Police kill man after knocking on wrong door

[Deleted]

I can't stop laughing at some of those posts defending the cops. Not sure whether to laugh or cry, it's simply sickening that anyone could even consider defending the cop.

This times a billion.

[LocNess]

He didn't know they were cops. All he saw were 3 adult males at his door in the middle of the night. All these things are relevant to the reaction. Multiple intruders. Suspicious time. Did he see weapons through the peephole? I'm not calling the cops murderers. I'm calling them inept. If you are going to show up armed in the middle of the night at someone's door, your stupid ass better inform them you're a law enforcement officer. If they don't institute that policy and this happens again, then yeah, it's murder.

How can you not tell if somebody is a cop? And either way any normal person would have said "Who is it?". The cops should have identified themselves yes, but it is not murder as they did not intend to come into the house to kill the person. Manslaughter, but really it is just self defense. The cops were completely in their rights to do that as would anybody. If a gun is pointed at me, I will shoot that person too. And if he doesn't know who it is, don't open the damn door with a gun out or else shit will get real right off the bat. He was probably expecting trouble because he had it out, could have easily kept the gun pointed down, or tucked into his pants.

[Tinykong]

So I guess we just throw self defense out the window?

Self defense is a justification for committing assault/battery/manslaughter, not a legal protection for civilians to kill anyone who comes onto their property indiscriminately.

[Deleted]

Remove legal immunity from police and prosecutors in these situations. Show up at the wrong door, fail to identify yourself and then shoot someone? Mr. Officer, sir, you are now on the hook for manslaughter.

Do that a couple times and every single police department in the country will get the message. SWAT teams and midnight raids will become much more careful.

Law and order starts with the police obeying the law. If they can't do that, they're useless.

[Purlina]

I did think before responding, which is why nothing happened. The home owner who was killed did not think, he reacted, and that's why he's dead.

Your logic is completely contradictory to what the responding officers told me, and what any reasonable person would think. The police are capable of preventing crime, both directly and indirectly. Just because the person who was at my door was not a criminal, doesn't mean it was unreasonable to believe he might be. He could have been going door to door, trying to find an unoccupied home to burglarize, or any other list of potential crimes.

Police respond to suspicous person calls on a regular, daily basis. Some wind up being crime prevention/intervetion, some wind up being nothing. Better to call and find out they were not needed, than to not call and wind up having to investigate a murder/rape/burglarly/home invasion.

Well I guess we can't be drunk in our own homes then, for fear that such an incident should occur. Remember kids, you must always be thinking of ways to avoid getting shot by the police!

[Deleted]

They didn,t shoot him for nothing he had a gun in his hand... so he got what he deserved. Another scumbag of the streets GG.

[Purlina]

Self defense is a justification for committing assault/battery/manslaughter, not a legal protection for civilians to kill anyone who comes onto their property indiscriminately.

Except you have no proof that he tried to kill anyone....

[Deleted]

as the door opened why didnt they start shouting "POLICE GET THE FUCK DOWN !!" if the guy didn't do anything wrong he'd drop to the floor.

[Adam Jensen]

The guy did nothing wrong in protecting himself. He had his full rights to do so. It was a murder, and it should be punished.

And he could have killed the cops with a twitch of his fingers. What if he had shot first, would you be defending him? How were the cops to know he wasn't some crazy nut who was going to shoot them?

Pointing a gun at people with guns is a good way to get killed.

[thunterman]

They should of announced themselves. Frankly, if i had a gun, and someone was banging at my door at that time i would definitely grab it just in-case.

[Deleted]

Bashing America again?

How is this Bashing ? I dont even giev a fuck about the USA but I wouldnt want a murderer running free around me thats all.

[Purlina]

And he could have killed the cops with a twitch of his fingers. What if he had shot first, would you be defending him? How were the cops to know he wasn't some crazy nut who was going to shoot them?

Pointing a gun at people with guns is a good way to get killed.

And how does the home owner know that the cops are not just crazy nuts who wanted to rob / kill him...?

[LocNess]

They should of announced themselves. Frankly, if i had a gun, and someone was banging at my door at that time i would definitely grab it just in-case.

And would you stupidly open the door already pointing it at their heads?

[gamingmuscle]

The guy did nothing wrong in protecting himself. He had his full rights to do so. It was a murder, and it should be punished.

He wasn't protecting himself. Until you have reports that the police were threatening him, and not just demanding that he open up, it was not self defense. And it's still extremely stupid to do what he did reguardless of threats or not. Call the police, put yourself somewhere safe. Defend yourself if you have to.

[Deleted]

And he could have killed the cops with a twitch of his fingers. What if he had shot first, would you be defending him? How were the cops to know he wasn't some crazy nut who was going to shoot them?

Pointing a gun at people with guns is a good way to get killed.

i find it funny that the peacekeepers are allowed to shoot first when dealing with citizens in their own homes.

Yet the military does not have the right to shoot first.

[Deleted]

http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/14/ge...nds-in-2011-wh

how bout this for comparison

[LocNess]

i find it funny that the peacekeepers are allowed to shoot first when dealing with citizens in their own homes.

Yet the military does not have the right to shoot first.

Meh, military is more internationally responsible. If your military is causing up trouble then the entire world will be judging you. Just more dangerous.

[tiporispit]

Actually, the law does define it as that.

Assault is defined as: causing a victim to apprehend violence. Pointing a gun at a person is aggravated assault, justified or not. Aiming the weapon proves intent to do bodily harm, which is why you can't just walk around pointing guns at people.

No one said the law requires people to ask if they are police, I merely said that the police are required to respond to reasonable demands for identification.

Do you understand you can't go into a Webster's dictionary and define assault? Assault is defined by the State of Florida, not Mirriam. Specifically, F.S.S. 784.011, 784.021 and 784.05 come into play here. Please note 7.4.021 (1)a which specifically states "With a deadly weapon without intent to kill" which basically makes you full of shit and not worthy of any further debate, other than to point out that the officers are guilty of culpable negligence under 78.405

[thunterman]

And would you stupidly open the door already pointing it at their heads?

Damn right i would.

And the person saying if they announce themselves, the suspect runs.... that's why 1 cop bangs on the door while the other hides round the back. Duur!

[Deleted]

In many jurisdictions, the only difference between the police and criminals are the badges.