No Charges For Cop Who Shot and Killed Unarmed 89-Year-Old Woman

[SeanTX]

It's a long story, too much to post here. Long story short, a man has a fight with his girlfriend, the police come to take his guns from him (questionable right there), he opens fire on the police, and during the standoff the old woman in another apartment opens her door and a cop blasts her with a rifle. The cop executed the wrong person, so now the guy who started the standoff is charged with her murder.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/crime/da-warminster-officer-accidentally-shot--year-old-during-standoff/article_2e02c0de-13d0-54ef-88d7-e00c66713ba5.html


DA: Warminster officer accidentally shot 89-year-old during standoff


Posted: Friday, March 8, 2013 6:00 am

By Matt Coughlin Staff Writer


Andrew G. Cairns didn’t let police take guns from his Warminster apartment after an altercation with his girlfriend, and hours later, as he allegedly fired 19 shots at police, his neighbor was killed.

Now, he’s charged with first-degree murder, even though the fatal shot came from a Warminster police officer’s rifle, District Attorney David Heckler said Thursday during a late afternoon press conference in Doylestown.

Heckler said that due to the legal doctrine of “transferred intent,” Cairns is “responsible for Ms. Zienkewicz’s death for his intentional acts to harm the police.”

The officer, who wasn’t identified, was exonerated for any wrongdoing in the accidental shooting of 89-year-old Marie Zienkewicz on Feb. 19, Heckler said. He didn’t act recklessly or maliciously, he added. In fact, he was trying to keep Cairns from hurting anyone, the DA said.

The officer thought Zienkewicz was Cairns when she opened a door, Heckler said. Her apartment was just below Cairns’, and their front doors were side by side.


SNIP

[tod evans]

Why his refusal to submit obviously caused his neighbor to be shot...

Why would you want to spin the official "Just-Us" version into something demeaning to the brave and benevolent officer?

Poor old woman!

Poor old womans family!

[Bruno]

"He didn’t act recklessly or maliciously, he added. In fact, he was trying to keep Cairns from hurting anyone, the DA said."

Apparently the best way to do that is for the police to kill the innocent bystanders before they can get injured by the bad guy.

[The Goat]

Another day in America.

[phill4paul]

They should have just sent a drone and hell fired the building and pinned any collateral damage on Cairns. "Transferred intent", indeed.

[tod evans]

They should have just sent a drone and hell fired the building and pinned any collateral damage on Cairns. "Transferred intent", indeed.

Assurance of the all important "officer safety"...

[acptulsa]

"He didn’t act recklessly or maliciously, he added. In fact, he was trying to keep Cairns from hurting anyone, the DA said."

Apparently the best way to do that is for the police to kill the innocent bystanders before they can get injured by the bad guy.

Well, it is crude, but you have to admit it's effective! And best of all, it allows the D.A. to run around during the next election cycle bragging to all the voters about how many murder convictions his office has gotten.


They should have just sent a drone and hell fired the building and pinned any collateral damage on Cairns. "Transferred intent", indeed.

Now, here's a more sophisticated approach. By killing everyone in his building and pinning all those murders on him, they get to claim to have taken down a mass murderer, and they can probably get extra funding from Washington for killing a terrorist. And best of all, if the police have a whistleblower in their ranks, all they have to do is 'forget' to tell him to pull back from the building. It's a win-win-win.

[Origanalist]

Look what you made me do. I had to kill your 89 year old neighbor lady, you murderer.

[SeanTX]

They should have just sent a drone and hell fired the building and pinned any collateral damage on Cairns. "Transferred intent", indeed.

I do remember at least one case in the past couple of years where they burned down an entire apartment complex in order to take out an alleged "cop killer." No waiting the guy out, they just evacuated the other apartments and sent in the "burners." Any amount of collateral damage is acceptable in the pursuit of "officer safety."

[acptulsa]

Look what you made me do. I had to kill your 89 year old neighbor lady, you murderer.


The cycle begins with the abuse, followed by the guilt stage, but the abusers do not show remorse for their actions. Instead, the apology is designed so the abusers do not have any consequences for their behavior. The next part of the cycle is rationalization, in which the abusers blame the victims for the abusive behavior.

http://suite101.com/article/how-abusers-justify-their-behaviors-a217150

[UWDude]

They should have just sent a drone and hell fired the building and pinned any collateral damage on Cairns. "Transferred intent", indeed.

The US uses this propaganda trick all the time when tallying civilian deaths caused by terrorists.

[belian78]

He must have been practicing with the 'no hesitation' targets at the range.

[jmdrake]

That's just awful! I hope the family at least successfully sues the city.

[phill4paul]

Cops seem to have a problem identifying threats. 89 year old woman /= 49 year old man. Two women in a pick-up of different make and model /= black man in specific make and model pick up. This shit is out of hand.

[bolil]

I have it from some bacon that this cop had this ladies best interests in mind. All he did was deny her a slow and painful death.

[coastie]

He must have been practicing with the 'no hesitation' targets at the range.

The "unarmed" editions.

[aGameOfThrones]

I want the confessions of a cop member to comment on this.

[PaulConventionWV]

It's a long story, too much to post here. Long story short, a man has a fight with his girlfriend, the police come to take his guns from him (questionable right there), he opens fire on the police, and during the standoff the old woman in another apartment opens her door and a cop blasts her with a rifle. The cop executed the wrong person, so now the guy who started the standoff is charged with her murder.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/crime/da-warminster-officer-accidentally-shot--year-old-during-standoff/article_2e02c0de-13d0-54ef-88d7-e00c66713ba5.html


SNIP

No more hesitation!

[PaulConventionWV]

I do remember at least one case in the past couple of years where they burned down an entire apartment complex in order to take out an alleged "cop killer." No waiting the guy out, they just evacuated the other apartments and sent in the "burners." Any amount of collateral damage is acceptable in the pursuit of "officer safety."

That's even worse than burning down the cabin that supposedly contained Dorner. Don't even look for the guy, much less hold a trial. Just burn down someone's apartment complex and destroy all the tenants' stuff. I wonder how the landlord felt about that!

[presence]

http://images.firstcovers.com/covers/flash/t/thin_blue_line-977514.jpg

[SeanTX]

If I'm reading the reports right it sounds like she was shot at around 8pm, but they didn't find her dead body until after 10 pm. If so, who knows how long she was lying there in agony while bleeding out.

This seems to be the new SOP for police, to let victims of their gunshots bleed out (in other cases they have turned paramedics away from treating their victims, saying they can't allow them in because the scene is not "secure"). Dead men (and old ladies) tell no tales.