Ft. Worth Police Officer Shoots Woman Through Her Window

[Sensei]

I wouldn’t hold my breath. The two incidents while tragically similar, are different in legally important aspects. He was there because he was called to be there, not through an error of going to the wrong residence. If his post shooting statement says she pointed the gun at him he may not even get indicted.

Don’t get me wrong. I think he fucked up badly based on what we know. But what happens next is anyone’s guess.

I’m going to wait for all the facts but I’m not comfortable with what I saw on the video. I will say that the shear speed at which the bodycam footage was released reminds me of a couple of instances where the officer was charged rather quickly. There was a case in Charlotte where an officer lit up an unarmed black guy about 8 years ago and was charged by his own department within a couple of days.

[breakingtime91]

it honestly almost looked like he hit the glass and had an ND..

[txdpd]

Yea, it occurred to me that this guy doesn't even have two full years on the job. I was thinking to myself he probably shouldn't have even been off field training. I know that's not realistic for many departments, but it would be great if they had the resources to make sure rookies stayed on field training for 18-months post-Academy. Things like this could potentially be avoided. I guess that's a separate thread in many respects, I think we've had the discussion before about the need for 'fear biters' to get flushed out of field training more often than they do. At the end of the day, these sorts of preventable tragedies are what reinforce a need to adapt training regimes to make sure some folks simply do not make it through.

There isn’t any police academy that would teach officers to not knock and announce themselves on a call like this. None.

So where does a guy with two years on unlearn all that stuff? On field training and on the streets, cuz that’s how they roll. He wasn’t flying solo out there.

Training is great and all that stuff. But if everyone in class needs a finger stuck in one ear so the information goes in one side and has a chance to bounce around, it’s something more than a training issue.

[olstyn]

The clip I saw had him giving no indication that he was a cop. He yelled and fired within a second or two.

A woman alone at home sees some clown in her backyard. Is it unreasonable for her to have a weapon handy?

If you think your neighbor is in distress, do you call the cops, now that you have the knowledge that some trigger-happy clown might kill your neighbor? How does that neighbor in Ft. Worth live with the knowledge that, but for his calling the cops, his neighbor would still be alive?

Your assessment of the situation mirrors mine; I just watched the crucial 5 seconds or so several more times, and I can't find anything in that video that makes it at all clear to me why the officer decided to pull the trigger. The camera footage is inconveniently unclear/dark in that section of the video, but with how fast he went from "SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!" to shooting, all without giving any indication that he was a cop, it's hard to find justification there. It couldn't have been more than one second, and if I was a betting man, I'd probably say it was more like half to three quarters of a second.

I feel like if anyone in that scenario had justification for employing lethal force, it was her, not him. As you said, she was in her own home, and unidentified people were sneaking around her yard with flashlights and guns. That's a recipe for trouble.

[fixer]

I’m thinking this is negligent discharge

[0ddl0t]

Not excusing the officer, but I don't buy the "playing video game with 8 year old nephew" story at 225am. Too often it seems black folks don't feel like they have the right to survive an encounter with police if armed -- if the woman was armed while investigating a potential prowler at her window, just say so! She had every right to be.

it honestly almost looked like he hit the glass and had an ND..

It kind of played like a ND to me - maybe taking up trigger slack and whoops too far!

There isn’t any police academy that would teach officers to not knock and announce themselves on a call like this. None.

Are we sure he didn't knock/announce while at the front door? The video I saw started with him on the porch and didn't have sound right away...

[jetfire]

I’m not sure he’d want his FB post in an open forum like that...

The little globe icon next to his indicates that the privacy setting is "public" which means that anyone, on or off Facebook, can see it. If Will didn't want people to see it, he wouldn't have set it to Global.

[Stephanie B]

See above.

Inserting your own opinion into my comment so that it appears to be my own, even though you highlighted it, is a dickish move. More to the point, you assume something for which you have mi factual basis (where I saw the clip).

[Zincwarrior]

Not excusing the officer, but I don't buy the "playing video game with 8 year old nephew" story at 225am. Too often it seems black folks don't feel like they have the right to survive an encounter with police if armed -- if the woman was armed while investigating a potential prowler at her window, just say so! She had every right to be.


It kind of played like a ND to me - maybe taking up trigger slack and whoops too far!



Are we sure he didn't knock/announce while at the front door? The video I saw started with him on the porch and didn't have sound right away...

It was her house. She could have been dancing naked to Janis Joplin and slugging Southern Comfort.*



*If you get this reference, congratulations. You are oooollllllld.

[CWM11B]

I’m going to wait for all the facts but I’m not comfortable with what I saw on the video. I will say that the shear speed at which the bodycam footage was released reminds me of a couple of instances where the officer was charged rather quickly. There was a case in Charlotte where an officer lit up an unarmed black guy about 8 years ago and was charged by his own department within a couple of days.

Actually, he was charged within hours of the event with manslaughter, which was dismissed after a review by then Attorney General (now governor) Roy Cooper. Cooper is in no way, shape, or form pro LE either.