# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/61 "2013-09-16T19:19:42Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > Sure, the cop department is sick over the fact that the dash cam caught the whole thing, and that nothing “accidentally” happened to the tape while it was being transported. > > The guy is on PAID leave while they sort this out. I am as pro-union as it gets, but the police union … I have to wonder about unions. We had a cop who pepper sprayed a Wendy’s employee over incorrect change. I believe it’s the same officer I had the misfortune of meeting one night. It was all I could do not to beat the MF dead. I have had the fortune of meeting many other officers in my area who are great people. Everybody wanted him off the force but the union kept him around. ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/62 "2013-09-16T19:54:10Z")
One of the biggest problems seems to be that of overkill. If the guy really was running at a group of cops in an apparently threatening manner, why couldn’t they just resort to the good ol’ billy club. They could of given him a beating which they seem to be inclined to do but he would also be more likely to survive the encounter. ---
**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, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/63 "2013-09-16T20:37:04Z")
The taser is supposed to take the place of the billy club, because it renders a person unable to pull a weapon. That middle ground step apparently failed, perhaps because the victim was a really big, muscular guy. > [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > Do we know the race of the woman on whose door he knocked? Does it matter? It certainly wouldn’t matter to me if the big dude pounding on my door was white or black. I’m calling the police. To me, the biggest hurdle to overcome in convicting the officer of wrongdoing is that the homeowner misinterpreted what the guy who was pounding on her door wanted. They honestly believed, because she honestly believed, that he was trying to rob or harm her. So they were more aggressive with him from the get go. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/64 "2013-09-16T20:40:04Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > One of the biggest problems seems to be that of overkill. If the guy really was running at a group of cops in an apparently threatening manner, why couldn’t they just resort to the good ol’ billy club. They could of given him a beating which they seem to be inclined to do but he would also be more likely to survive the encounter. The problem with why you never let a charging person get close to you is that they can pull a knife on you in the last moment and stab you, billy club or not. Hypothetically speaking, if the following happened: Man starts charging toward a police officer, officer yells and tells the man to stop, man continues to run, officer tries to use a taser on the suspect but it is not effective for whatever reason, man continues to charge toward officer, officer draws his gun and warns one last time if the man does not stop the officer will fire, man continues to charge toward officer, officer fires his gun killing the man, then I don’t think the officer did anything wrong, if he COULD NOT retreat to safety. If it was possible for the officer to lock himself in his car or get away from the charging man in some way, he should have done that. For what it’s worth, all of the instances that Snowboarder Bo mentioned in his last post are terrible tragedies and the police should have been found guilty of murder in every one of those. If a person is not an immediate credible threat, then shooting them is never the right option. I think in this one case, even though we now know the man was unarmed, the police might not have done anything wrong. However, it’s very likely that he did. ---
**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, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/65 "2013-09-16T20:40:30Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > The taser is supposed to take the place of the billy club, because it renders a person unable to pull a weapon. That middle ground step apparently failed, perhaps because the victim was a really big, muscular guy. > > Does it matter? It certainly wouldn’t matter to me if the big dude pounding on my door was white or black. I’m calling the police. > > To me, the biggest hurdle to overcome in convicting the officer of wrongdoing is that the homeowner misinterpreted what the guy who was pounding on her door wanted. They honestly believed, because she honestly believed, that he was trying to rob or harm her. So they were more aggressive with him from the get go. Really? You think a person who intended to burglarize a home would decide the best way in is by banging on the front door and announcing his presence to the homeowner. ---
**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, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/66 "2013-09-16T20:55:51Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Really? You think a person who intended to burglarize a home would decide the best way in is by banging on the front door and announcing his presence to the homeowner. The spectrum of burglars likely includes “The Ballsy Burglar”. