TX - Atatiana Jefferson, 28, fatally shot at home, Fort Worth, Oct 2019 *officer charged*

[BeachSky]

We have had unseasonably warm temps in Texas lately. Friday a cool front came in, lowering temps dramatically. She may have been enjoying the change in the weather and cooling her house down.

Absolutely horrible.

She could have burnt a pizza.
Opened doors to vent so smoke detector didn’t go off.
Bottom line....her house.
Her, just living her life.
Unbelievable.

MOO

 

[Cool Cats]

He never went to the front door or announced himself and was sneaking around like a burglar himself. I wonder how much trouble that woman would have been in if she would have fired on the cop and killed him? Would the justice system in Texas have accepted the Stand-Your-Ground Law as acceptable defense in this case?

No. If she had shot, through the closed window, and killed the officer, she would have been fired upon and if still alive, would have been tackled and thrown in jail on murder 2 or manslaughter charges, assault on an officer, hindering an investigation, reckless endangerment, a pile of misdemeanor charges etc....

 

[SandyQLS]

Attached is transcript of 311 call from neighbor.

Provided by Nichole Manna via Twitter. She is a Fort Worth Star Telegram reporter.

Are you sure Fort Worth has 311 service? This is the only source I could find, and it says no 311 service, and it includes call stats through May 2019:

Percent of City Call Center calls that are answered within 60 seconds | Fort Worth Community Dashboard

"...The City of Fort Worth does not have a 311 which would answer a majority of the departments' calls. ... "

*
JMO Business numbers for most PD's are only answered during business hours M-F 9-5. It was 2:25AM on a Saturday. The call was recorded indicating it was likely handled by 911. When someone calls the police, they are not the ones who determine what the call/dispatch status should be - the caller is not the responder, but merely a reporter of information. Dispatch collected the information, and dispatch chose the codes to send out to officers. The officers never hear the phone calls, the demeanor of callers, claims of "not an emergency".

If the caller thought there was no emergency, why was he calling police anyway?

 

[sds71]

Katy Blakey (@KatyBlakeyNBC5) | Twitter
Former Fort Worth police Chief Joel Fitzgerald released statement regarding deadly shooting through his attorney. Fitzgerald is fighting to get his job back.

 

[SandyQLS]

They need to train them how to perceive actual threats...and they need to train them on implicit biases. JMO.

Because someone pointing a gun at a police officer is not a threat to the officer? She could see out the window that it was the police, and I have no doubt that she was pointing that gun at them. Just because second-guessers cannot see her in the window from the body camera, the officer could see her and her gun, he had his flashlight pointed at the window.

Tragic yes of course, but No criminal charges IMO

 

[SandyQLS]

I listened to the call again. The operator answers "Ft. Worth police...". So I think it was neither 911 or 311, but rather the non-emergency police number as listed on this page: https://police.fortworthtexas.gov/Contact

Thank you, that's a useful link. After she says "Fort Worth Police" she gives her operator number. She also informs him at the end that officers are enroute, probably because she sent them out electronically. The call went in to 911 dispatch, probably because it's 2:25AM.

 

[GoneGoldfishin']

Because someone pointing a gun at a police officer is not a threat to the officer? She could see out the window that it was the police, and I have no doubt that she was pointing that gun at them. Just because second-guessers cannot see her in the window from the body camera, the officer could see her and her gun, he had his flashlight pointed at the window.

Tragic yes of course, but No criminal charges IMO

I feel like I've been kicked in the gut after reading this post. You cannot truly be saying this was in any way justified, can you?? Honestly I can't breathe.

 

[nightowl1975]

I feel like I've been kicked in the gut after reading this post. You cannot truly be saying this was in any way justified, can you?? Honestly I can't breathe.

I suppose out of 11 pages of responses, we were bound to get one completely off the wall out of all of them.

IF she was pointing her gun at him, SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DO SO. I’m sorry she didn’t shoot him first. But of course, she would’ve ended up dead then too. She was doomed from the moment these yahoos went into her fenced yard.

I also sincerely question if she would’ve been able to see how these clowns were dressed to determine they were police officers when she had a light shining in her eyes and they were standing in darkness. That’s just not how our eyes work.

