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The latest USAian police erroneous shooting

catsmate

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catsmate
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Apr 9, 2007
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William Powell, a 63-year old USAF veteran died in hospital in Atlanta on Thursday. He'd been shot by Henry County police on early Wednesday morning.

The police were responding to an emergency call regarding a woman yelling for help and gunshots, but went to the wrong address. There Powell, who was armed (according to his wife for self-protection following a recent nearby burglary) was shot in the neck by one of the three responding officers. According to his wife the police officers didn't identify themselves, or issue a warning. This is disputed by police who claim the officers "gave verbal commands for Powell to drop his handgun which he did not comply with".

AP.
 
If there is no camera evidence.... Then the police officer will most probably not get any negative consequence of real importance anyway, despite having gone to the wrong address.
 
What would be the likely consequence had it been the policeman not the civilian that had been shot?
 
3point14 said:
What would be the likely consequence had it been the policeman not the civilian that had been shot?
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Well then it would be a crime. I gather the correct response in that situation is to let the police shoot you and then you're family can wait for the police to tell them that everything was above board and no one needs to take any further action.
 
3point14 said:
What would be the likely consequence had it been the policeman not the civilian that had been shot?
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Likely or proper?

A citizen shoots a cop n the presence of other cops, the citizen will certainly be killed.

A citizen defending his own home against armed intruders, cops or not, should always be presumed to be in the right absent irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
 
sarge said:
Likely or proper?

A citizen shoots a cop n the presence of other cops, the citizen will certainly be killed.

A citizen defending his own home against armed intruders, cops or not, should always be presumed to be in the right absent irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
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Even moreso when the cops are at his/her house by mistake. In that case, add in the fact that the cops shold be presumed to be in the wrong. Because they indisputably were.
 
Aepervius said:
If there is no camera evidence.... Then the police officer will most probably not get any negative consequence of real importance anyway, despite having gone to the wrong address.
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Cameras aren't a panacea, either, but yeah they do help sometimes.

These cases can go either way, as I recall. Sometimes the police get away with it even when it's clear that they violated several safety procedures without cause, but there's some precedent for people who shoot/kill a cop that busts into their home without cause as part of a SWAT raid or some such.

One thing I will say, at least there was *some* cause for immediate concern this time around (reports of screaming and gunfire sounds pretty serious), as opposed to some unnecessary drug raid, or looking for a suspect.
 
Body cameras should be on every cop in the world by this point, shame on everyone who is making excuses for why that is not the case.
 
Joey McGee said:
Body cameras should be on every cop in the world by this point, shame on everyone who is making excuses for why that is not the case.
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Only worried re: US there, but yes!!!! And any assault on a wrong address should be a legal crime with heavy punishment for those in charge (if error at court or higher authority level) or in place (police officer level) if any civilian is harmed.
 
Yeah like if someone drinks at your bar and drives home and kills someone you're liable, but when you go the wrong house in the age of gps you have deniability, *********** ********. IANAL but I think we have a clear precedent of a certain amount responsibility to do due diligence. I just said doo doo. That's funny, to me.
 
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Mumbles said:
...there's some precedent for people who shoot/kill a cop that busts into their home without cause as part of a SWAT raid or some such.
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Doesn't that often hinge on some dumb technicality, like whether the cops were technically trespassing or not? So if the drug bust was planned on faulty intel, the person might be charged for shooting a cop. But if they went to the wrong adress, they might get away with it.
 
TubbaBlubba said:
Doesn't that often hinge on some dumb technicality, like whether the cops were technically trespassing or not? So if the drug bust was planned on faulty intel, the person might be charged for shooting a cop. But if they went to the wrong adress, they might get away with it.
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Probably - and it likely also varies by state, so coming up with any coherent trend would be more trouble than it's worth for a message board.
 
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