The “very first thing”?!

This is why you don’t get invited to parties

Yea I feel bad for him too, you can tell when the officer tells him he has no choice to arrest him that he’s realizing how badly he just messed up.

In his mind he was about to lose his pardon and go back into the prison system.

But to me that also makes me think the officer is justified in his use of force. People that think everything is ruined are unpredictable and he was reaching for violence. While he was saying he was going to turn that violence on himself, there’s no particular reason to trust what he’s saying. I think there’s a very real possibility he gets the gun saying “I’m shooting myself” but then once he has it maybe shooting the cop sounds a bit better.

If I’m the officer I’m not rolling the dice to see if he points the gun at his head or mine.

And as much as I can empathize with the feeling of fear and loss in that moment, ultimately he made a bunch of choices that led to that. He did whatever he did to get his license suspended, he drove on a suspended license, and even in this instance he broke the speed limit knowing that the results of even a minor infraction could lead to the loss of his freedom.

At some point he has to be responsible for the consequences of his actions.

Police Activity posted the bodycam footage.

https://youtu.be/zf6BgUd86I4

It’s under 7 minutes and when the shooting happens it’s blurred out. It’s relatively tame from a gore point of view, but it’s still a video of someone being shot so watch with care.

Here’s my synopsis of the footage for people that don’t want to watch it themselves, you can skip the preamble if you just want to understand the shooting. In my opinion the officer acts reasonable, friendly, and professional throughout.

Preamble

• Officer pulls the guy over for going 70 in a 55
• Guy offers up unprompted that he’s a J6 defendant that was recently pardoned
• Officer doesn’t seem to care one way or the other asks for license
• Guy says he’s coming from church and his mother’s grave. He doesn’t have a license and has been trying to get a hardship license, produces an expired license
• Officer asks how often he’s been caught driving suspended
• Guy says “in my life”
• Officer clarifies “recently”
• Guy indicates not much
• Officer goes back to his patrol car to run the guys information.

Shooting

• Officer asks the guy out of the vehicle, they go to the rear of his vehicle
• Officer explains that he’s reached habitual traffic offender status because of driving suspended.
• Guy begs for leniency
• Officer explains its now reached the point of being a felony and he has no choice but to arrest him.
• Guy says he’s not going back to jail
• Guy runs away from the rear of the vehicle and jumps back into the drivers seat
• Officer gives foot chase back to drivers door, he provides verbal commands to stop
• Before the officer can reach the guy, he says “I’m shooting myself” and reaches for something in the passenger seat.
• Officer says “no no no” and fires three shots at the guy.

This is shown from his bodycam and also from his dashcam.

A felon retreated into a vehicle, stating he wouldn’t go back to jail, produced a firearm, and threatened violence. Was the guy lying about shooting himself, was his plan to fire the firearm at himself or the officer? Based on my view of the video, the officer acted within his lawful authority, was polite and professional, and only used force consistent with what the situation required. But I’d encourage you to watch the evidence and make up your own mind.

There are a ton of bad cops and awful shootings. I don’t like J6 but I don’t see this as justified because the guy is an asshole, but justified because of his actions at this traffic stop.