Of course there will always be some who think the police never, ever do wrong. We’ve seen it time and again. They can beat someone to death who is already restrained and handcuffed and nothing happens. Why would we think they can’t sneak into someone’s back yard and shoot them through their own bedroom window. Nothing shocks me anymore. They’re just more and more brazen and it won’t get better until the average US citizen stands up and does something about it.

I would worry myself sick if I had a loved one who was an officer in Ft Worth right now. People are understandably angry, and when they realize that some people believe the police can murder us in our own homes, they’re not necessarily rational.

 

[Hraefn]

Because someone pointing a gun at a police officer is not a threat to the officer? She could see out the window that it was the police, and I have no doubt that she was pointing that gun at them. Just because second-guessers cannot see her in the window from the body camera, the officer could see her and her gun, he had his flashlight pointed at the window.

Tragic yes of course, but No criminal charges IMO

Law enforcement has never even made these statements you are assuming to be facts.

 

[Cool Cats]

I feel like I've been kicked in the gut after reading this post. You cannot truly be saying this was in any way justified, can you?? Honestly I can't breathe.

I understand your feelings.

Wow. There was blurry body cam video still-footage of a gun and now there is someone posting that she pointed a gun directly at the officer and he could clearly see it.

No. No proof she was holding a gun or near a gun, let alone pointing it at the officer. Rumors get started when people jump to conclusions before the facts are in.
...2 Cents....

 

[Cool Cats]

The outrageous death of Atatiana Jefferson: What was Fort Worth cop possibly thinking when he shot?

Body Cam Video Still-Footage of window that Atatiana Jefferson was standing behind.
No, I don't see a person standing there pointing a gun...I see a large amount of glare from the flashlight and what looks to be curtains in the way. Actually it's shades.

In this Oct. 12 image made from a body camera video released by the Fort Worth Police Department, an officer shines a flashlight into a window

Daytime view of bullet hole in window

 

[Bennett]

He never went to the front door or announced himself and was sneaking around like a burglar himself. I wonder how much trouble that woman would have been in if she would have fired on the cop and killed him? Would the justice system in Texas have accepted the Stand-Your-Ground Law as acceptable defense in this case?

There was a case, it may have been Texas even, where something like this happened. I'm not 100% of the details, but I think it involved an officer going onto someones property unannounced in the dark, and the property owner shot him. The property owner didn't know he was an officer. The officer survived, and the property owner wasn't charged.

It's easy for police to find someones cell phone number, an actual hard line is even easier. There were two cars parked in front right? Checking the registration on those cars gives you the names, and then when you have the names, the dispatcher can easily find the cell phone numbers on those people. They have this capability. The officers upon arrival could have simply called the home and spoke to the lady if they were unsure of what was going on.

Call and say "hey this is officer so and so, we are outside your house. We saw your door is wide open, is everything ok? Can you meet us at the door so we can make sure?" If they were to have parked one of the police cars on the other side of the street so she could see from her window, that would let her know it was a legit call from the PD. If this was a burglary or something worse, the bad guy isn't going to be answering some random phone in the house. If something bad was going down and someone other than the lady answered and wouldn't let the officers talk to her, then they'd know this, and formulate a plan of some sort.

Also to the poster that mentioned the ages of the officers in these bad shootings, I've been noticing that too. Officers in their 40's and 50's don't seem to be the ones, it's the rookies or those with just a couple years. Experience matters, and you can't train wisdom into someone.

 

[Artis]

Not sure about police departments around the country but an NJ police chief , under trial for a hate crime, draws a $105,000 annual pension. That's more than what most people make holding regular full time jobs.

Not surprised. The pensions can be obscene and that's on top of benefits and any other perks.

 

[Lynetta]

Because someone pointing a gun at a police officer is not a threat to the officer? She could see out the window that it was the police, and I have no doubt that she was pointing that gun at them. Just because second-guessers cannot see her in the window from the body camera, the officer could see her and her gun, he had his flashlight pointed at the window.

Tragic yes of course, but No criminal charges IMO

Respectfully JMO


So if you were to hear a noise coming from your backyard right now as you are reading this comment, your first thought would be that it's just a police officer walking through your backyard????

