[Bad Cop News] Officer murder autistic child and are arrested

Another kid kill at the hands of bad cops.

 

Unfortunate for this kid as he was collateral damage. You never want to see innocents hurt when police are trying to apprehend a suspect, but it's not like those cops were intentionally shooting at the child. They might not have even known he was in the vehicle.

From reports, the dad had surrendered when the cops opened fire. The body cameras seem to support that. They should go to jail for shooting a surrendering suspect and causing the death of the child. The only question is to call it murder or manslaughter and to what degree, and how effectively a prosecutor can prove that.

 

This will be an interesting thread.

Rocket River

 

I'm not sure if it's your intention, but the tone of this post really makes it sound like you're downplaying just how ****ed up this situation really is.

Check out this article:

Given that the LEOs in question were black and the victims white, you know it's only a matter of time before the usual cast of idiots come in here with the "where's the outrage..." crap.

 

Not downplaying it at all. It is definitely messed up how the cops opened fire unprovoked. I just have an issue with how things are reported. I feel like certain details are intentionally omitted to paint a different picture to sensationalize the news. The cops were shooting at the father, not the child, and may not have known a child was in the car (that might be revealed during the trial). Just report more details so we have a better understanding of the situation.

 

Wow. It will be quite interesting to learn the rest of the story about these incompetent officers. To just trap a person and then gun them down?.... Damn.

 

I can't believe these cops are going to get off after opening fire on someone that was surrendering.

If there isn't more to the story than that, then this should have major repercussions.

 

There seems to be a lot more bad cops being exposed do to cam phone.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=University+Of+Alabama+Student+Gets+Tased+And+Beaten+With+A+Baton+By+Police+Over+A+Noise+Complaint%21

 

They are really bad shots, then. 18 bullets. 5 hit the boy in the chest or head. Dad was hit once, I believe. Keep in mind the boy is a fraction of the size of the dad.

 

See that's why I hate ALL cops. Black, white, brown, etc... They can all suck a bag of dicks.

 

Come on nah all of them aren't bad there are a few that do they're job the right way.

 

Just checking in to see if Duncan McDonuts is defending the cops...

 

Here's another one. Unarmed white teen gunned down by a cop. 7 shots to the body!
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...d-sues-michigan-cop-roadside-shooting-n446026

My opinion is that these sorts of incidents need more airplay because it's human nature to identify with someone that looks like you. It's harder for white people to identify with a black teen that is shot by cops, but this boy could have been their son, and the circumstances of him being killed are very similar to what we are seeing with the black teens:

1) Failure to comply
2) Some kind of resistance to arrest
3) Officer saying he shot and killed in "self-defense"

In my mind, the issue here isn't whether or not the kid was resisting arrest, my question is why can't an officer handle a situation with an unarmed teen without gunning him down? This should be something they are trained to do. Like I said, they should publicize these incidents more, so that more Americans realize that this is a problem for everyone, not just black folks.

 

I didn't want to start yet another thread for news on a cop killing someone and getting away with it, so, here is more cops killing people and getting away with it news:

Pennsylvania officer who fatally shot unarmed man in back cleared of murder

The video on the article is definitely worth a view. The female officer is tasing the man, he is on the ground face down, he seems to try to remove the taser prongs and run away, and then she shoots him multiple times in the back.

And she not only was cleared of murder, she plans on returning to the force.

 

They get away with all kinds of **** not just murder. Who polices the police?

 

If you check my posting history, you'll see there are many times when I say the cops were wrong.

This officer was pretty poor to not deescalate the situation. It was probably an ego trip or abusing his power when he felt the kid was challenging him (haven't seen the video/heard the audio yet). This officer should be fired and isn't worthy of being a peace officer if he has a history of abusing his power. That said, from what I've read, and seen pictures of the bloodied officer, the kid became aggressive and attacked the officer and it became a justified shooting.

 

I watched the whole video. I'm trying to figure out what the cop could have done differently. It looked like initially he gave him plenty of space and tried to use a taser. At some point he has to get close to him to put handcuffs on. When he got close the kid engaged him in a physical confrontation, and the taser didn't work (seems like a common occurrence).

I'd like to examine the options in detail and hear what your take is. I think a lot more can be accomplished if we look at each of these situations independently and in depth. Maybe that would help to identify the actual tangible things that could be changed in how police handle these situations. It also just gives a better understanding of how complex these situations usually are.

1.) Wait for backup. I think this probably would have been the easiest option, but there could be other circumstances I'm not thinking of or aware of, since I'm not a police officer. He called in twice for backup but it hadn't arrived yet. I couldn't quite tell if there was a response saying it was going to be a while or perhaps there was no response at all. There could also be something to be said for the longer the situation is dragged out, the more dangerous it could become as the person gets more time to think about it.

