I’m curious to see the reaction from people who normally fault the arrestee for making the wrong move during an encounter with police…
Um…reaching into your jacket when the popo has guns pointed at you is often going to result in a Darwin event…
According to the police, he was carrying a loaded pistol in the spot he was reaching for. Combined with starting a vehicle chase from the initial traffic stop and his previous statements to the media, there’s not many moves he made that weren’t wrong.
It’ll be interesting to get the audio of the event to see what orders he was being given at the time, though…
reaching anywhere but the open air really and it didn’t help he tried to drive around the roadblock and almost into an officer off on the side of the road.
- Leading cops on chase after being stopped
- Almost hitting a cop at a roadblock
- Exiting your vehicle and running
- Continuously lowering your hand to reach into a pocket
- (One assumes) ignoring yelled/megaphone instructions from surrounding armed men
Yeah, not exactly an execution style killing.
I’m sure conspiracy theorists will pan the video all the same.
“Why was it shot from a UN black helicopter circling at a distance where we couldn’t see the details?”
I have already seen people claim that he reached for his pocket after the first bullet had already hit him.
This.It doesn’t matter whether you have a loaded gun, a phone going off, or just tissue in your pocket. If a dozen cops (or anyone really, militia, gang-members, bank robbers, etc) have guns pointed at you, and they tell you to keep you hands in the air, you keep those hands in the air.
I saw the video last night, and in my half asleep state it even looked like he was shot the second time his hand was reaching for his pocket.
this is a big difference from a random traffic stop/pedestrian encounter with no prior knowledge on the side of the police, where weapon possession/violent intent can only be inferred by vague hand gestures and skin color*. As you said, the police knew who he was, what he was doing, and his prior assertions of violent intent when confronted.
[not arguing with you.]
That did little to allay doubters’ concerns. To them, the image showed Finicum coming out with arms raised, then lowering them – but not necessarily to reach for his gun. He was getting his balance in the deep snow, some said. Others reasoned he had been shot in the torso, and reflexively grabbed his wound.
An “enhanced” version of the video circulating online appeared to show Finicum being shot before he lowered his arms, many argued. They criticized the FBI for releasing such grainy video, and for failing to release audio.
Yeah, FBI? Why no audio? Just because you don’t enjoy prop noise doesn’t necessarily mean that others won’t.
There’s going to be audio and dashcams from the roadblock vehicles, presumably. They knew he could be trouble. Surely they were recording in the knowledge that not doing so would invite speculation.
Somewhere between “suicide by cop,” and some sort of misplaced “Lonely are the Brave,” fantasy. Sad that it ended in death but almost inevitable
That’s true. It doesn’t matter at all whether you regard the orders as legitimate or not.
The lack of sound bothers me. I’m normally on the side of the cops if someone is running and reaches for something just because there is a incredibly small window to actually make the decision for the police, and it doesn’t appear that they, say, pulled a Cleveland-style bullet hell; but it’s hard to tell if any shots are fired at the vehicle
This appears cut and dry police made the right decision versus say Dillon Taylor, though that is a rough call. LaVoy even gets out of the car and digs deep into his pockets for a few whole seconds. The videos from @beschizza’s comment would be more interesting to see.
Same here.
I can easily see this as a “drop the gun” catch 22. How do you drop the gun with out drawing the gun?
When I heard that he “nearly” hit an FBI agent, I assumed that was the same sort of “nearly” I’d use to describe how vegan cheese tastes like the real thing- not at all.
Then I saw the video, and I’m shocked the FBI agent wasn’t killed- and, I should thing, under many circumstances would be enough to get someone shot (regardless of anything else).
It seems to me that they went out of their way to try to not shoot him.
But I’m just this guy, y’know?
I like a good flanking maneuver, but the way it was executed here was shyte, with pretty much everyone else directly behind the intended.