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/67 "2013-09-16T21:05:32Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > To me, the biggest hurdle to overcome in convicting the officer of wrongdoing is that the homeowner misinterpreted what the guy who was pounding on her door wanted. They honestly believed, because she honestly believed, that he was trying to rob or harm her. So they were more aggressive with him from the get go. If a citizen jumped to the wrong conclusion and shot someone after mistaking them for a thuggish maniac when really they’re just a frantic kid upset because their car crashed into a ravine, that citizen would be going to jail. Don’t see why a cop should be treated any differently. Prejudging someone falsely is not a good excuse. ---
**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, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/68 "2013-09-16T21:53:20Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Really? You think a person who intended to burglarize a home would decide the best way in is by banging on the front door and announcing his presence to the homeowner. No, but someone preparing to effect a home invasion might, as might a drug-crazed maniac with a bloody cleaver. And as anyone who’s seen _A Clockwork Orange_ knows, “help, there’s been a terrible accident!” may occasionally be a ruse to gain entry to someone’s home for purposed of robbery, rape, impromptu performances of show tunes and whatnot. If someone banged on my door in the wee hours screaming that they needed help, I would hesitate before letting them in. I’m not particularly proud of that, but this is the world we live in. ---
**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, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/69 "2013-09-16T21:57:20Z")
I don’t blame the homeowner- it’s OK to “just be safe” and call the police if you’re not sure and someone’s banging on your door. I do (based on the information I have, which may not be complete, and withhold final judgement until then) blame the cop who shot the guy- in this case “just being safe” is not a good enough reason to shoot an unarmed man. Maybe it’s a good enough excuse to tase him, or perhaps even to hit him with a club, but not to kill him. Killing should be reserved as a last option, only when there is clear and significant risk to life. An unarmed erratic guy, even a muscular one, should not be in this category when there are 3 cops present. ---
**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, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/70 "2013-09-16T22:05:58Z")
[ > [@](#): > > A police news release said Officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 times at 24-year-old Jonathan A. Ferrell early Saturday while responding to a breaking and entering call. Ten of the bullets hit the former Florida A&M University football player. ]([http://bigstory.ap.org/article/police-cop-shot-unarmed-man-charlotte-10-times](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/police-cop-shot-unarmed-man-charlotte-10-times)) I have nothing to add, just linking to the new info. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/71 "2013-09-16T22:12:35Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Your memory is pretty good. The shooting of John Perrin happened in April 1999 and was ruled justified 6-1 by a Coroner’s Inquest, a form of review that has since been dropped because it was deemed a whitewash by the local population and by the feds. In something like 30 years under the CI system, no police shooting was ever deemed unjustified. > > Even more egregious examples just here in Las Vegas include that of Orlando Barlowe (shot while on his knees surrendering and surrounded by armed police), Swuave Lopez (shot in the back while handcuffed & running away from officers) and Stanley Gibson (shot while unarmed & sitting in his car which was blocked in by multiple police cars). > Aye, even after the reformation of our system, it has no teeth, allowing the Sheriff to override the board’s findings and recommendations. The deck is stacked in favor of police and here in Nevada, they can kill you with impunity. Yup, that was one of the many reasons I left … I just didn’t feel safe from the authorities driving around in the middle of the night while “very tan” … I really had too many close calls myself. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/72 "2013-09-17T02:15:56Z")
