"Swatting" prank may have led to death of a man

a reply to: SaturnFX

There's talk they parked cruisers facing his house and loudhailed. He opened the door and they had full beams on. He moved his hands to his eyes which was perceived as a threat. They opened fire and killed him.

There's a photo sequence on imgur. YMMV

originally posted by: Maverick7
In a sense the COPS are playing real-life Call of Duty. They RELISH the chance to storm in and kill people and HOPE they can find a justification.

Here is the call:

"I shot him in the head and he's not breathing anymore," Barriss said, according to a recording of the call released by the Wichita Police Department.
Barriss then added, "I might just pour gasoline all over the house, I might just set it on fire."

Tell me if you were calling the shots, what would you do? Dead father, hostage younger brother and mother, and discussing just igniting the whole lot of em up. Seconds count. Do you spend time thinking its probably not a real threat or what?

What would you do, and keep in mind, you can't use magic

originally posted by: SilverOwls
a reply to: SaturnFX

There's talk they parked cruisers facing his house and loudhailed. He opened the door and they had full beams on. He moved his hands to his eyes which was perceived as a threat. They opened fire and killed him.

There's a photo sequence on imgur. YMMV

We will see. There will be an investigation of course, and if its a clean shot, its a clean shot. The discussion here is what should happen to the swatter...personally, I think a whole host of federal felonies need to be implemented to teach these swatting kids a example and put the fear of god (or bubba) in them

originally posted by: BoadiceaLE needs to develop and institute some process or procedures to at least try to confirm it's not a false report. The consequences demand it.

In a perfect world, yes..but how could that even happen? Consider the logistics of ensuring its not a false report alongside a immediate response that would be required if such a situation arises

This will treated no differently than the get away driver in a botched robbery.
Murder to aggravated murder plead down to involuntary manslaughter.

If it's true that he's done this before then additional charges will be added by other jurisdictions.
Maybe the feds too.

This guy will be sentenced to decades behind bars.
By I suspect the number he will serve to be about 10.

He will be made the poster boy against swatting.

originally posted by: muzzleflash
I don't think he's responsible for the police killing anyone, that's their responsibility.

Prank 911 calls are generally 30 days in jail. Maybe 90 days in some jurisdictions.

He should face his misdemeanor but it's in no way his fault if the cops decide to murder people in cold blood.

Yep.
If the cops kill an innocent man, that says more about them than the prank caller.

a reply to: SaturnFX

In a perfect world, yes...

In a responsible and conscientious world, there is no other option. In a "perfect" or "ideal" world, those precautions would be effective every time, but not in the real world.

...but how could that even happen?

Um... by developing some processes and procedures to confirm the reported details of the crime. Such as the suggestion of the poster I initially responded to and trying to make contact with the residents of the home while also preparing a response... perhaps by asking the callers details of the scene, such as what if any cars are parked in the driveway or in front of the home, or a description of the home (all of which could also be very helpful information for the team preparing a response for a genuine crime) -- and if the caller isn't able to provide that information, or the responding officers find the information given is not accurate, they would have a pretty good idea all is not what was reported. I'm sure those with real experience and knowledge could come up with lots of good ideas -- better ideas. Where there's a will, there's a way.

And even with such precautions, tragedies will still happen. Nothing is foolproof. But there is no excuse for not taking reasonable precautions for reasonable risks -- especially where lives are involved.

Consider the logistics of ensuring its not a false report...

I don't want to play semantics, but there is a big difference between "ensuring" -- which is absolute and definitive -- and what I said: "...at least try to confirm it's not a false report..."

... alongside a immediate response that would be required if such a situation arises

As I noted above, if done right, then such precautionary measures could also help responding officers in a situation that truly is dangerous.

Somebodies already posted the bodycam footage on page 3, which proves this was common murder!

The cops were standing across the road taking cover behind there cars, well yelling out to the suspect to "show your hands"!

Well the suspect is standing on his porch yelling back "whats going on"? As anyone obviously would, if they were just minding there own business, just relaxing in there own home, before realizing there was a entire frickin division of police across the road barking demands at him...

Then these stupid morons just took this poor bloke out with one round to the head, for no real apparent reason!

Like seriously! This is suburban America, not the bloody middle east... how could anyone justify this?

In any other civilized country this situation would have been handled with logic & composure... the cops would have quickly found out this was a prank call and the prank caller would have had his arse handed to him with a $1000 fine and maybe some probation.

But not in America. When it come to the police, innocent people get executed, others get long jail/prison sentences... and as usual the police just walk away scot-free.

Land of the free!

originally posted by: Subaeruginosa
Somebodies already posted the bodycam footage on page 3, which proves this was common murder!

The cops were standing across the road taking cover behind there cars, well yelling out to the suspect to "show your hands"!

Well the suspect is standing on his porch yelling back "whats going on"? As anyone obviously would, if they were just minding there own business, just relaxing in there own home, before realizing there was a entire frickin division of police across the road barking demands at him...

Then these stupid morons just took this poor bloke out with one round to the head, for no real apparent reason!

Like seriously! This is suburban America, not the bloody middle east... how could anyone justify this?

In any other civilized country this situation would have been handled with logic & composure... the cops would have quickly found out this was a prank call and the prank caller would have had his arse handed to him with a $1000 fine and maybe some probation.

