Police Commit Murder Caught on Video: Daniel Saenz handcuffed and shot by El Paso Police Officer

Just saw this on 12160.info and not here on ATS. Just want to post to bring more attention to what I feel is an unjustified shooting.

How can a man in cuffs with his chest on the ground be considered a lethal threat and be shot? I don't know how but in this video it doesn't look like a viable reason was given to the officer or official.

12160.info...

Shooting happens at two different angles after 18:30 and 33:00.

If you're looking for a reason, there is a much better article to be found here:
www.elpasotimes.com...

Shooting occurs at 18:57 for those who can't sit through 43+ minutes. I hate to say it, but he was resisting and whether or not it was justified, resisting matters not to those who are called for help and end up shooting your relative or your dog. Police States of America

Because in the eyes of some cops, resisting is punishable by death. The guy was no threat at that point to anyone but himself.

EDIT:

From charles1952's source

In the video, the guard is attempting to hold Saenz by the shoulders when Flores gets up. At first, Flores appears to reach for the Taser in his left holster.

When Saenz pushes off the guard, Flores draws his Glock semi-automatic handgun from his right holster. The guard moves away and Flores fires a single gunshot.

Flores then holsters his gun, pulls his yellow Taser and gets atop of Saenz, who is face down, bleeding from a shoulder and continues to kick for a few seconds until he stops moving as blood spreads on the ground.

Somebody call Al Sharpton quick!

Read the article and watched the video. The officer and the criminal would have both been better off if the officer would have grabbed the cuffs while he was on the ground and lifted. Lifting the cuffs toward the shoulder of the criminal with decent enough force would have prevented this guy from harming anyone... Not that he could have with half his chest on the ground.

Really pathetic. The inmate certainly has some culpability here by struggling and resisting, but those cops demonstrated a deplorable level of fear and incompetence when trying to restrain that guy. Proper restraint is not lethal force. Had Saenz slipped the cuff or otherwise had his hands free, this might be a different story...but as that not being the case...my opinion is this was an unjustified killing.

a reply to: Antipathy17

Must have a bad wifi sig or something, every time I try and skip forward video just freezes but I agree with what you have to say. Grabbing and pulling the cuffs up would hurt very much and if not calm him down prevent him from doing anything.
Very confused how the cop could have been in fear for his life in a situation like this.
IMO another guy that just wanted to squeeze that trigger for the rush of it all.
So just waited thru the loading, video shows just how horrible this was. From the first angle I thought maybe the guy with cuffs some how was grabbing at the other officers fire arm but the second shows that's not the case.
Pathetic. Oh and anyone catch the officer aapplying cpr reach up and fix his glasses like 4 times?
I stopped watching after I saw him doing that, seems that should be a complete after thought if you are trying to save the man's life.

Simply horrible. I hope and pray that one day, handcuffed and with my face to the ground, nobody shoots me in the back and kills me

a reply to: Antipathy17

This will be ruled a "good shoot", simply because the man was struggling.

Forget about the fact that his hands were behind has back in handcuffs and that his pants were below his rear, which makes it very difficult to run with any proficiency.

I know some people will say that he shouldnt have been struggling. I agree he shouldnt have, but that still doesnt justify murder in the 2nd degree.

originally posted by: gladtobehere
a reply to: Antipathy17

This will be ruled a "good shoot", simply because the man was struggling.

Forget about the fact that his hands were behind has back in handcuffs and that his pants were below his rear, which makes it very difficult to run with any proficiency.

Sadly, I agree. He'll get sued for wrongful death in which he will lose but I don't think it matters when he'll still be walking away free from charges.

Apparently, some of the information in the link I provided was not understood. I am not claiming murder or not, but I am saying this is a very unusual situation, one that requires more thought than some are giving it. It is not just a question of struggling or resisting.

He was Tazered five times without effect. He showed that pain meant nothing to him by smashing his head into the door frame to give himself an injury. He demonstrated the skill of getting handcuffs to a position in front of himself in very little time. In that position the handcuffs are a dangerous weapon. If I recall correctly, he trained regularly in the martial arts.

Again. I'm not justifying anything, but neither am I jumping to automatic condemnation without looking at the event.