[Respectability Politics Won’t Save Us: On the Death of Jonathan Ferrell](http://www.thenation.com/blog/176183/respectability-politics-wont-save-us-death-jonathan-ferrell#axzz2f0XbRr6W) > [@](#): > > The tragic aspect of this is, as a young black man in America, Ferrell probably knew in that moment he couldn’t expect anyone to help him. He was likely very aware that knocking on a stranger’s door might backfire. But he took the risk anyway because he needed help. For that, he was killed. > > Which brings me back to Don Lemon and Bill Cosby. Lemon and Cosby are not pioneers in the field of respectability politics—the idea that one can overcome racism (or any other form of oppression) by way of your personal actions, presenting one’s self as a citizen worthy of respect as defined by the dominant cultural norms and standards. They stand in a long tradition that includes Booker T. Washington and Elijah Muhammad, while also sitting alongside contemporaries such as Condoleezza Rice and President Barack Obama. But they cause a stir every time they say things like“…the reason why I’m giving you this information is because I was living in the projects. I was not taking care of myself in terms of managing my education, and once the door opened and I saw quote, unquote, the light, I started to become very successful,” as Cosby did over the weekend. When someone of his stature says,“It is not what they weren’t doing to me, it’s what I wasn’t doing. It’s a very simple thing,” he does more harm than the good he thinks his “empowering” words do. The problem with these comments is not that they don’t reflect his truth, but because they erase an even larger truth about racism. > > When the Lemons and Cosbys and Rices and Obamas of the world dole out this “tough love” to black communities about education, hard work, being better parents, pulling up your pants, or what have you, they’re not only reinforcing racist stereotypes of black people but feeding the narrative that racism is either not as prevalent or not as vicious as others are making it out to be. Black people can achieve all that they want if they’re willing to work for it, the thinking goes. We just have to dedicate ourselves to the “right” things. > > Jonathan Ferrell did everything “right.” He got an education. He worked hard. He was engaged to be married. His crime was being in a car crash and seeking help. In the process, he was profiled as a burglar, shot and killed. No one sought to protect, serve, or even listen to him. He had his humanity erased even after doing it all the “right” way. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/73 "2013-09-17T02:16:51Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > again. This. > > I’m not too fond of the current methodology of police training. I see time and time again where they use what I consider excessive force. There seems to be an infinite number of video clips where they scream commands like crazy people and then hog tie people who don’t immediately conform. I agree. Irrespective of this case, I think there needs to be a discussion of when escalation to lethal force is warranted. Especially since the vague, individual standards we have now seem to introduce many biases and prejudices into these situations that result in a lot more people being killed or injured. I also think that if we are going to arm cops, giving them the discretion to kill others, we should expect that there be some unambiguous, clear and present danger that could credibly lead to their death (or serious injury). Along those lines, even if we presume that this guy was running towards the cops, why is that (in and of itself) a lethal threat to (I think) 3 armed police officers with backup on call? I just don’t see why maybe getting punched or bum rushed by someone warrants attempting to kill them. And I say that with all due respect to police officers, but the job is really not that dangerous compared to many others (like taxi driver or roofer). Furthermore, they are compensated like professionals and treated by most with great deference. I think society does that because we expect that their jobs have inherent risks like physical threats, public disobedience, and basic assault that should not be mitigated by preemptively shooting people because they _might_ do those things. Now that doesn’t mean you need to peacefully get your ass beat by some crazed drug addict because you are a cop, but I think the line needs to be a lot closer to that than, “a scary guy was running towards me and I got scared”. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/74 "2013-09-17T02:27:46Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > If a citizen jumped to the wrong conclusion and shot someone after mistaking them for a thuggish maniac when really they’re just a frantic kid upset because their car crashed into a ravine, that citizen would be going to jail. Don’t see why a cop should be a cop should be treated any differently. Actually, if they were in reasonable fear for their life, they might not spend any time at all in jail. Had the homeowner herself shot Ferrell, she might have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, or she might not have been charged with anything. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, you are allowed to defend yourself, even with lethal force, if you are in imminent fear of your life. Parents have shot their own kids or spouses after mistaking them for an intruder. