AZ - Unarmed man shot dead by cop for non-compliance

[heavenlyboy34]

@Anti Federalist especially Check it out-Not even neocon rag National Review is defending the cops on this one:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...-daniel-shaver
If you have the stomach for it, I want you to watch one of the most outrageous and infuriating videos I’ve ever seen. It shows the police shooting of Daniel Shaver in Mesa, Arizona. He was crawling on his hands and knees, crying, and begging police not to shoot him. An officer shot him anyway: The background is simple. Shaver was a traveling pest control worker. He was in his hotel room (a La Quinta Inn) showing off to guests a pellet gun he used for work. Police responded to a 911 call claiming that a man was pointing a rifle out a window. When police arrived, Shaver was alone with a woman. They had been drinking. The police ordered them out of the room, and they came out, raised their hands, and got on their knees. So far, thing seem routine. Police responded to a call from a concerned bystander, they were concerned that the suspect may have a gun, so they demanded to clearly see Shaver’s hands. That’s entirely fair and appropriate. Then, however, things got strange — very strange — rather than asking Shaver and his friend to keep their hands visible while police (who, at this point, had guns pointing straight at both of them) approached and applied handcuffs, they ask them to crawl towards police in a highly-specific way. The Washington Post’s account is decent, but you have to watch the video truly grasp the strangeness of the requests: Langley tells Shaver to keep his legs crossed and push himself up into a kneeling position.

As Shaver pushes himself up, his legs come uncrossed, prompting the officer to scream at him. “I’m sorry,” Shaver says, placing his hands near his waist, prompting another round of screaming. “You do that again, we’re shooting you, do you understand?” Langley yells. “Please do not shoot me,” Shaver begs, his hands up straight in the air. At the officer’s command, Shaver then crawls down the hallway, sobbing. At one point, he reaches back — possibly to pull up his shorts — and Brailsford opens fire, striking Shaver five times. In fact, the Post actually sugarcoats the encounter. At one point an officer tells him “do not put your hands down for any reason,” even saying, “If you think you’re going to fall, you better fall on your face.” Then he says, “Crawl towards me.” How he can crawl without putting his hands down, I don’t know. As the sobbing man crawls, he reaches back towards his pants (perhaps to pull them up) and is immediately shot dead. He had no weapon. He had done nothing wrong. And now he’s dead. Essentially, what the police told an innocent, law-abiding, intoxicated American was this: Follow my highly-specific, very strange instructions or die. There was no need to make him crawl. The police were in command of the situation. At no point is there a visible weapon. I have seen soldiers deal with al Qaeda terrorists with more professionalism and poise. When a man is prone, his hands are visible, and your gun is trained upon him, he is in your power. At trial, the officer testified that he though the suspect was reaching for his gun, and that if he had a chance to do things over, he’d make the same decision again. In other words, he presented the classic defense. He was afraid, so he fired.

I’ve written about this before. Juries time and again acquit frightened cops, regardless of whether the cop botched the situation or whether his fear was objectively reasonable. I wrote this after the Philando Castile verdict: Legally, it’s not enough for an officer to show that he was actually afraid for his life. He has to show that “a reasonably prudent person” would also have the same fear. Clever defense lawyers twist this standard into a line of argument that goes something like this: The officer was afraid, and he can explain to you the reasons why he was afraid. Therefore, it was reasonable that he was afraid. But real fear isn’t always reasonable fear. That’s especially true when the police — through their own incompetence — create their own fear. Philando Castile was shot even as he followed his killer’s instructions. Shaver died trying his best to comply with a highly unusual, complicated set of commands while under extreme duress.

Scared cops still need to be competent cops, and members of the public shouldn’t face death because a police officer can’t keep his emotions in check. Finally, I know that police have a dangerous job, but they’re not at war. As I noted above, it’s infuriating to see civilian police exercise less discipline than I’ve seen from soldiers in infinitely more dangerous situations. Not one of the men I deployed with would have handled a terrorist detention the way these officers treated American citizens. Arizona law defines second-degree murder as killing a person without premeditation “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, the person recklessly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death and thereby causes the death of another person.” In this instance, the charge fit the crime. The jury’s verdict was a gross miscarriage of justice. My heart breaks for Daniel Shaver’s family. May God have mercy on his soul.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...-daniel-shaver

[timosman]

This is what puzzled me about this incident:

How he can crawl without putting his hands down, I don’t know.