But not in America. When it come to the police, innocent people get executed, others get long jail/prison sentences... and as usual the police just walk away scot-free.

Land of the free!

Cheese and rice thanks for letting me know about that video. That's the final straw for me regarding the police.

We need to stop hiring pussies for officers! FFS they were across the street from him. Shall you quit being a scared POS and wait to actually see if he had a weapon from the safety of your cruisers? Or are you gonna blast a guy with Cerebral Palsy the next time too? Between this and the manchild that shot that guy lying on the floor in that hotel I can honestly say that we need to screen our cops like we do any Special Forces we have. Screw the Pigs. Honestly. If you aren't willing to get shot at then don't become a cop. Easy as that. No excuses for this at all. The threat assessment training is sorely lacking it seems. Where was the threat in this instance? A guy facing away from the people you were supposed to be protecting as a cop (i.e. standing with your back to the front door outside of the house full of people you were threatening to kill) is no threat to anyone, especially the innocent people you are tasked to protect. Were the cops in harms way? Hard to tell with them cowering behind their vehicles. I'm sure the poor sod about to be executed on his own GD porch couldn't tell with the lights being shined in his eyes.

People support this kind of BS because Muh Securty! Some great person in our history mentioned something about this kind of tradeoff between freedom (to not get capped on your porch by a trigger-happy coward wearing a badge) and security (to bow down and thank our men in blue for not killing us because we didn't startle him by picking your nose).

/rant off

I am a bit surprised at all the deflection, the police officers actions are not relevant in my opinion itsa seperate subject.

If the punk does not make the call and paint a picture of a crazy guy with a gun in the house the guy does not die period.

Should the cop have been so trigger happy, no but the cops actions should not remove a single ounce of the blame the caller should have to face.

We have let people get away with swatting for some time now with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a chuckle of dumb kid games, this result was only a matter of time and if steps are not taken to discourage it this will happen again.

Last point on the cops, 300+ million (very conservative number) interactions in a year result in less than a thousand deaths by cop, our police force is actually doing a pretty good job of not killing people.

originally posted by: [post=22996933]Irishhaf[/post

Last point on the cops, 300+ million (very conservative number) interactions in a year result in less than a thousand deaths by cop, our police force is actually doing a pretty good job of not killing people.

I want our cops to do more than a pretty good job of not killing innocent people.

To clarify my position further, if a cop blows away an actual criminal committing an actual crime (see Michael Brown for instance just in case you think I'm a BLM fool) then I'm OK with that. Shooting a guy on his own MF porch from across the street behind police cruisers is cowardly and illegal.

The current police training in the USA

a reply to: Grambler

I believe you can easily hide your phone number if you know what your doing. So this is tough for police to deal with.

a reply to: NobodyToldMe


I am not saying they should not be better, they are not executing people wholesale though.

If the guy making the call doesn't do it, then nothing happens.

originally posted by: blueman12
a reply to: Grambler

I believe you can easily hide your phone number if you know what your doing. So this is tough for police to deal with.

This is true.

But remember the police have more/better ways of tracing phone calls, even cellular ones, than we do. The question is did they even try? Did they try to trace the prank call? Did they try to find a land-line number of the soon-to-be-surrounded home (yes I know weak argument but still)? Did they try anything to ascertain the actual threat before putting a sixth hole in someones head?

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: NobodyToldMe


I am not saying they should not be better, they are not executing people wholesale though.

If the guy making the call doesn't do it, then nothing happens.

Well thank you Mister Judge Dredd for no wholesale executions!

If the cop wasn't a scared, jumpy POS nothing happens either.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
I am a bit surprised at all the deflection, the police officers actions are not relevant in my opinion itsa seperate subject.

If the punk does not make the call and paint a picture of a crazy guy with a gun in the house the guy does not die period.

Should the cop have been so trigger happy, no but the cops actions should not remove a single ounce of the blame the caller should have to face.

We have let people get away with swatting for some time now with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a chuckle of dumb kid games, this result was only a matter of time and if steps are not taken to discourage it this will happen again.

Last point on the cops, 300+ million (very conservative number) interactions in a year result in less than a thousand deaths by cop, our police force is actually doing a pretty good job of not killing people.

The police have gone to the wrong residence before and killed innocent people - or have gotten killed by people defending their home from invasion. Sometimes, both have happened. Sometimes, it's even the right address, but a bad tip.

The police going to a residence and innocent people dying is not a unique occurrence.

The only different thing about this situation is that the tipster was paid to do this over an online dispute.

a reply to: Greven


Yea they have and in this case I put more blame on the caller, I remember a few years ago In Arizona swat broke down the door of the wrong home and gunned down the husband in front of his family and then waited till he bled out before letting the paramedics in.


in that case in Arizona it was bad police work that lead them to the wrong home, due to an old address those police deserved prosecution.


In this case the caller effectively hyped up the police so they were already on a hair trigger before they arrived.


To me this case is wildly different than when bad policing actually happens and it results in the death of the innocent.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I don't know if that is the agenda..what I heard on the radio was the WHO classified it as an addiction, to me it's about the same as gambling, In other words I completely agree.

a reply to: NobodyToldMe

Shooting a guy on his own MF porch from across the street behind police cruisers is cowardly

Real life isn't Hollywood.

and illegal.

Having seen the video finally, I doubt any charges will be brought.