2.) When it devolves to the point where it's certain a physical confrontation will occur, the police officer should just run and hope the person doesn't have a gun on them to shoot them in the back. If the person doesn't have a gun, then running away will make certain that the situation won't escalate much more. Unless the person decides to chase them and is faster than the cop. But the most likely outcome is when the cop retreats to avoid a physical altercation, the person would get back in their car or flee on foot. I'm not sure if that's a good precedent to set...that all you have to do is threaten a physical altercation and the cop will let you flee. This is all a moot point anyways, since I'm sure cops are taught not to turn their back in certain situations.

3.) When the physical altercation/fight does occur, should a cop hope the person doesn't have a gun or other weapon and just take the risk that their hand-to-hand combat and physical strength is better than the person they are arresting? Seems like a lot to ask of an officer, so a simple answer of "yes" seems to be very idealistic and simple. When anyone starts thinking about physical injury or death it gets into pretty volatile territory here, where anything can happen. This is usually the point where I think most people have the biggest disagreement.

4.) Not stop him in the first place. He obviously flashed his lights at you, because he thought your brights were on. You said others had done that the same night, and you explained it to them. Why don't you just let it go? But anyway, that's a different topic. We're talking about how cops are supposed to better handle these confrontations when they do occur.

Also, are there any police here who can comment on tasers? It seems like they're kind of worthless and or difficult to use based on a lot of these incidents.

 

What is there to debate?

 

Inside small-town Louisiana feud that led to a 6-year-old boy’s police killing

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/inside-small-town-louisiana-feud-that-led-to-a-6-year-old-boys-police-killing/2015/11/15/a2247ffa-8967-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_marksville1050p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Bizarre. TLDR Sounds like an extremely poor, rural town, had some makeshift police force that may not have even been legal. There also was some feud between a local judge and the mayor that played a part in the corrupt police "force." As far as the reason the police were after them, it sounds like possibly some personal thing.

Spoiler

By William Wan November 15 at 2:14 PM

For years, people in the tiny Louisiana town of Marksville watched the feud between their mayor and local judge like some kind of daytime soap opera, with varying degrees of frustration and bemusement.

Then came the Nov. 3 shooting that killed a 6-year-old boy. Suddenly, the petty small-town bickering began looking more tragically sinister.

Why in the world, residents ask, were deputy marshals — whose main job is serving court papers for the judge — out there chasing cars and shooting up suspects? How did one of the deputies — who had been charged twice for aggravated rape and racked up a string of lawsuits for excessive force — even get hired? And how did a speck of a town like Marksville wind up with a shadow police force on its streets?

“It’s pretty clear to me that if this feud didn’t exist, those marshals wouldn’t have been there that day,” said one former city official and resident of more than three decades who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing a gag order in the case.

“We’ve watched the both of them fight for years. . . . But I don’t think anyone imagined something so petty would lead to something so tragic.”
Marksville City Marshal Derrick Stafford. (AP/Louisiana State Police/AP)

Jeremy Mardis was the youngest person shot and killed by law officers so far this year, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings. Amid a national debate over police use of deadly force, the killing of an autistic 6-year-old sent shock waves nationwide.

Louisana State Police said they’re still trying to figure out why deputies were chasing an SUV driven by Jeremy’s father, Chris Few. Few was not armed and was not the subject of any arrest warrant.

When the chase ended, the two deputies — Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23 — fired at least 18 bullets into Few’s SUV, police said. Five shots hit Jeremy, a first-grader strapped into the front seat beside his father. Few was critically injured; his attorney told reporters he was recently released from the hospital.

Two police officers who work for the mayor arrived during the shooting; one of them was wearing a body camera. The footage “is one of the most disturbing videos I’ve ever seen,” said State Police Col. Mike Edmonson.

“It troubled me as a police officer and as a father. There’s no reason that boy deserved to die like that,” Edmonson said. Few’s attorney told reporters the video shows the father with his hands in the air as the deputies open fire.

Stafford and Greenhouse have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. A judge overseeing the case has issued a gag order, prohibiting those involved and potential witnesses from talking to reporters.

Since then, information about the case and Marksville more generally has slowed to a trickle, with folks in town refusing to talk openly about almost anything. In private interviews, however, many blamed the long-running feud for Jeremy’s death. It may not have directly caused the shooting, they say, but it created the bizarre circumstances that made it possible.
Marksville City Marshal Norris Greenhouse Jr. (AP/Louisiana State Police/AP)

With a population of 5,500 and a median income of $26,700, Marksville is small, rural and relatively poor. Like most towns in Louisiana, it has a local marshal, an elected position with no police training or experience required.