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/75 "2013-09-17T02:52:16Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > She is obviously white. If she wasn’t the police would have shot and killed her too. They do have a quota to fill. I think we can all agree that there have been some hyperbolic statements made in this thread, but the fact remains that there seems to be a staggering number of (mostly) Black people killed in this country whose deaths are rarely accounted for. And I don’t just mean the cops and wannabe neighborhood watchmen gunning down “suspicious” minorities, but also the thousands of Black kids in inner cities that are killed on a regular basis. The means, motives, and perpetrators often have few similarities aside from the fact that they killed someone whose life society has deemed unworthy of investigation or mourning. I just don’t see how anyone could look at the body count and (regardless of the causes) not wonder about the deafening silence and indifference to a well documented holocaust going on. > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > No, but someone preparing to effect a home invasion might, as might a drug-crazed maniac with a bloody cleaver. And as anyone who’s seen _A Clockwork Orange_ knows, “help, there’s been a terrible accident!” may occasionally be a ruse to gain entry to someone’s home for purposed of robbery, rape, impromptu performances of show tunes and whatnot. Drugs usually don’t make you homicidal. The things you are describing: stranger rape, hot burglaries, bloody cleavers, etc., are just really really really rare. For all to occur at once is pure fantasy. What you are describing is pretty much solely the domain of movies. > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > If someone banged on my door in the wee hours screaming that they needed help, I would hesitate before letting them in. I’m not particularly proud of that, but this is the world we live in. Honestly, that is not the world we live in. I suppose some specific neighborhoods might be subject to that reality, but most people don’t live in that world. The streets are, for the most part, safer than they have ever been. Now, I agree it may not be prudent to let some bloody person into your house in the middle of the night, but it’s not prudent to always let the low probability, worst case scenario guide your decisions. ---
**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 17, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/76 "2013-09-17T03:30:51Z")
Chris Chestnut is the attorney that the Ferrell family has retained to help them in this matter. He has also represented the family of Robert Champion a FAMU student who was killed as a result of hazing by the FAMU Marching 100 (the university’s famous marching band) back in 2011. [ > [@](#): > > Chestnut, who has spoken with police officials, said that Kerrick didn’t identify himself as a police officer. > [@](#): > > Ferrell was at least the sixth person to be shot by Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers since the start of 2012. Four of them have died. > > Charlotte police investigate their own officers involved in shootings. The State Bureau of Investigation can step in if requested, but they haven’t been asked to do so in any recent officer-involved shootings. > > In the other shootings, prosecutors decided not to charge the officers involved and an independent panel of citizens that investigates the police ruled the shootings were justified. > > The shooting needs to bring more scrutiny to the Citizens Review Board so the group simply doesn’t assume police officers are always right, said Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. > > “No police department is perfect,” Nantambu said. “But every time that group investigates, they find nothing wrong.” ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_CHARLOTTE\_POLICE\_SHOOTING\_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-09-16-19-09-35](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHARLOTTE_POLICE_SHOOTING_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-09-16-19-09-35)) :rolleyes: No surprise there, at least not to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/77 "2013-09-17T04:02:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **chappachula** : > No–not “anyone”…just a cop. > > ``` > from the link:"Officers responding to the breaking and entering call found Ferrell a short distance from the home. As they approached him, Ferrell ran toward the officers, who tried to stop him with a Taser. Police said he continued to run toward them" > > ``` > > When at 2:30 in middle of the night, a uniformed policeman shouts at you to stop, then pulls out a taser, and you keep running towards him, then, yes, it seems reasonable to assume that you are threatening him. At that point, you are technically violating the law anyway, by refusing to cooperate with a police officer.\* (I’m assuming that the cop shouted at him to stop.) Why are you assuming that? I see nothing about the police saying anything to him. You’d think that the police would include something like that in their statement, if it had happened, because it’s really kind of significant. