so I apologize if this has already been mentioned...

It seems like this is a little more asinine than some people are making it out to be. It's not like the police showed up on scene, were threatened, or could conceivably perceive a threat, without time to respond. You see, according to Jim McDonnell, the chief of police, the officers were there for 15 minutes before firing. They watched him and prepared for 15 minutes without a single warning or verifying that he was, in fact, holding a weapon. 15 minutes is a lot of time IMO. That is inexcusable and should be cause for a murder charge.

LA Weekly

Police Chief Jim McDonnell admitted in a press conference that no verbal warning or command was given for Zerby to drop the object in his hands, a water hose nozzle, in the more than 15 minutes the officers were present prior to the killing. He was ambushed and it was "target practice for the Long Beach Police Department," according to the Zerby family's attorney, Brian Claypool.

reply to post by rival


Now the reason that wont work is simple... it just makes to much sense...
Spot on though