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- Feb 9, 2020
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I would first ask my friend to show me where AP is "clearly resisting the officer and reaching for something" in one of the many angles of video that captured the moments just prior to and the shooting. Was it when he was stumbling as he was being forcefully shoved backwards? Was it when his face was full of pepper spray as he tried to ward some of that off with his raised open left hand and a cell phone is his right? Was it when he was bending to try to pull the woman next to him off the ground where she had just been shoved hard by an agent?
Because I have seen a number of second by second breakdowns that do not show him clearly resisting anything, except being shoved and being pepper sprayed. Next I would show my friend the video clip that illustrates one agent removing the weapon from AP's person and leaving the vicinity with it as other officers yelled "gun" "gun" and seconds later agents firing at a man who was on his knees and then his stomach while surrounded by six armed agents who were kicking and hitting him.
I would then ask my friend to explain why he thought the additional shots fired into the prone and probably already dead man's body might also be driven by fear. I would ask my friend if he thought perhaps their training should have covered communicating effectively with one another so that misunderstandings about whether there was a gun on AP's person or not would not occur. Finally I would ask my friend what in the agent clapping gleefully after the 10 shots had been fired into AP seemed to indicate he was ever fearful of an alleged hostile "crowd" of agitators?
I think I would start there.
Good start.