PROTESTERS RALLY AGAINST POLICE SHOOTING OF MAN IN UTAH

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Dozens of protesters rallied Saturday afternoon outside the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building to denounce the fatal shooting of a man by police.

Speakers at the event, organized by the group Utah Against Police Brutality, said Thursday's shooting of James Barker, 42, by a Salt Lake City officer did not have to happen and called for an independent investigation into it.

"We believe that if the police take a life, they should not investigate themselves," the group said in a statement. "The shooting of James Barker is yet another case which should be handled by an impartial third-party with no departmental affiliations."

Police, in a statement, said the shooting would be investigated jointly by the department's homicide unit and Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office as well as by the department's internal affairs unit and a civilian review board.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_SHOOTING_UTAH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-10-19-45-10

[7962]

1. Well, if the guy was swinging a shovel at the cop, he's likely to get shot.

If the body camera was "damaged", was it caused by a strike from a shovel? The cop has fractures; he was obviously attacked by the man.

[Yo_Mama]

2. Multiple fractures.

Hard to do that to yourself. With four different entities in on the investigation, at least this is not going to be a whitewash. But it's hard to imagine anyone finding a cop culpable who shot after multiple broken bones.

[tblue37]

3. Body cam video--he swung that shovel hard at the cop:

http://www.kutv.com/news/features/local-news/stories/VIDEO-Police-release-body-camera-footage-from-deadly-Avenues-shooting-68064.shtml#.VLH9oFzuehM

[tblue37]

4. I am sick to death of cops beating and killing unarmed people who

are not even doing anything wrong--but this guy did attack the cop with the shovel.

[rhett o rick]

5. Thanks OS, I appreciate your efforts to keep us informed. nm

[cynzke]

6. Someone Reports.....

a suspicious person. Police are obligated to check them out. Barker explains what he is doing but the officer wants to see some i.d. It escalates from here with sketchy details of how things proceeded. Here we have a conflict between Barker's civil rights and the police officer's duty to verify Barker is harmless and is posing no threat to civilians. This seems to be a common pivoting point in many incidents that determine what will transpire next. The NYClU warns:

"IF YOU ARE STOPPED, QUESTIONED AND/OR FRISKED:

Police may stop and briefly detain you only if there is reasonable suspicion that you committed, are committing or are about to commit a crime.
You should ask if you are under arrest or free to leave.
In New York, you are not required to carry ID, and you don’t have to show ID to a police officer. If you are issued a summons or arrested, however, and you refuse to produce ID or tell officers who you are, the police may detain you until you can be positively identified.
Don’t bad-mouth a police officer or run away, even if you believe what is happening is unreasonable. That could lead to your arrest." http://www.nyclu.org/node/3249



There is a time and place to (aggressively) assert your civil rights and that is in court, not at the scene. You can verbally remind the police of your rights in order to set your legal standing. If they still arrest you, you have a solid case of false arrest. At this point, any resistance on your part works against you. You don't argue with the cops, you don't pull away, refuse to be handcuffed, etc.. You remain calm, let them do what they want, tell them who you are or show i.d.. If you feel your rights were violated in the process, you sue them in civil court later. At least you will still be alive to do so.

[Chemisse]

7. It's great that many agencies will participate in the investigation.

It's also great that this looks like it was justifiable. The victim was off his rocker to flip out and attack the cop.

I think the police everywhere are being a lot more careful now - post Ferguson. And that is a good thing.