Airman 'mystified by verdict' clearing deputy

[Sequoia]

Senior Airman Elio Carrion said he used to be "pro-cop," but all that has changed since he was shot three times by a sheriff’s deputy, who was cleared by a jury of wrongdoing in the highly publicized case.

In his first public statement since the June 28 verdict, Carrion admitted to TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira that he did do some things wrong on the January 2006 night when former San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff Ivory Webb shot Carrion as he was attempting to obey the officer’s order to stand up.

Carrion had been a passenger in a Corvette driven by a friend who had crashed after leading Webb on a 100 m.p.h. chase through residential neighborhoods in the town of Chino, California. A video shot by a witness shows the officer and Carrion, who is on the ground outside the car, cursing at each other. The officer orders Carrion to stand, and as he is complying, Webb shoots him three times.

"Yes," Carrion replied when Vieira asked "Do you think you did anything wrong that night?" "When I used profanity against him, that was wrong." But, he continued, "When he approached us, he was out of control using profanity a lot, saying the F-word a lot, like, ‘You, shut the F up.’ I was trying to calm him down because he seemed out of control."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19867423/

[lynnertic]

1. I'm glad Carrion survived being shot by a policeman while he was complying with an order.

I really wonder what was going on in the minds of the jury. But then I'm like so many other Americans, ready and eager so sit in judgment of my fellows when I have only 1 or two facts from the case.

Chino isn't a high-crime area. Wikipedia sez: "According to the 2004 FBI UCR, the city had about 3.6 violent crimes per 1,000 population, which is typical for an American suburb, and its property crime was actually below average."