The LEO's communication skills are definitely subpar, despite what he claimed on his job application. His inability to express himself clearly cost another man's life. The crazy thing is the woman who was with the victim didn't have a problem obeying this unusual request, which probably gave the LEO a confidence boost about his peculiar request and justified, in his mind, the shooting.

[Anti Federalist]

I am not that naive my friend. I said I didn't think that would happen and someone would get away with it. My mother told me from my earliest age that following orders is not an excuse to do evil. I've always been aware that men with uniforms and badges under lawful missions from government, by far, committed the worst atrocities.

My naivety was mostly my trust in my fellow countrymen. I was in 7th grade in the year 1984. People said proudly Orwell's vision would never occur because we'd rise up. People who suggested papers/ID checkpoints and the like were in our future were called kooks, because we would stand up to tyranny. I believed that. I even naively joined the Marines at 18 years of age to defend my country's freedom.

Now a lot of what the kooks predicted is here and very few even bats an eye. When people "thank" me for my "service." I tell them I wasted that time of my life. The only people rising up are those offended at someone with the audacity to assume that someone with a penis is a "he."

That man's death is not a wake up call, it is rather a promise of what is to come if people stay asleep. That ending of crying on his knees, begging for his life as he complies and pulls up his pants is not a tragedy, it is simply a statistic in Soviet Amerika.

I cannot rep that enough, and I'm outta ammo.

Little help please?

[Anti Federalist]

From HB's story:

Finally, I know that police have a dangerous job, but they’re not at war. As I noted above, it’s infuriating to see civilian police exercise less discipline than I’ve seen from soldiers in infinitely more dangerous situations. Not one of the men I deployed with would have handled a terrorist detention the way these officers treated American citizens.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...-daniel-shaver

No, they do not.

Statistically, being a cop is not even in the top ten of dangerous professions.

So, this $#@! skates, but you bet your ass, the city and the ever suffering taxpayers that have to support and get accosted and mulcted daily by the professional mercenary class of $#@! cops all around us, will pay through the $#@!ing nose on this one.

I see a seven figure settlement.

If I had my way, it would be a multi billion dollar settlement, to be paid by an immediate catastrophic raising of residential property taxes.

Maybe that will snap some Idiot AmeriKunts out of their slumber.

[Anti Federalist]

Arizona “hero” Acquitted of What Was Obviously Murder

https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2017...iously-murder/

By eric - December 9, 2017

About a year ago, 26-year-old Daniel Shaver was staying at a La Quinta hotel in Mesa, Arizona while working his job in pest control. He would himself be exterminated by two-legged vermin – in the form of trigger-happy cop Philip “Mitch” Brailsford.

Shaver – a regular guy with no criminal record – was apparently showing a woman he’d met earlier a pellet gun in his hotel room. There were no gunshots. No one had been threatened by Shaver.

He was not yelling or acting violently.

An “anonymous call” led to a body-armored thug scrum descending upon the La Quinta Inn, including AR-15 wielding Brailsford.

Without making any effort to ascertain whether Shaver was actually armed – let alone dangerous – the “heroes” scream orders at the clearly terrified man and his female companion as they walk out of their room, unaware of the presence of “heroes” with actual guns – AR-15 assault rifles – waiting for them in the hallway.

Both can be seen on the video – released after Brailsford’s acquittal – cringing in terror and immediately complying with the Shutzstaffel-style orders being screamed at them. But when Shaver – who was lying prone on the floor with his legs crossed and trying to get up in his knees as ordered by the “hero” – inadvertently fumbles behind him, he is summarily executed by Brailsford – who pumped five shots into him at near point-blank range out of an abundance of caution and fear for his safety.

Keep in mind that Shaver was on the ground and had been obeying every barked order – was in fact as supine as a piece of water-logged pasta – and had been begging the “heroes” not to shoot.

