FBI releases video of militiaman shooting

boing
21

Obviously the three minute pause was so he could face Mecca to pray.

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22

They couldn’t get rights to the Benny Hill theme song.

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This video is shot from an aerial platform which typically do not have audio capabilities at range and this could have been shot from a considerable distance.

Lack of audio from helicopter footage is normal and shouldn’t be reason for concern.

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I’m all for black humor, but this is one of the few videos I just can’t see being improved by Benny Hill.

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25

I was thinking the same thing about the flanking maneuver, but realized that the snow was really deep, and they had no idea where the truck would stop. So the pre-positioned FBI dude couldn’t easily get to a better spot quickly.

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26

Maybe a little, “Cool Hand Luke” fantasy in there as well?

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When you get stopped by a van-load of armored feds, that’s the time to exit the vehicle and lie down on the ground. Unless you want to die, that is. Stoopid martyr complex.

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I didn’t say it didn’t make sense, I said I didn’t like not having sound. There’s no way to tell how teh guns were actually discharged from the angle without sound.

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I shouldn’t laugh.

I laughed.

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Strongly agree. He looked to be on pretty unsure footing. Without audio, there’s no way to be sure what was a bullet wound, and what was just a stumble.

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31

It’s hard to judge elevations from the aerial view, but if the snowbank was remotely drivable, it would’ve been roadblocked as well. Finicum wasn’t trying to evade the roadblock, he was aiming directly for the officer, and when he missed him, he stopped.

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32

All videos should routinely be released immediately following an event, not days later, after agencies have been given an opportunity to edit them.

This video, for example, has been redacted. Why?

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Was he pre-positioned? I tried to track where he (she?) came from but didn’t see the approach. He also wasn’t very far from the target, and possibly at a higher elevation, both of which could help reduce the downrange danger.

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What was redacted? It pretty clearly showed nine minutes before the shooting and the time after. What are you looking for that is missing?

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These sorts of situations are covered by a Supreme Court case known as Graham v. Connor. The question will be whether a reasonable police officer, knowing that the involved officers knew, would have believed Finicum was an imminent threat to the lives of others. When you put together Finicum’s previous statements, the fact that he was known to carry weapons, and all of the behavior after the stop, this all looks pretty straightforward from a legal standpoint.

Of particular importance are the physical dynamics of these situations. Because of what’s usually described as the “action-reaction principle,” while someone can draw a gun and shoot an officer in about 0.4 seconds, an officer (or any of us) can only process that information and respond in 0.8 seconds. In other words, if officers wait to see the gun, they could be already shot.

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37

There are a bunch of information displays around the display area that look to have been redacted out. Not sure how that’s of much importance, though, since it doesn’t obscure the event and the timestamp’s been left in place.

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You mean the aircraft identification information that the FBI called out? What difference does that make?

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That’s what I assume he’s referring to, yes.

Yeah, that’s what I said. :slightly_smiling:

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“UN Black Helicopter #23” would be a smoking gun

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I’m afraid to look at the video, not keen on looking at a shooting (even if the subject was some militiaman that’s been up to shenanigans). But based on the description of what went down i would say that the police or feds had motive to defend themselves. If he almost ran a guy over, they would’ve had motive then to shoot to stop him. And him reaching for his pocket is also justified in their use of lethal force. Now in the court of law if can go either way depending on how good the defense or prosecution is because an argument can be made for either side but i believe they were justified in the shooting.

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