Consider taking the path the Grand Jury did, no indictment because of the circumstances surrounding the event.

a reply to: charles1952
Maybe i didn't see it but when did he get his cuffs in front of him?
From what I saw, he was handcuffed, pants down and on the ground when he was shot.
Seemed that they had him contained until the officer that shot stood up, that is when he got away from the second officer. Until then he was just struggling on the ground with two grown men on top of him.
So you are going off the article ok, in thay sense it seems we have another case of a guy getting shot for what he might do, not for what he actually did.
Whole different stroy to front your cuffs alone in a cell then to do it in the middle of a fight

a reply to: Sremmos80

Dear Sremmos,

Excellent question, thanks.

According to the article, he had demonstrated that ability earlier in the day, apparently impressing the onlookers. It makes me think they should have tried an additional restraint system, since the handcuffs weren't slowing him down much.

With respect,
Charles1952

a reply to: charles1952

Ya the added restraint would of have made too much sense apparently.
Or put him the restraint chair I have seen 1000 times on the series jail. Seems every jail has one

originally posted by: Sremmos80
Very confused how the cop could have been in fear for his life in a situation like this.

Perhaps the LEO was aware that the man had a violent criminal history and had been arrested previously for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Man shot and killed by police officer was kicked out of gym for aggressive behavior.

Daniel "Danny" Saenz, the man shot and killed by an El Paso Police officer over the weekend was kicked out of a gym weeks ago for alleged aggressive behavior.

Gym personnel at the EP Fitness on James Watt in East El Paso told ABC-7 Tuesday that Saenz, 37, was kicked out of the gym three months ago for throwing weights and flipping over a treadmill. They also said that he was a former Mr. El Paso. After the incident, employees say they were instructed to remove Saenz's bodybuilding photo from the gym's "Wall of Fame."

Saenz has an extensive arrest record, dating back years for violent crimes. Saenz has been arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, family violence and assault of an elderly, to name a few. www.kvia.com...

originally posted by: charles1952
a reply to: Sremmos80

Dear Sremmos,

Excellent question, thanks.

According to the article, he had demonstrated that ability earlier in the day, apparently impressing the onlookers. It makes me think they should have tried an additional restraint system, since the handcuffs weren't slowing him down much.

With respect,
Charles1952

I do understand where you are coming from Charles and it's always great to have opinions that aren't like my own. I just don't see how either officer was endangered until the cop who shot him released him to pull out his teaser than gun. The situation looked rough for sure but manageable until the officer released him. A choke hold, lifted arms or even a bear hug on him to the floor should have sufficed. Also if the cops felt this guy was so dangerous because of his previous actions why not a call for back up in the 18 minutes prior, a bigger force to transport to begin with or not transporting him till his drugs wear off?

a reply to: Antipathy17

Dear Antipathy17,

Wonderful! That's exactly what I was hoping for. A whole series of "Whys" to try to get to the bottom of this. I hadn't seen the article that Murgatroid posted just above yours. But Saenz is becoming more and more of a truly mentally disturbed, near superman. I wonder if steroids were a big part of his life. That would make sense.

But you're asking the question that should be asked. Clearly the two officers were pretty tense over the situation. Did they try to do the transport themselves? Did they ask for help? Were they refused? How did they get into that situation?

I'm having more trouble over those questions, than the actual shooting. The officer goes for his Tazer, then thinks "Oh, s---, that doesn't work on him. What's the next step up on the situation control ladder?" He draws, knowing that if Saenz gets loose, he'll be hurt if not killed.

Until I know more (like Murgatroid's post provided) I'm leaning toward examining, changing, and mybe replacing the people who put the system in place, and understanding the shooting.

With respect,
Charles1952

The guy was a body builder and athlete.....he had already been able to get his hands out from behind his back in cuffs earlier in the day........this was supposedly observed by police....??
The coward who shot him is the same cop who bought boots and socks for a homeless guy who had no shoes.....
Theres two sides to every story and people can be driven to uncharacteristic actions.....the shoulder wound he inflicted was perhaps a disabling shot and not intended to be fatal.....he certainly could have outright killed the prisoner at that range........its not a simple thing.....

a reply to: Murgatroid
Perhaps you missed the part where he was cuffed with his pants around his legs.
Why are they just handling this crazy cop beater with just two people with no extra restraint.
Sorry, they had him on the ground until the cop that shot stood up and let the guy get up.
I'll admit I have been in cuffs, no conviction but went thru the works. I gave the cop some lip while hooked and he pulled my hands up.... that hurts and sure as hell disables you. More then enough opportunity to do that to him when they had him pinned.
Their poor handling of the subject should not lead to his death.