It was not enough to prevent his murder by Bailsford – whose AR-15 was inscribed with “You’re $#@!ed” on it – and insufficient to convict this murderer of even a misdemeanor parking infraction.

“If you move, we are going to consider that a threat,” the “heroes” state, as they draw down on the prone and clearly helpless and terrified man.

That’s all it takes to get snuffed by a “hero” in America these days.

Not to be an actual threat – but to be “considered” one, in the judgment of a “hero” looking for an excuse to kill someone.

Shaver is in the ground – but Brailsford is free to go. He will probably “serving” as a “hero” again.

Perhaps in your town.

[Anti Federalist]

Wonder how many kneeling foozballers know who Daniel Shaver is?

Or, that people that look like him are shot by cops more often than blacks?

[CCTelander]

Arizona “hero” Acquitted of What Was Obviously Murder

https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2017...iously-murder/

By eric - December 9, 2017

About a year ago, 26-year-old Daniel Shaver was staying at a La Quinta hotel in Mesa, Arizona while working his job in pest control. He would himself be exterminated by two-legged vermin – in the form of trigger-happy cop Philip “Mitch” Brailsford.

Shaver – a regular guy with no criminal record – was apparently showing a woman he’d met earlier a pellet gun in his hotel room. There were no gunshots. No one had been threatened by Shaver.

He was not yelling or acting violently.

An “anonymous call” led to a body-armored thug scrum descending upon the La Quinta Inn, including AR-15 wielding Brailsford.

Without making any effort to ascertain whether Shaver was actually armed – let alone dangerous – the “heroes” scream orders at the clearly terrified man and his female companion as they walk out of their room, unaware of the presence of “heroes” with actual guns – AR-15 assault rifles – waiting for them in the hallway.

Both can be seen on the video – released after Brailsford’s acquittal – cringing in terror and immediately complying with the Shutzstaffel-style orders being screamed at them. But when Shaver – who was lying prone on the floor with his legs crossed and trying to get up in his knees as ordered by the “hero” – inadvertently fumbles behind him, he is summarily executed by Brailsford – who pumped five shots into him at near point-blank range out of an abundance of caution and fear for his safety.

Keep in mind that Shaver was on the ground and had been obeying every barked order – was in fact as supine as a piece of water-logged pasta – and had been begging the “heroes” not to shoot.

It was not enough to prevent his murder by Bailsford – whose AR-15 was inscribed with “You’re $#@!ed” on it – and insufficient to convict this murderer of even a misdemeanor parking infraction.

“If you move, we are going to consider that a threat,” the “heroes” state, as they draw down on the prone and clearly helpless and terrified man.

That’s all it takes to get snuffed by a “hero” in America these days.

Not to be an actual threat – but to be “considered” one, in the judgment of a “hero” looking for an excuse to kill someone.

Shaver is in the ground – but Brailsford is free to go. He will probably “serving” as a “hero” again.

Perhaps in your town.

Feeling nice and safe now, Amerika? I thought so.

[Anti Federalist]

Feeling nice and safe now, Amerika? I thought so.

They'll get their daily dose of pro-cop propaganda from the government media organs tonight, and all will be well.

That is one of the fundamental things that has changed.

Years ago, cops were often portrayed as boobs, flatfoots, bumbling "civil servants" or corrupt maniacs.

Then came Jack Webb on radio and later in television and all that changed.

His, self admitted, pro cop entertainment shows like Dragnet or Adam-12 set the stage for the hundreds of pro state enforcer propaganda shows that have followed, and tainted Idiot AmeriKa's thinking so badly, they won't won't even convict a "hero" under gross circumstances such as this.

[Anti Federalist]

Feeling nice and safe now, Amerika? I thought so.

They'll get their daily dose of pro-cop propaganda from the government media organs tonight, and all will be well.

That is one of the fundamental things that has changed.

Years ago, cops were often portrayed as boobs, flatfoots, bumbling "civil servants" or corrupt maniacs.

Then came Jack Webb on radio and later in television and all that changed.

His, self admitted, pro cop entertainment shows like Dragnet or Adam-12 set the stage for the hundreds of pro state enforcer propaganda shows that have followed, and tainted Idiot AmeriKa's thinking so badly, they won't won't even convict a "hero" under gross circumstances such as this.

