# Holy shit a cop got charged for shooting someone! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951 "2013-09-16T04:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/21 "2013-09-16T11:20:28Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > You can assume the cop shouted at him to stop, or you can assume a guy who wanted help wouldn’t be “sprinting” (as **drewtwo99** has decided he was doing) towards police officers who are pointing weapons at him. Either someone is a complete idiot here, or some detail is missing, because there’s currently no way to piece all this together that leaves all parties behaving rationally. Considering that the young man might have had a head injury, damage to hearing, or some other problem from the car accident, he might have been the one not behaving rationally but for perfectly understandable reasons. ---
**Author:** ![hadleykeillor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hadleykeillor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hadleykeillor)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/22 "2013-09-16T11:33:57Z")
he did rush to pull that trigger but the charge is a bit excessive ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/23 "2013-09-16T11:38:04Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Considering that the young man might have had a head injury, damage to hearing, or some other problem from the car accident, he might have been the one not behaving rationally but for perfectly understandable reasons. I can believe that, but would be interested to hear from someone with more knowledge on how people in such situations would or could act. Is it likely, or even possible, that any injury could cause you to think it’s a good idea to run towards police in a way that could be interpreted as aggressive, while still being physically capable of doing so? Perhaps his hearing was damaged and he was dazed or in shock, causing him to be unaware of how the police were reacting to him. Perhaps the police were barely visible in the dark and he couldn’t see that they were pointing weapons at him. But it doesn’t seem likely to me (it’s not impossible) that someone with good judgement couldn’t tell the difference between someone approaching so aggressively they had to be shot and someone approaching with no malice. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/24 "2013-09-16T11:43:22Z")
> [@hadleykeillor](#): > > he did rush to pull that trigger but the charge is a bit excessive Excessive in what way? My understanding is that what he has been charged with means he is accused of deliberately killing someone unreasonably, while in the honest belief that his actions were appropriate at the time. What would you suggest he be charged with? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/25 "2013-09-16T11:43:32Z")
That’s why I’m glad it sounds like there will be an investigation. It could also be that the accident was caused because the driver was on drugs or otherwise impaired in some fashion, and he was still irrational/aggressive/whatever afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/26 "2013-09-16T12:10:25Z")
What a tragic chain of events. I assume that the victim suffered from severe head trauma because matters kept escalating, yet Ferrell didn’t seem to have any awareness that his behavior was contributing to it. A clear-headed person would have realized when the first homeowner slammed the door in his face, that maybe he needed to change the way he was approaching people for help. A clear-headed person would have put his hands in the air when armed cops demanded he do so. Clearly, he wasn’t clear-headed. He was confused, fearful, and panicked, which made the homeowner confused, panicked and fearful, which made the cops confused, panicked, and fearful. And all had completely legitimate reasons for being confused, panicked and fearful. It was a terrible, tragic misinterpretation. Honestly, if a strange man started pounding on my door at 2am, I’d have called 911. I don’t think “car accident victim seeking aid” would even be on my top 10 list of theories, unless I heard or saw the wreck. No, I’d assume: a) he was a strung out drug addict: b) he was intending to harm me: c) he was trying to escape from someone trying to harm him. Take your pick; all require police intervention. Had Ferrell been near his crashed car, I think he would be alive today because people would have put two and two together and realized his irrational behavior was probably caused by head trauma. But he wasn’t. Sadly, people with head trauma can act an awful lot like a strung out drug addict. And I think that misinterpretation ultimately led to this man’s death. Very, very sad. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/27 "2013-09-16T12:20:05Z")
While I think **Der Trihs** is over the top with his accusations that cops automatically shoot black people on principle, I do think that his race probably played a roll in the incident. Would the woman have made a breaking and entry call if he had been white? I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s less likely. I do know that a couple of times in my life I’ve had to knock on strangers’ doors for help and I was not met with even a tiny bit of suspicion. In the one instance I slid on ice into a ditch on a rural road at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning (this was before cell phones). it was dangerously cold (there were temperature warnings) and I could have been in big trouble if the couple hadn’t let me into their house. The guy even said to me that he wouldn’t have let me in if it wasn’t for my appearance (he didn’t use the words “white” or “black” but there’s a subtext that you understand even if you don’t use it or think that way yourself). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/28 "2013-09-16T12:29:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Of course they harass, assault and kill black men on a regular basis, as do cops in general; that’s what cops do. As the title of this thread points out, the only surprising thing is a cop being _charged_ for shooting someone. Them _shooting_ some black guy isn’t surprising in the slightest. [There are around 800,000 cops in the US.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_police_officers). Why are there still any black people alive if what you believe is true? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/29 "2013-09-16T12:46:00Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > But the idea of police ever shooting a black man “simply because he was a black man” and that they consider him “deserving of death” is ridiculous enough, even without the fact that you consider this scenario “far more likely” than one in which the police aren’t lying. Then you haven’t been paying attention. The cops assault, kill and otherwise mistreat people for being black all the time. They are deeply and pervasively racist, as is our “justice” system in general. > [@kayaker](#): > > [There are around 800,000 cops in the US.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_police_officers). Why are there still any black people alive if what you believe is true? Because they sometimes restrict themselves to harassment, robbery, false arrests, and beatings instead of killings. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/30 "2013-09-16T12:51:51Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > A guy running directly toward a police officer seems like pretty good reason to shoot him honestly. I’m all against police officers killing unarmed people but when/if they are sprinting toward them I’m not all that sympathetic to the victim. I’m glad I’m not a jogger in the US of A. