Ia City Cop Shoots Transient ‘in cold blood'

[Echo In Light]

Homeless man did not threaten deputy, 2 witnesses say

IOWA CITY — Two men who watched a Johnson County deputy shoot a homeless man to death Friday night tell a story that's sharply different from the account police have so far provided.

The 26-year-old homeless man was not wielding a knife and did not lunge at the deputy before the deputy fired, said Brock Brones and Mike Tibbetts, both of Iowa City.

In a statement, the Iowa City Police Department said, based on preliminary information: “The deputy confronted the knife-wielding transient. The transient ignored the deputy's repeated commands to drop the knife. Instead, the armed transient advanced threateningly ... and was shot by the deputy.”

“There was no knife, there was no lunging,” Tibbetts said. “I saw a cop shoot a guy in cold blood.”

Brones, 22, and Tibbetts, 40, who both work for a telecommunications company in Iowa City, got off work at 7 p.m. Friday and were going out to have a drink. As their vehicle was coming out of an alley, they saw the episode unfolding and turned off the car radio so they could hear what was going on.

Brones said the homeless man was wobbling, and, though he disobeyed the deputy, he never made a threatening move.

“It wasn't aggressive,” Brones said. “He was just drunk.”

Police have not identified either the deputy or the man he killed, saying it is because “this is an active investigation” and the dead man’s family hasn’t been notified.

http://gazetteonline.com/2009/07/26/homeless-man-did-not-threaten-deputy-2-witnesses-say/

[zonkers]

1. Being a witness in a situation like this, takes character.

[cyberswede]

2. oops - replied to wrong post

gah!

[cyberswede]

3. It wasn't an Iowa City cop - it was a county deputy

Splitting hairs, I know, but I bet you want to be accurate. :)

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Was this guy a transient or was he homeless?

There is a difference.

Maybe not to the county deputy that shot him, but most non-transient homeless are well known to city cops. Where I once lived there was a homeless guy, a vietnam vet, who lived under a local bridge and when he died the bridge was officially re-named for him. He was not a transient.

Homeless and transient are not synonymous.

[Robb]

12. Indeed. Interestingly

...I lived in a small town that very nearly did the same thing. In the end the bridge wasn't named at all.

But there was a proposal to name it for so-and-so, "Town's most famous pedestrian." (it was a pedestrian bridge) :)

[TexasObserver]

5. Recommend

[Hutzpa]

6. These are good cops

yup! They are....

:sarcasm:

[tj2001]

9. Outstanding police officers, who showed immense bravery

in slaughtering a wobbly toothless drunk

[Hutzpa]

10. Under severe fire fight

Now, if only we can find that bad cop, all should be well....:yoiks:

[Karenina]

7. . .

[lame54]

8. When is Obama gonna apologize

[Echo In Light]

11. Bump

[BalancedGoat]

13. No mention of the guy who was stabbed by the deceased?

[Blue Gardener]

14. Wasn't aggressive?

Are you kidding? He just stabbed a guy! So the deputy was supposed to let him finish the job?
I live and work in the Iowa City area, and I can tell you this situation was just waiting to happen. For whatever reason, the homeless/transient population has increased a great deal in the past few years, and many of them have become increasingly demanding and aggressive when asking for money. People are tired of being accosted every time they go downtown, sometimes repeatedly. Unless the Iowa City city council does something to address the situation, this incident, or something similar, could very well happen again.
Don't automatically assume the deputy is the one at fault. He may have saved the life of the man who was stabbed. Wait for the facts to come out before jumping to conclusions.
As a side note, the Johnson County sheriff is a democrat, and a very good man. I trust him to handle the situation very carefully and fairly.