Unarmed Man Shot by Deputies Inside His Own Car Outside His Own Home

[TGIRecovered]

This man was not armed. He was also not doing anything wrong. He was looking for cigarettes in his own property. How police shooting him is them doing their job properly is beyond my understanding.

Yeah, and that's why he got shot, right? Stupid cops with nothing better go do than cruise the neighborhood looking for
a guy doing nothing wrong so they could shoot him. Oh, and they must have some inside info that he had no gun.

No, they were responding to the report of a crime and found the guy we're thee caller said he was. Normal people get out and stand still when the cops tell them to. Being that so many hostile people would take the first opportunity to assault the cop or a bystander or grab a knife or run, they have to handcuff a person then talk to them. That's the only way to straighten out the situation- talk reasonably, identify yourself correctly, tell the cop where the ID is. If its in the house, fine, wait right here and someone can get it for you.

This cop couldn't do that because the fool chose to act like a criminal, refuses to cooperate, and lunged at the cop. Since he did not allow himself to be questioned or searched, cops have to assume that he could have a knife or a gun or the ability to grab a cop by the head and pound him or her to the ground while the neighborhood egged him on. After all, cops are the ones looking for trouble, right?

If there is no understanding of the facts or consideration of personal responsibility for the behavior which led to this man getting himself shot, cops will continue to get a bad rap for doing a good job.

Cops don't shoot to be mean, they shoot to go home in one piece and hopefully alive. They don't tell you to stand a certain way just for fun, they do it because they can't be sure you are not armed or wanting to fight unless they search you, see that you are not in a rage or hopped up on drugs and that you are ready to talk calmly not throw a fit and do something stupid. People who don't make themselves a threat don't get shot. Easy peasy !


MOO

 

[cityslick]

It seems now that with the way these articles sensationalize these stories, the narrative is unarmed = can't possibly be doing anything wrong. If a cop tells you to freeze and put your hands up and you ignore that and keep walking toward the cop, guess what's going to happen? I guarantee you it isn't going to matter if your armed or not.

 

[Melanie]

<modsnip>

What about the police lights? Did the officers have on their red/blue lights when they arrived. That would surely get MY attention regardless of how low I was in my car. They would be hard to miss at 3 AM.

Something sounds off about this shooting, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

MOO

Mel

 

[Donjeta]

Dispatch: He still has not noticed you?

Caller: No&#8230; This is crazy. I&#8217;m standing out here in the middle of the yard talking on the phone, and he&#8217;s hardly even noticed me.


...

It seems like that might have been a clue that the person in the car might not have been trying to steal it after all.

IDK, I've never stolen a car but I think if I was about to I would pay more attention to people standing about nearby talking on the phone than if I'm just minding my own business in my own car doing nothing wrong.

How did the caller know that the neighbors are asleep if he didn't even know what they look like?

 

[FigTree]

The transcript of the 911 call is interesting. Very detailed.
This is just an excerpt:


Dispatch: You said you heard him trying to crank it up?

Caller: Uh, yes… He keeps ducking down underneath the dashboard, trying to reach for something.

Dispatch: O.K., and you’ve never seen him before, right?

Caller: No.
http://www.pnj.com/article/20130729...script-burglary-call-before-man-shot-his-yard

It wasn't this woman was it

.

 

[keeponsearching]

Were the police lights on? He could of been totally distracted and when someone speaks it might of made him act quick. Did they yell police first. I think that should be the first thing out of an officers mouth. Anyways glad he was just shot in the leg.

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

So....the person calling the cops, thinking wow he should hear me, wasn't afraid of the gentleman (cause if the caller was, wouldn't it stand to reason the caller would not have stayed there and continued to talk), but the armed policemen were so afraid they had to shoot 17 rounds? Lol wow. Poor guy. 17 rounds...and if I recall, 1 hit? All of this is worrisome to me. Good thing the other bullets didn't go through someone's bedroom window.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[mysteriew]

All I know is if you live in Fla. and don't like your neighbor, try to catch him outside after dark and call the local neighborhood watch or local LE. You just might get a new neighbor.

 

[Donjeta]

I am sure that most smokers would definitely go out to rifle around in the car for a cigarette at 3 am if they wanted one and couldn't find any in the house. When I smoked I did this many times! You never know where a cigarette might have rolled to: under the seat, between the seat and seat back, between the seat and the console, in the back of the glove compartment . . .
I certainly would have thought it was a neighbor's joke if someone yelled, "Police!" Why would you think you were seriously being a police suspect? Innocent minds don't go there immediately. I probably would have thought, 'Yikes! There must be a criminal around here. I'd better stay in the car.'
Both common sense and constitutional rights weigh on the side of LE's innocent victim here. And "funny" how almost anyone hearing this story immediately thinks, 'That guy must have been black,' knowing that LE is going to profile him as a criminal. Also funny how some hearing that he is black think, 'That guy must have been on drugs.'

And even if he was on drugs, so what? Can LE just shoot everybody who is on drugs?

