Police Shooting...Was It Justified? ATS...You Decide.

ATS has recently been a hot bed for POLICE misconduct, cover-ups, bad decisions, etc... I thought to myself, well here is a video I want the ATS community to watch. This video happens fast, but a choice was made by the officers....I ask you ATS, was it the right choice?

PERCEPTION ISN'T ALWAYS REALITY!!!

Mod Note: Warning! This video contains disturbing content.

Youtube link




SORRY FOR THE NAUGHTY WORDS EMBEDDED ON THE VIDEO...

[edit on 2/27/2010 by rcwj1975]

Mod Edit: Replaced embedded video with an external link.

[edit on 2/27/2010 by maria_stardust]

The video is kind of blurry, and what is it that one of the cops yelled right before the shooting started?

his other hand has a gun in it...the cop was justified....watch right b4 he shoots at the other hand.

reply to post by rcwj1975


What about the story behind why the video is being shot?

What I see is that the cop shot the guy after he put whatever was in his hand down.

But the video doesn't look like a cop car camera

Edit to add that after looking again, I too see the gun looking object in his other hand.

The cop could have used a bit more discretion, but it was his life, not mine.

[edit on 2/27/2010 by iamsupermanv2]

It is really blurry, however it did look like the suspect war reaching for something with his right hand. The officer behind yells gun, if that's the case it was justified. However if he was reaching for his wallet, then I would have to say, they got jumpy and should get into some trouble.

My own personal judgment would say it was not warranted.

Its hard to put yourself completely in the shoes of someone in that situation but.......a few observations.

The man was fleeing at first. (Not aggressive)

He only stopped because they were ordering him to put the gun down, and he did so hesitantly, not suddenly and decisively as if he planned attack. (not aggressive)

He rather slowly put the gun down, indicating he did not want to make sudden moves and was afraid. (Not aggressive)

The way he was handling the gun was such that he was not pointing at the officers. (not aggressive)

The gun was nearly all the way out of his hands when he was shot. (not aggressive)

The cop that walked up to him after he was shot was stalking confidently and with no fear. (Aggressive)

My feeling is, whoever shot him, wanted to. And they also did not want to get hurt, so they waited til he complied and then shot him. If it were up to me, I would charge that cop with murder.

Just my two cents.

I think he shouted gun. If I am not mistaking, the guy looked to put down a gun. This is when the officer shouted and the dude was shot.

When he fell he seemed to have another gun in his right hand.

Kinda surprised the first guy with back to camera walked in so calmly and holstered his gun so quickly. Maybe he was positive his partner had his back.

I'd have to say that he put the gun down and so shouldn't have been shot as he was complying.

Mind you I'm against the general public carrying guns and so I can understand the actions of those who wish to protect those of the public who don't carry guns.

Had they shot him immediately after saying "Put the gun down, DOWN!" it's be justified in my opinion, as he could have made a quick move to shoot the cop (even though he didn't). But as is it was wrong of the coppers.

-m0r

It's a police training video. If it was real, youtube would have it flagged as mature/banned.

The suspect was drawing a pistol while dropping the other gun.
So the police officer was justified.

A question on the use of tasers, isnt this the type of situation they were made for? A possible life threatening situation that could be solved by incapacitating a person rather than killing them? or were they given to officers so they could tase handcuffed victims who were "resisting arrest" while facedown on the ground?

reply to post by oppaperclip



I thought the thing yelled out was "George" but I suppose it could be "gun" but I dont see him reaching for anything. I see him holding his shirt closer to his body, (As you do with something billowy you are wearing when you bend down) and I watched several times to see if anything was in his hand, (I saw nothing) and I watched several times to see if anything fell away from him as he fell. I saw nothing fly from his hand.

I could be wrong. But I personally think it was too much force for what was happening. If the cop was really afraid, why was he walking directly up to him, rather than taking some kind of cover? I dont think the cop really thought he was going to be shot either. He did not seem intimidated approaching the guy. Also, I am not sure the guy behind him did fire the shots. One, the person shot fell backwards. Humans tend to want to fall forwards, not backwards, unless there is some motivation to do so, particularly when they are already leaning forward.

Originally posted by minute2midnight
It's a police training video. If it was real, youtube would have it flagged as mature/banned.

Exactly...I can tell it's a training video just by the bad acting....

There's something in the comment section about this being a training video.

reply to post by rainfall

for a training video, the guy sure did seem to hit the ground pretty hard.

And why does the black guy always got to be the one getting shot or killed.

Well, I hate to be a spoiler, but if you read all the comments you find out that this IS a training video. Which explains why the "perpetrator" is acting so non aggressive, and why the cop is so fearless.
Apparently he IS reaching for a gun in the back waist of his pants, which the cop behind him sees, and shoots him. It really is the guy behind him who is pretend shooting him, the fact that he fell backwards is because he is an actor, and doesnt understand the physics.

So, as a training video, ignoring all the inconsistent signals, yes, if your partner behind the perpetrator sees you reaching for a gun in the small of your back, while pretending to comply, you would be justified in shooting him.

reply to post by rainfall


All I know is, cops don't casually stroll up to an armed suspect while holstering their sidearm.

reply to post by Ozzy Mandias


I would think that using a Taser in situations involving guns is a bad idea...Taser cause a person to tense up and could cause a person to fire a weapon. Taser are for unarmed situations to control someone bent on fighting and resisting arrest.

As for the shooting...looks like the guy did have something else in his hand...too blury to tell what but the cop could not have known for sure either so I would say its a judgement call on his part.

Most likely is a training film...good catch!

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

It's quite possible he yelled George, but I doubt a trained officer would yell something that could be mistaken as gun in that type of situation. But then again weirder things have happened.

If the suspect did have a gun in his back and was reaching but didn't have a hold of it, it may not fly out. Much of this I think would rely on what the officer in back, saw, said and why he reacted the way he did.

That being said, anything is possible. This is just a training video, and we were not given a scenario, so did he have a detonator on his person, suspected or otherwise?

ATS is getting better....

I figured there would be 3 pages of hate already with most overlooking the handgun in his right hand. Some missed it, some saw it, others cheated and read the comments...lol

Bottom line is, YES this is a training video, but notice how the perception for some was to see only what they wanted and not take that step back and say, hang on. That is what i hope happens EVERYTIME a video on ATS is posted BEFORE the reactions are posted.