[Occam's Banana]

I am not that naive my friend. I said I didn't think that would happen and someone would get away with it. My mother told me from my earliest age that following orders is not an excuse to do evil. I've always been aware that men with uniforms and badges under lawful missions from government, by far, committed the worst atrocities.

My naivety was mostly my trust in my fellow countrymen. I was in 7th grade in the year 1984. People said proudly Orwell's vision would never occur because we'd rise up. People who suggested papers/ID checkpoints and the like were in our future were called kooks, because we would stand up to tyranny. I believed that. I even naively joined the Marines at 18 years of age to defend my country's freedom.

Now a lot of what the kooks predicted is here and very few even bats an eye. When people "thank" me for my "service." I tell them I wasted that time of my life. The only people rising up are those offended at someone with the audacity to assume that someone with a penis is a "he."

That man's death is not a wake up call, it is rather a promise of what is to come if people stay asleep. That ending of crying on his knees, begging for his life as he complies and pulls up his pants is not a tragedy, it is simply a statistic in Soviet Amerika.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to RJB again.

[Occam's Banana]

Not true. Many cops back then had no guns, just big dudes with a billy club. Even Bonnie and Clyde shot a cop pulling them over. Or at least not drawing on them. And other gangsters of that era shooting police.

It is true. It isn't about whether cops had guns "back then" or not. It's about the fact that, ever since the inception of "modern" police forces in the 19th century, cops have been the specially privileged enforcers of the state's statutory malum prohibitum rules (and only incidentally the apprehenders of malum in se offenders such as Bonnie & Clyde). That is what they do. That is what they are for. That is why they exist.

Human nature has not changed. "The job" has just as powerful an attraction to the same kinds of people today as it did "back then" - sociopaths, sadists and others who get off on aggressively exercising authority over others with little or no accountability for their actions. Things like "nickel rides" or murderous "jailhouse" neglect and abuse (or the "code of silence" among "brothers in blue" that routinely attends the lack of exposure of such brutalities) are not of recent vintage - and it does not take guns to do what was done to people like Kelly Thomas or Eric Garner, either now or "back then."

What is relatively new is the paramilitarization of police. But this did not create any of the aforementioned problems or the almost total lack of accountability for them. Those problems already existed, from the very start. (It is in the essential nature of the beast.) The paramilitarization of police has only served to exacerbate them, while the ubiquity of video (and the ease of disseminating video via the Internet) has made them much more difficult for the authorities (and their lapdogs in the media) to excuse or conceal. (The italicized bits here are the point of my original post.)

[SeanTX]

This is what puzzled me about this incident:

The LEO's communication skills are definitely subpar, despite what he claimed on his job application.

I don't know if anyone else pointed it out, but apparently it was not the shooter giving the impossible commands, it was another officer, a Sgt. Charles Langley. So there are two who should be in prison for this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreak..._who_murdered/

A very important distinction. The cop who murdered Daniel Shaver was not the guy screaming insane orders. That was Sgt. Charles Langley, who’s psychotic escalation of the situation is even more to blame for Shaver’s death. He promptly retired 4 months later and left the country

[ChristianAnarchist]

If I am ever in a situation like this I hope I remember what happened here. If I do remember it I think I will lay face down hands outstretched and simply scream that I am unable to move. I'm frozen with fear or have a paralysis attack or something. That would force the goons to do what they are supposed to do and that is cuff me so they wont have to kill me because my prone body causes them to "fear for their life"...

But who can even think straight in a situation like that anyway??

[charrob]

Black Lives Matter Supporters Call Attention to Graphic Video of Arizona Shooting


"Consider that Shaver might well be alive if only the Mesa police department had long ago adopted reforms of the sort that Black Lives Matter suggests."

Black Lives Matter activists were among those who used social media on Friday and Saturday to call attention to the case of Daniel Shaver, a 26-year-old man who was shot to death by a police officer in Mesa, Arizona in January 2016.

A disturbing, graphic video of the shooting was released shortly after the officer who killed Shaver, who was white, was acquitted of second-degree murder.