The marshal’s job is to serve court papers: subpoenas, warrants, notices of nonpayment. For years in Marksville, the marshal has been a local bus driver, Floyd Voinche Sr., who carried out his duties with one full-time employee and one part-timer, according to a statewide marshals directory.

But sometime in the past two months, that changed.

Mayor John Lemoine told reporters that Voinche’s office bought two used police cruisers, hired several part-time deputies and started patrolling the streets and issuing tickets like regular city police. In a September letter to Louisiana’s attorney general, Lemoine asked whether the marshal’s sudden expansion of duties was legal.

Voinche has refused to explain his actions, issuing a terse statement citing a Louisiana law that empowers deputy marshals “in making arrests and preserving the peace.”

“The statute gives us the same authority as a sheriff,” said Joey Alcede, a marshal in Lake Charles and an official with the state marshal association. Having marshals take on the duties of city police is highly unusual, however, Alcede said.

According to several current and former city officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of violating the gag order, Marksville’s marshal began issuing traffic tickets to generate money for the city court. The court’s funding has been the focus of a furious battle between the mayor and City Judge Angelo Piazza III since last year.

“No one really took it seriously, until recently. It was like watching two bullies fighting,” said one resident who has known both men for decades.

Piazza, 57, has reigned over the Marksville city court for more than two decades. A Civil War buff known for hauling authentic cannons to reenactments, Piazza sued the city in 1997 over funding. When Lemoine, 63, a mechanic and auto parts shop owner, was elected mayor in 2010, he announced plans to tighten up Marksville’s budget, and war fully bloomed.

“Lemoine put a microscope on City Court,” Piazza told the local paper, the Avoyelles Journal, last year. Piazza said the scrutiny added new costs and bureaucracy, even as Marksville police started issuing fewer tickets, dramatically reducing his court’s income.

Then this summer, Lemoine sharply cut the court’s budget — including the judge’s salary. Piazza filed suit. Piazza declined to comment for this story. Lemoine and Voinche did not return repeated calls for comment.

The feud polarized the town’s law enforcement community. “You have officers siding with the judge and marshal, and others with the mayor,” said one longtime elected official.

At one point, the mayor was arrested after an argument with police. One of the arresting officers was Stafford, and afterward the mayor tried to get a civil service oversight board to investigate him.

Both Stafford and Greenhouse were moonlighting as deputy marshals when they opened fire on Nov. 3. Stafford was a Marksville police officer; Greenhouse is a reserve Marksville officer and deputy marshal in neighboring Alexandria. It is unclear when or how they joined Marksville’s newly expanded marshal service. Many have questioned Stafford’s hiring in particular.

“This is a guy I think a lot of us would have trouble hiring,” said a law enforcement chief in a neighboring jurisdiction.

Stafford has been charged twice with aggravated rape in nearby Rapides Parish. According to the indictment, one 15-year-old victim said Stafford committed rape on the victim’s birthday in 2004. In a separate incident, a second victim said Stafford committed rape in 2011.

In 2012, the charges were inexplicably dropped. In court documents, the attorney listed as representing Stafford is Piazza, the same judge he now works under as a marshal deputy.

Monique Metoyer, who prosecuted the rape case, declined to explain why the charges were dropped. But she confirmed that Marksville’s judge served as Stafford’s lawyer.

Stafford has also been accused in civil court of using excessive force; at least five lawsuits are currently pending against him. The accusations include throwing an already handcuffed woman into a back seat and using a stun gun on her, breaking the arm of a 15-year-old girl, and arresting a man in retribution for filing a formal complaint against Stafford for yelling at his family.

Greenhouse has been accused alongside Stafford in two excessive force cases. And in an example of the messy overlap common in small town government, Greenhouse’s father works for the local district attorney, who had to recuse himself from prosecuting Stafford and Greenhouse in the shooting.

Greenhouse also appears to have a personal connection to Few and his girlfriend, Megan Dixon. Dixon told the local Advocate newspaper that she went to high school with Greenhouse and that he had recently messaged her on Facebook and stopped by the house where she lived with Few.

“I told Chris, and Chris confronted him about it and told him, ‘Next time you come to my house, I’m going to hurt you,’ ” Dixon said.

With the gag order in place, it is unclear when authorities will release additional information about the shooting, including the body camera footage. No trial date has been set. Equally unclear is what happens to the newly expanded marshal service.

Meanwhile, the family of Jeremy Mardis held a private funeral for the first-grader last week in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss. Under a chilly gray sky, the family placed his small coffin inside a hearse and headed to nearby Beaumont cemetery to bury him.