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/78 "2013-09-17T04:44:33Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The problem with why you never let a charging person get close to you is that they can pull a knife on you in the last moment and stab you, billy club or not. > > Hypothetically speaking, if the following happened: Man starts charging toward a police officer, officer yells and tells the man to stop, man continues to run, officer tries to use a taser on the suspect but it is not effective for whatever reason, man continues to charge toward officer, officer draws his gun and warns one last time if the man does not stop the officer will fire, man continues to charge toward officer, officer fires his gun killing the man, then I don’t think the officer did anything wrong, if he COULD NOT retreat to safety. > > If it was possible for the officer to lock himself in his car or get away from the charging man in some way, he should have done that. I disagree. Regular citizens ought to have a duty to retreat, but not police officers. Their job is to stand in the charging maniac’s way. > [@](#): > > For what it’s worth, all of the instances that Snowboarder Bo mentioned in his last post are terrible tragedies and the police should have been found guilty of murder in every one of those. If a person is not an immediate credible threat, then shooting them is never the right option. Did you actually read any articles regarding the incidents Bo mentioned? They are absolutely tragedies, maybe even criminal, but they’re not as black and white as he presented them. For example, Stanley Gibson, who was “unarmed and sitting in his car, which was blocked by other vehicles.” Bo is presenting the story in a way that’s downright deceitful. First, Gibson had the engine running, and was deliberately ramming vehicles with people inside, and attempted to hit people with his vehicle (but was prevented from doing so by the police, who pinned him with their vehicles). Second, hindsight indicates Gibson may have been experiencing a psychotic episode, as he had been committed to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation (which didn’t happen before he was discharged) and had been to jail for causing bizarre disturbances, all over the previous two days. (This part wasn’t known to the officers on scene, but it puts into perspective the state of mind this guy was in at the time). He was mentally ill and emotionally unstable, and he ignored all commands to stop the vehicle, and was attempting to ram his way out at the time he was shot. Third, the tactic the police were going to use to get him out of the vehicle involved shooting bean bag rounds through the driver side window, followed by pepper spray. The police did not know whether he was armed at the time. The plan was changed to have officers fire the non-lethal round through the passenger window. The officer who shot Gibson was not told of this change in plans. He heard a gunshot at an unexpected time, and saw the passenger window shatter, which he also did not expect. He assumed the shot came from within the vehicle. He showed incredibly poor judgment by firing his weapon (and the police showed a great deal of incompetence in general), but under the circumstances I certainly wouldn’t call it murder. Fourth, the officer who shot Gibson was fired. No, he wasn’t charged with a crime. Maybe he should have been, but I think it would have been difficult to convince a jury he committed murder. Even though he wasn’t charged, it’s not exactly like the picture people some are painting about rampaging police killing people with impunity and suffering no consequences. The other incidents Bo mentioned have similarly important details left out. I agree that the police are overly militarized in their training, they don’t have nearly enough oversight (especially from non-police entities), their union is too influential, the police have too much power in general, and have deservedly lost much the support and respect of their community. But let’s be rational about it. The police aren’t monsters just waiting for the chance to kill people. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/79 "2013-09-17T05:00:57Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Really? You think a person who intended to burglarize a home would decide the best way in is by banging on the front door and announcing his presence to the homeowner. Actually that’s how it’s done. If nobody answers then the door gets kicked in. Well, usually the doorbell is rung so as not to make any more noise than necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951/80 "2013-09-17T05:26:54Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Chris Chestnut is the attorney that the Ferrell family has retained to help them in this matter. He has also represented the family of Robert Champion a FAMU student who was killed as a result of hazing by the FAMU Marching 100 (the university’s famous marching band) back in 2011. > > :rolleyes: No surprise there, at least not to me. So the police showed up in a pickup truck wearing white sheets? I just assumed they drove badged cars and were wearing uniforms. How does this guy not know they are the police? This really needs a better narrative to discuss. Something is way off here. And before I forget, the Officers in the UK terrorist shooting managed to shoot the guy in the legs and he was armed with a gun and a knife. It apparently isn’t as difficult as it’s been made out to be. In the US we went to tasers because night sticks were considered too rough. But somehow we went from situations where police got physical to a mentality that any suggestion of bodily harm is met with deadly force. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-a-cop-got-charged-for-shooting-someone/668951.md?page=5)