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/31 "2013-09-16T12:58:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Because they sometimes restrict themselves to harassment, robbery, false arrests, and beatings instead of killings. What do you imagine happened in this most recent incident? Are you thinking the cop said to himself, “it’s been too long since I killed me a black man,” and then sized up the situation and thought 'I’m pretty sure I can get away with killing him in cold blood and playing it off like self-defense?" ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/32 "2013-09-16T13:23:17Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > If a guy was running toward me after I yelled at him to stop and he continued to do so, and there was no way for me to get to safety (lock myself in my car or my house for example), and I was armed, I would not hesitate to shoot him as he charged me. I would hope I would be found innocent of breaking any laws, but if not, I’d also understand why not. I admit it is a bit of a grey area. But people have the right to defend themselves, and someone running directly toward you after you have yelled at them to stop seems like a pretty good way to say you feared for you life and killed in self defense. You’re not sympathetic to a guy who was just in a car accident, and may have been in shock and/or injured? For one thing, who knows what happened- and even if it happened as the cops describe, that sounds like the kind of irrational behavior that often accompanies head injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/33 "2013-09-16T14:06:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Then you haven’t been paying attention. The cops assault, kill and otherwise mistreat people for being black all the time. They are deeply and pervasively racist, as is our “justice” system in general. > > Because they sometimes restrict themselves to harassment, robbery, false arrests, and beatings instead of killings. Oh for fuck’s sake - are you a Black Panther or sumthin’? You’ve been rather effective here at getting me to take a stand opposite you, and as much as I detest it, on the side of police in general. I do not like police in general on a personal level, because of my own biases. But this shit you’re spewing, it’s nothing more than “The man is holding me down” mumbo jumbo the likes of which I’ve never seen outside of a black power rally. Cut your shit out, it’s making you look offensively racist. You truly mistake trees for a forest. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/34 "2013-09-16T14:18:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Under the circumstances it seems far more likely that they decided to kill him simply because he he was a black man and therefore automatically deserving of death. The standard attitude of the police, in other words. There are many legitimate topics of discussion related to this incident, and per usual, you cheapen them with this kind of ridiculous comment. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/35 "2013-09-16T14:35:30Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You’re not sympathetic to a guy who was just in a car accident, and may have been in shock and/or injured? For one thing, who knows what happened- and even if it happened as the cops describe, that sounds like the kind of irrational behavior that often accompanies head injuries. He didn’t say he wasn’t sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/36 "2013-09-16T14:42:40Z")
Are cops in America generally incompetent or just plain stupid? If a person has obviously just had a car accident (and it would be hard to miss a turned over car or something of that sort) and is coming towards police officers what do they think that person is trying to do? Assault or ask for help? Come on, this is just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/37 "2013-09-16T14:43:02Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > If a guy was running toward me after I yelled at him to stop and he continued to do so, and there was no way for me to get to safety (lock myself in my car or my house for example), and I was armed, I would not hesitate to shoot him as he charged me. I would hope I would be found innocent of breaking any laws, but if not, I’d also understand why not. I admit it is a bit of a grey area. But people have the right to defend themselves, and someone running directly toward you after you have yelled at them to stop seems like a pretty good way to say you feared for you life and killed in self defense. Yeah never mind that he might be deaf. Never mind that he might be chased by something or someone behind him that you didn’t see. Hell the other people chasing him might be his gang rushing you, right? Never mind that you don’t see a weapon. Never mind that you’ve drawn a conclusion that isn’t supported by any observable evidence. You’d shoot and kill someone for running in your direction. ETA: I expect better of people in general and especially of trained officers. It seems like they (and you) would rather skip the whole “assess the situation” thing and simply proceed to “it’s coming right for us!”-style behavior. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/38 "2013-09-16T14:45:16Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > He didn’t say he wasn’t sympathetic. He did in post #4. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/39 "2013-09-16T14:59:23Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Are cops in America generally incompetent or just plain stupid? If a person has obviously just had a car accident (and it would be hard to miss a turned over car or something of that sort) and is coming towards police officers what do they think that person is trying to do? Assault or ask for help? Come on, this is just ridiculous. You’re assuming it was obvious that there had been a car accident. I haven’t seen any reports about where the crashed vehicle was in relation to where the shooting took place. What I have seen reported is that he was running toward officers, was tased, _and then continued running toward officers after having been tased._ It’s entirely possible that he suffered an acute brain injury in the crash that caused irrational responses to police instructions (here I’m assuming that the use of the taser and firearm were preceded by appropriate verbal warnings). Even without verbal warnings, a rational person would respond to being tased (or having a firearm pointed at them) by aborting further attempts to approach the officer. I’m sure the evening news will play the 911 call. I’m wondering if the caller makes any mention of “a guy claiming to have been in a car accident,” or if she just says “a big black guy is trying to break into my house.” ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/40 "2013-09-16T15:16:46Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Are cops in America generally incompetent or just plain stupid? If a person has obviously just had a car accident (and it would be hard to miss a turned over car or something of that sort) and is coming towards police officers what do they think that person is trying to do? Assault or ask for help? Come on, this is just ridiculous. The person WASN’T obviously in a car accident. From the link in the OP: “Ferrell apparently walked about a half-mile to the nearest house and was “banging on the door viciously” to attract attention, Monroe said.” Therein lies the problem. No one in that daisy chain of events realized he’d just been in a traumatic car accident. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951.md?page=3)