Try to, anyway... so many bullets and one of them hit him? I'm happy that he is alive but trigger happy LE who are additionally bad shots are going to get themselves shot one day if the perp they're shooting at is armed and doesn't miss.

 

[STEADFAST]

And even if he was on drugs, so what? Can LE just shoot everybody who is on drugs?

Try to, anyway... so many bullets and one of them hit him? I'm happy that he is alive but trigger happy LE who are additionally bad shots are going to get themselves shot one day if the perp they're shooting at is armed and doesn't miss.

Maybe LE was on drugs!

 

[Sonya610]

Were the police lights on? He could of been totally distracted and when someone speaks it might of made him act quick. Did they yell police first. I think that should be the first thing out of an officers mouth. Anyways glad he was just shot in the leg.

The man said HE THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE when the police told him to show his hands.

The fact he said that proves to me he WAS aware that someone was there and he heard the orders.

 

[Donjeta]

The man said HE THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE when the police told him to show his hands.

The fact he said that proves to me he WAS aware that someone was there and he heard the orders.

But was he aware that it was the police? Anyone can shout orders. I might have thought it was somebody about to carjack me.

 

[mysteriew]

A few years ago my DD was living in an apt complex. One night they had several cars broke into. A couple nights later I spent the night. Now many of you may have noticed I am up a lot at night. Stupidly that night I ran out to my car to get something. In the middle of the night. Everyone was asleep at the complex. The lot was empty of people (yes I looked). While getting something out of my car, I heard someone say something. Honestly didn't hear what was said. I brilliantly said "huh" and jumped out of the car (lunged?.)

LOL there was a cop standing there. (This sounds familiar right?) Cop asked me if I lived there, told him I was visiting. (He was resting his hand on the butt of his gun) He asked where I was visiting and I told him. He didn't yell at any time. But he made his presence known, he was prepared in case he didn't like what I told him or in case I made sudden moves.

But he didn't shoot!

I was reassured that they were patrolling the complex. (And I actually thought it was pretty funny.) Yes I answered his questions. But only after I realized who he was. But him walking up on me at that time of night, when I didn't know anyone was there startled me and it took me a moment.

To me this is what a cop does. At least a cop who knows what he is doing. Shooting first and asking questions later is a sign of a bad cop. Don't cops carry tazers anymore?

 

[burbqueen]

And I still cant get over 17 shots fired! Ok if he got shot at 5 times then I'm like ok, fine. 17? thats overkill even if he had a weapon. And how many officers were there? I dont remember reading that. Shoot I dont think Osama Bin Laden got shot at that many times and he's a terrorist! LOL. 17 shots for someone breaking in a car and he spun around too fast? Did the cops even think he had a weapon?

Shoot I know in Texas they would have just tasered him. I wonder if they carry tasers in that city. I know Dallas does.

 

[mysteriew]

If it is 3 am, you are in your yard and thought you were alone, how many people wouldn't jump (lunge?) when someone says something to you?

If these LE guys were in the right, are they going to charge the gentleman they shot? If he was doing something wrong enough to shoot him, shouldn't he be charged?

 

[Donjeta]

Meeks fired 12 shots and White fired three times, authorities said.

one more figure... that makes fifteen.

This Meeks guy fred twelve times and Middleton is not dead yet... should he be carrying a gun at all before some serious target practice? He'll be killed in the line of duty for sure if he ever encounters a real armed lunger.

 

[i.b.nora]

God save us all from "officer anxiety". imo.

 

[mysteriew]

Here's another article;

Roy Middleton shot in his driveway by Escambia County deputies, family claims 17 shell casings found

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- A pair of Florida Panhandle deputies shot and wounded an unarmed man in his driveway over the weekend.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said during a news conference Monday that two deputies responded to a 911 call about a possible burglary early Saturday morning and found Roy Middleton, 60, searching through the car.

The deputies reported that they told Middleton to show his hands multiple times, but he eventually lunged out of the car and spun toward them.

Fearing for their safety, the deputies opened fire, hitting Middleton in the leg...

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/...y-claims-17-shell-casings-found#ixzz2aXEdS1sv

I just heard on CNN that the neighbor has said that he was complying with officers.

 

[mysteriew]

Lauzon says his neighbor may have had trouble getting down to the ground because he was standing between his car and the wall of the carport.

"I don't have any doubt -- even not being able to see what was going on -- that he was complying with them," he told CNN. " Maybe not in the time frame that the officer was looking for -- but it seemed he was complying."
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/31/us/florida-police-shooting/index.html

 

[kimlynn]

Seriously people. He was rifling through a Lincon Town Car at 3 am for an extended period of time looking for cigarettes. Can we say high?

Then when he hears officers saying "Police! Show your hands!!!" He thinks they are JOKING!

I guess this is just one of those great divides. Common sense vs. warm fuzzy feelings.

I don't go out to my car looking for cigarettes at 3 am....but if I did and I heard someone yelling "POLICE! Show your hands!!!" I wouldn't think "haha...a joke". Did the hospital do a tox screen?

The first poster posted a link and said he was returning home from work.Was he high at work?
And why the mention of the type of car that he was "rifling through"

IMO