Brickbat: What Was He Doing Standing in His Own Yard?

Idaho Falls, Idaho, Police Chief Bryce Johnson says a man shot and killed by officers was not the suspect they had been looking for. Officers had been looking for a man wanted for felony battery on an officer. The suspect fled on foot after a traffic stop. Officers tracked the suspect to a nearby residential neighborhood and began to search it. Johnson said they saw an armed man who matched the suspect's description in the backyard of one of the homes. He says officers ordered him to drop his weapon and shot him. They later found the suspect hiding in a nearby shed. Johnson said the man who was shot was not a suspect in any crime but was in fact a homeowner that police had spoken to earlier.

Comments

[Adans smith]

He failed to use target recognition. It's at least manslaughter. What am I thinking, he's a cop. He just needs more training.

[perlhaqr]

But did all the officers get to go home safely? That's what really matters.

[Don't look at me!]

Is it seen as an improvement that the dog wasn’t shot?

[Zeb]

No.

[StackOfCoins]

"Officer Shitdick unholstered his weapon... Shitdick's weapon discharged spontaneously"
QI

[Liberty Lover]

He recognized his target and hit it, killing it. Shoot first, ask questions later. Official police motto. Qualified immunity.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The process can take weeks, if not months, for investigators to go over the evidence. The information is then handed over to the Bonneville County Prosecutor’s office, who determines if the officer’s actions are justified.

Weeks or months. What about this incident could possible require months of investigation. While it's under this protracted investigation, the police can give the "no comment" until journalists stop asking and move on.

[Jefferson's Ghost]

I wouldn't be surprised if the body cam video somehow "disappeared" either.

[Idaho Bob]

It's Idaho. Most of the cops don't have body cameras.

[Griffin3]

But the WHO can determine the origin of the WuFlu 3 hours after arriving in Wuhan. Maybe the Idaho Falls police need some of that sort of training.

[sarcasmic]

What about this incident could possible require months of investigation.

Well they can't just call it justified right away. Need a cooling off period for the public. Let them forget about it. Then you announce it was justified.

[Euna Spadard]

So does this entitle the white hicks in flyover country to set up their own autonomous enclaves, murder 3 dozen people, riot in the streets, and burn down 3 billion dollars worth of property while collecting half a trillion dollars from corporate America for their trouble or nah?

[Earth Skeptic]

Only if enough corporate executives fantasize about burly white studs fucking their wives.

[Brandybuck]

Don't think there's enough people in Idaho to from a riot. A rabble maybe, but not a riot.

Also, we need a new third party. Call it the Whataboutism Party. For all the people like you whose moral compass only points to what-about.

[Demosthenes666]

We need a new third party. Call it the Historical Precedent Party. For all the people like you that can compare and contrast current events with similar situations that have happened before.

[Euna Spadard]

This situation is devastatingly tragic for the family, for the officer, and those that love and care about them.

Imagine having to live with the trauma of being a murderous piece of shit. He'll probably need to take early disability and a $90k a year pension. Poor fucker.

By the way, the murderous piece of shit thug's name is Elias Cerdas. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone should run this murderous piece of shit thug out of town on a rail, or beat the shit out of him until he can't walk, or harass his family, or damage his property, or any other illegal or untoward act.

[Idaho Bob]

This is how they justify the shootings:

"Investigators have been swamped with a series of officer-involved shootings across eastern Idaho over the last 10 days. Shootings have occurred in Pocatello, Rexburg and Bingham County, all requiring the task force’s resources.

Law enforcement from across Eastern Idaho have reported a surge in violent crimes and interactions with police. Many of the officer-involved shootings surround suspects shooting at or assaulting officers."

[Don't look at me!]

Swamped by 3 incidents.

[Jerryskids]

Johnson said the man who was shot was not a suspect in any crime but was in fact a homeowner that police had spoken to earlier.

When will people learn - never talk to cops.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

He didn't. The cops talked to him.

[Lord of Strazele]

When will people learn guns are more trouble than they're worth. And never go outside to confront a suspicious person.

[Lord of Strazele]

Exhibit A - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9283993/Man-27-started-battle-gun-shop-killing-clerk-47-asked-unload-pistol.html

[Jerry B.]

Probably not a MAGA hat wearer.

[Lord of Stroozle]

I can't believe I'm arguing for gun-control on a libertarian board and getting away with it.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

You certainly sound disappointed; not easy being troll.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Your reputation as a boring troll precedes you.

[Chumby]

The commentariat is mostly libertarian. So if “getting away with it” means not being canceled, jailed or audited, then yes.

[MatthewSlyfield]

You arguing for gun-control is the best argument against gun-control, so why should we stop you?

[Earth Skeptic]

Yes, the world was much safer and more equitable before guns. If by equitable, you mean that the biggest guy got to tell everyone else what to do.

[A Cynical Asshole]

Well, duh, "might makes right" and all that. Anything that levels the playing field between common peasants and their betters is a bad thing.

THIS IS WHAT PROGTARDS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Because people shouldn't be allowed to defend themselves. The police will defend them. And the millions of gun owners that have not and neve will shoot anybody should be completely ignored and left out of any discussion or equation regarding guns.

[Chumby]

Iirc, Idaho convicted at least one of the federal agents for murder at Ruby Ridge. And the conviction was later tossed by a federal court. These are local police that may not get federal protection. At lot of time has passed in almost 30 years but Idaho isn’t Seattle, NYC or Baltimore.

[Idaho Bob]

Those of us in the Panhandle will never forget. Many still visit the site.

[Brandybuck]

Idaho isn't Seattle, but a lot of Idaho is basically Spokane.

I blame the salt water. It's the common factor linking Seattle, Portland, and San Fransisco.

[Idaho Bob]

"...but a lot of Idaho is basically Spokane."

CDA and Post Falls may be Spokane-ish, but that's about it. The rest of the panhandle is mostly rural hicks.

[swillfredo pareto]

He says officers ordered him to drop his weapon and shot him.

And my guess is they gave him about as much time to "comply" with their illegitimate demand as it took me to read that sentence.

[DetroitDumbGuy]

This is assuming there was only one order and not multiple, conflicting orders.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Is it even certain he was holding a weapon? If so what kind [long or hand]?

[Quo Usque Tandem]

"I just want to make it clear that the person who was shot was not a suspect of any crime," he said. "It was the homeowner, the resident that was in the house that had been talked to earlier. He had gone out to the back yard with that gun and that's where the officers met him in that back yard."
The officer who fired their weapon was wearing a body camera, which had been activated, Johnson said.

[Roberta]

Probably, "Dropthegunblam!"

[IceTrey]

Way to be on top of this two week old story Reason.

[Chumby]

The Lance Armstrong Chronicles took precedent.

[Carey Allison]

They shot him. And he's dead.

And now the police chief will explain that no reasonable person should ever be out in their back yard. Because of that, the police were clearly justified in shooting him.

And, remember qualified immunity. You cannot sue the police for shooting you under that court-originated policy, unless a similar case has been adjudicated to that the police would know that a particular action was violative of the plaintiff's civil rights. And it appears this shot citizen was facing the east in his back yard. I can authoritatively report there is no published decision declaring that being shot while facing the east violates your civil rights. (There was a suggestion that being shot while facing the north violates one's civil rights, but that decision does not affect the case of being shot while facing the east.)
And judges wonder why the price of hemp is increasing?