The video shows Shaver following the officer's instructions to crawl toward him and begging him not to shoot.

The officer had come to Shaver's hotel room after another guest reported that Shaver was pointing a rifle out of his window; he was actually showing a pellet gun he owned to a friend.

Prominent Black Lives Matter supporters including Shaun King and DeRay McKesson, as well as others who have drawn attention to police killings of black Americans, posted on Twitter about the case:

The Brutal Police Execution of Daniel Shaver

Sadly I've studied 100s of videos of American police executing non-violent, unarmed people. This is one of the worst I've ever witnessed.

This happened in January of 2016, but the judge just released the video.

A grave injustice. pic.twitter.com/O3UjLb3mZJ

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) December 8, 2017

#DanielShaver should be alive today.

— deray (@deray) December 8, 2017

There is no excuse for this pattern of police brutality--how many videos of unarmed people being gunned down by cops do we need to see before policies change? #DanielShaver and his family deserve justice. https://t.co/yneLzMcLqJ

— Rashad Robinson (@rashadrobinson) December 8, 2017

the American criminal justice system, as currently constructed, is not designed to indict or convict on-duty police officers who shoot and kill people -- no matter the circumstances of the shooting #DanielShaver https://t.co/DLjAdXePtP

— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) December 9, 2017

The Black Lives Matter movement has fought to bring attention to cases of unarmed African-Americans who have been killed by police officers, and to advocate for law enforcement reforms that would reduce police killings. Black men are nearly three times as likely to be killed by an officer than white men. In addition to drawing attention to this serious issue, the movement has argued that police reforms would keep all Americans safer from police violence.

Through their platform Campaign Zero, released in 2015, Black Lives Matter has urged comprehensive reforms including the establishment of disciplinary police commissions and civilian complaint offices, strengthening of use of force policies, and investment in rigorous and sustained training for police officers on engaging with the public.

At the Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf argued that the case of Daniel Shaver should serve as a rallying call for Americans who have previously viewed Black Lives Matter as divisive.

"If you're horrified by Daniel Shaver’s untimely death, yet against Black Lives Matter, consider that Shaver might well be alive if only the Mesa police department had long ago adopted reforms of the sort that Black Lives Matter suggests," he wrote.

Meanwhile, others on social media noted that groups which might be expected to jump to Daniel Shaver's defense—the NRA, which supports Arizona's open-carry laws that allowed Shaver to have a firearm and the "All Lives Matter" movement which ostensibly hopes to draw attention to the killings of white Americans—have been silent about Shaver's death.

The insanely heavy-handed police response to Daniel Shaver came after someone reported seeing him with a rifle. (it was a pellet gun).

Arizona is open carry, including for long guns.

So the NRA will denounce this verdict and demand better training for Mesa police, right?

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) December 8, 2017

#DanielShaver was killed in cold blood by a trigger happy cop.

His death was completely avoidable and should be protested. Plus, the cop was found not guilty. As usual.

But where are the #AllLivesMatter hashtags?

You don't actually care. You only use it as a rebuttal to #BLM pic.twitter.com/hSiJozT45m

— #BulletzGotBeatz (@100Bulletz) December 8, 2017

The fact that #AllLivesMatter is so stunning quiet about #DanielShaver tells you everything you already knew about what their agenda was in the first place.

— Black Wolverine (@WolveyJohnson) December 9, 2017

https://www.commondreams.org/news/20...izona-shooting

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See article for embedded links.

[Anti Federalist]

Good ^^^

[ChristianAnarchist]

Perhaps we can start a rallying point to bring together black and white on this anti-goon violence thing.

Sometimes I call talk radio and many years ago I told one host about my dream to bring together black power and the KKK so we could all fight our common enemy - the goonerment. Maybe that day has arrived.

[SeanTX]

This is right before 5 rounds were fired into him, you see his open and EMPTY hand coming back down after having been behind his back for an instant.

I read elsewhere that the shooter felt that he was crawling towards him to gain a "tactical advantage"

"follow orders and you won't get shot" , or so they say

I think it was AF a long time ago who said the best thing to do in a situation like this is to just lay down in the prone with arms spread out wide, while hoping for the best.