And you would be so confident in your assumption that you would NOT take any steps to protect yourself or your family members?

You then would be able to visually confirm this is a police officer within 4 seconds by looking out a window from a lit up room into outside darkness??

And then would be able to comply with the spoken orders of 'put your hands up, show me your ha..." in a shorter amont of time than 1.7 seconds?

If the answer to just one of these questions is a no, not necessarily, or not sure .........anything other than an absolute 99.999% yes, I'd like to know why.... Why would this situation with Atatiana be any different for her?




JMO MOO

 

[Artis]

Thank you. My thoughts exactly. The police have been trained to think they are the soldiers and we are the civilians. While we are at it, we also need to remove police designations such as lieutenant, sergeant, etc.

While 9/11 was certainly a factor, I believe this wave of us-vs-them kicked off during the tough-on-crime era of the 80s.

Agreed. After I posted that I thought of Waco (shoot the place up rather than just serve a warrant), Ruby Ridge, and raids on public housing, looking for firearms (legal or illegal) without warrants. Granted, I think most or all of those had the feds orchestrating and executing but it goes to the police state mentality.

 

[Artis]

What happened is horrible, and there needs to be punishment. In order to actually change things, I think we do need to look at the perceptions and procedures, as well as the very real fears that police have.

The video cam may have been released to make the police's case that, no, the police were not there to just shoot a black person. They walked past an open door which they had been told was "never open" at 2:30 am, saw a bunch of stuff on the floor, which may have indicated an invasion or struggle, and therefore made the call that it was safest to assess the situation further by walking around the property rather than announce themselves at the start. For all they know, someone is being held hostage in there, and they need more information about what's happening (Obviously, it's okay to have your door open at any hour, and it's okay to have stuff on your floor at any time. These aren't reasons to be shot. But the combo may explain the sneaking around and fear)

But I don't see how they will be able to defend the itchy trigger finger and failure to announce who they are before shooting, other than the "feared for my life" response. And sadly, that may work yet again.

They should be allowed to go prowling around on private property without the permission of the homeowner. I don't know if anyone else has been murdered in the the same manner of this lady was, but many dogs, in their own yards, have been murdered by trespassing cops.

 

[Cool Cats]

Vigil, protest held for Atatiana Jefferson

FORT WORTH, Texas - What was initially called a vigil, but what people taking part called a protest, took place Sunday evening for Atatiana Jefferson.
“This is not a Kumbaya moment...we aren’t getting in a prayer circle.”

Jefferson’s family wants the officer to be arrested and charged with murder.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price was at the vigil, but left as protesters started yelling at her.

Those who spoke also called on the Texas Rangers to not investigate this shooting, after the lead investigative officer in the Amber Guyger case said he didn’t think Guyger was criminally negligent in Botham Jean’s murder.

 

[Artis]

Agree. And it is all about fear. The life of a police officer is a dangerous one. If a police officer is so fearful of a certain race, neighborhood, or situation then they have no business being a police officer. There has to be a way of weaning out trainees who are too fearful to do the job. MOO

Here's some food for thought: Anti social personality disorder, a.k.a. "sociopath", tends not experience fear (they are emotionally stunted). As a result, they seek excitement and violence for a thrill (to feel something). I believe the profession of police officer attracts these types. Point being, a reasonable level of fear is good and proper training should teach restraint. It's those fearless yahoos you really have to worry about.

 

[Artis]

I know what you mean. The weather here in Arizona has been beautiful for the last week or so. We have all our windows opened, even our two sliding glass doors. We keep them open all night. Atatiana had every right to have her door open, she was in her own home. This officer has to charged with something, other than be in placed on paid vacation.

All night - like while you're asleep? Get a swamp cooler and be careful about what can wonder in (human or FELINE - and I don't mean a house cat).

 

[Artis]

The shooting marked the seventh time since June 1 a Fort Worth police officer had shot a civilian. Six of those people died.
Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article236078063.html#storylink=cpy
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article236078063.html

Notice the word "civilian". Cops ARE civilians and that inaccurate language (which usually goes unnoticed) reinforces the false notion that cops are something other than civilians (like domestic soldiers).