[charrob]

[Anti Federalist]

I think it was AF a long time ago who said the best thing to do in a situation like this is to just lay down in the prone with arms spread out wide, while hoping for the best.

Yah, that was me.

What else can you do, when a bunched of amped up $#@! cops with itchy trigger fingers are screaming confusing and contradicting orders at you?

[Brett85]

This is the worst one of these incidents I've ever seen. Absolutely outrageous. It's simply unbelievable how biased our judicial system is towards the police.

[pcosmar]

It's simply unbelievable how biased our judicial system is towards the police.

No.
It is not.

[navy-vet]

Did the cop(s) see any of them standing in the window with the tricked out pellet rifle when they arrived I wonder? That would have set the tone.
So, if I understand this, the cops objective was to secure the suspects in the hall and then enter a room and confront another suspect(s)?
A two and half year rookie punk ass that is itching for action... a dumb ass drunken exterminator....a recipe for disaster for sure.

[Anti Federalist]

How is the exterminator a dumb ass?

[GunnyFreedom]

For the first time ever, I am seeing cops, neocons, and statoloters on fedbook roundly condemning the shooter in this event. The 'justifiers' are barely meeping their excuses almost like they are ashamed to.

[GunnyFreedom]

Yah, that was me.

What else can you do, when a bunched of amped up $#@! cops with itchy trigger fingers are screaming confusing and contradicting orders at you?

Pretty much. I was just thinking while watching this video yesterday (I finally brought myself to watch it) that if I am ever in such a situation I will literally fall on my face spread-eagle and just freakin wait even if it takes days.

[Anti Federalist]

Pretty much. I was just thinking while watching this video yesterday (I finally brought myself to watch it) that if I am ever in such a situation I will literally fall on my face spread-eagle and just freakin wait even if it takes days.

Which will more than likely result in a beating for non-compliance, but it's better than being ventilated.

[buck000]

Which will more than likely result in a beating for non-compliance, but it's better than being ventilated.

But then you will instinctively curl up and pull your arms in to protect ribs, head, etc., and guess what: "I thought he was reaching for a weapon."

[dean.engelhardt]

Did the cop(s) see any of them standing in the window with the tricked out pellet rifle when they arrived I wonder? That would have set the tone.
So, if I understand this, the cops objective was to secure the suspects in the hall and then enter a room and confront another suspect(s)?
A two and half year rookie punk ass that is itching for action... a dumb ass drunken exterminator....a recipe for disaster for sure.

I don't have the answer to your question, but I moved to Mesa AZ in 1994 and lived there until 2001. When I was there, Mesa was open carry, so there is nothing illegal with having a rifle. Having moved from California, it took some getting used to see guys walking in the store with a handgun in their jean's pocket. It was not an issue at all.

The area is famous for dove and quail hunting. During dove and quail season the hotels are full of hunters. They all have shot guns. Most hotels in that area provide rags for gun cleaning so hunter don't soil the towels.

So back to your question, if the cops where responding to call that somebody had a rifle in a hotel room; I can't see why they would act like it was an active shooter situation. Matter of fact, I don't understand why they even responded to the call at all.

[PursuePeace]

Did the cop(s) see any of them standing in the window with the tricked out pellet rifle when they arrived I wonder? That would have set the tone.
So, if I understand this, the cops objective was to secure the suspects in the hall and then enter a room and confront another suspect(s)?
A two and half year rookie punk ass that is itching for action... a dumb ass drunken exterminator....a recipe for disaster for sure.

If you remove "a dumb ass drunken exterminator", then I would agree with your statement.

[fisharmor]

What is relatively new is the paramilitarization of police.

For those of you who think likewise, here's a thought I had very recently, and it sounds like you have too, OB.

These are two logically identical statements.

1) The problem with police is that they have military weaponry now. That's the reason why they are attacking people.

2) Individual citizens should not have military weaponry, because possessing that type of weapon makes one more likely to commit violence.


If someone claims to be pro-2A and agrees with statement #1, he's not making any sense.

If someone is so pro-2A that he recognizes that dirtbags are gonna dirtbag, then he can't claim that militarization of police is a problem in and of itself.