Balch police officer guilty of murder

[busykngt]

Shot at car going away five times. Killed unarmed fifteen year old.

A Texas Cop Who Shot And Killed A 15-Year-Old Boy Has Been Found Guilty Of Murder - BuzzFeed Newshttps://apple.news/Alu-sEqDVRAiQfTlRdFBe9w

 

[MTA]

Raise your kids and they dont get shot by the police

 

[Kar98]

Don't shoot at un-armed people fleeing from you, and don't get convicted of murder.

 

[Charlie]

Sigh!

 

[Vaquero]

Swamp is deeper and wider than we thought.

 

[F350-6]

Does anyone know the full story on this? I've seen the stuff on TV from when it first happened. Looked guilty as hell.

Reading in the paper this week during the trial there was mention of a shooting a couple of blocks away that had been called in while they were in route and there was some concern the car in question might have been involved in said shooting.

Was this just a lawyer spin using whatever events were available that could be plausible, or did the guy really think they may have found the car that was shooting at things while they were on their way over?

 

[Renegade]

Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes.

 

[Moonpie]

Wow.
All the camera video present these days sure does prove things do not happen like some say they do.
You would think some would know better.

 

[sharkey]

When the other officer testified he didn't think his life was in danger was probably the game changer. Wasn't there and the officer seems to have a history of drawing his gun unjustifiably but the victims were not choir boys.
Now you will have more officers hesitate to pull the trigger when justified and it will be harder to fill open positions.
I sure would not be a patrol officer today.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[busykngt]

I assume the ‘death penalty’ is off the table for the cop (but I don’t know that for sure). I guess he’ll try to appeal. But it’s going to be a helluva way to spend your 40th birthday in prison (and your 50th, and your....)!

 

[Renegade]

Now you will have more officers hesitate to pull the trigger

Good!

I hope every officer hesitates to fire into a moving car. It is incredibly stupid and tactically unsound. Even if you execute a perfect insta-kill head shot, the car is still moving towards the person you thought you were protecting. You have accomplished nothing.

Then add in cops miss 80% of their shots and who knows what innocent person gets hit.

 

[busykngt]

Of course the jury has already decided this case. And there may well be details that were revealed in court that didn’t make public news but on the surface, it does look like the cop made an incredibly bad decision to shoot. (Yeah, yeah.... Monday morning quarterbacking & all that rot...).

But in a nutshell, cops called to a loud party @ 11 pm. On the way to the house, cops tell party go’ers, “time to go home”. Some do begin to leave, including the five kids in the car. The 15 yo who was killed, his two 16 yo brothers, and their two friends (I’m guessing, also 15 or 16 yo also).
While talking to the home’s resident, cops hear gunfire - later investigation determined it came from a nursing home, next door (guess the old folks were having their own “party”!).
From what I read, none of the kids in the car had anything illegal (drugs, guns, alcohol, etc.) - they all were detained by police. Driver starts to leave, slowly backs up and then begins to pull away. Driver says he did hear someone yell stop but he said he did not know that it was a cop yelling. The one cop had time to go to the police car to retrieve his rifle.
When I was 15 or 16 yo, I could have - in fact, undoubtedly was - in this very kind of scenario. At a party too loud, eleven pm, etc., etc. As determined by a jury of his peers, the cop made the wrong decision.

 

[Frank59]

I assume the ‘death penalty’ is off the table for the cop (but I don’t know that for sure). I guess he’ll try to appeal. But it’s going to be a helluva way to spend your 40th birthday in prison (and your 50th, and your....)!

This homicide falls in the category of reckless conduct and not a premeditated, intentional one. Don't think the death penalty will apply here and what I'm really getting at is don't be surprised if he gets a light sentence.

 

[jetcycles]

I think most of us feel that the former officer is unlikely to face the maximum penalty, which I believe is life in this case. He'll likely spend any time he receives in protective custody, which I feel is a shame.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Just Googled this and saw in the feed....

"Gross was in danger of being run over and fired an AK-15 rifle five times at the car,"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-police-officer-found-guilty-murder-death-teenager/story?id=57455946

 

[sharkey]

Good!

I hope every officer hesitates to fire into a moving car. It is incredibly stupid and tactically unsound. Even if you execute a perfect insta-kill head shot, the car is still moving towards the person you thought you were protecting. You have accomplished nothing.

Then add in cops miss 80% of their shots and who knows what innocent person gets hit.

Well there have been several instances when officers have shot into moving vehicles with success. Cops and citizens do things sometimes that are not tactfully sound BUT they took action and that is enough to win the fight. Besides, that is not what I meant but maybe you knew that? IF there is an increase of cops being second guessed by defendants, attorneys, and judges to face time in prison, how many candidates will be applying for those open positions? Hesitation gets you or innocent people killed. If you are gonna wait on perfect tactics to be utilized, that to will lead to hesitation. Use of force situations are chaotic and fluid but I'm guessing you know that too. As society goes, so goes current policing trends.

It "looks" like in this instance, the jury made the correct decision and I would not want to work with any bad cops though I have had to work with some unsafe cops but the continued increase of disrespect and hatred towards policing is bad for policing BUT it is also bad for the communities especially those in more urban environments. Where do these agencies find these "bad" cops? Most often, the same community they police in.

 

[Renegade]

Well there have been several instances when officers have shot into moving vehicles with success.

I have followed car shootings for years, and have never found one where killing the driver spontaneously resulted in a reflex action of stepping on the brakes, care to share? In all cases I know of the car keeps going forward.

IF there is an increase of cops being second guessed by defendants, attorneys, and judges to face time in prison, how many candidates will be applying for those open positions? Hesitation gets you or innocent people killed. If you are gonna wait on perfect tactics to be utilized, that to will lead to hesitation. Use of force situations are chaotic and fluid but I'm guessing you know that too. As society goes, so goes current policing trends.

That is life. As a LTC, if I shoot someone, I will be second guessed too. Did not stop me from getting LTC. In fact, it motivated me to see what shootings are deemed justified and which are not so I can plan a course of action.

 

[benenglish]

I have followed car shootings for years, and have never found one where killing the driver spontaneously resulted in a reflex action of stepping on the brakes, care to share?

I personally witnessed another driver drop dead behind the wheel of his van on Interstate 45 north of Houston. As he died, he tried to maneuver to the shoulder and slowed down. Then I guess he lost consciousness because the van, at a slow speed, smacked the right-side divider, then crossed the road, hit the center divider, crossed the road, hit the right-side divider and stuck to it, inching along scraping it.

Then things went to hell. The body slumped down, the accelerator went to the floor, and the van peeled out, all while the wheels were turned into the divider. It took off, built up a bunch of speed, and reached the end of the concrete.

Then it flew across the grass and t-boned a tiny car that was coming onto the freeway via the entrance ramp. The small car rolled a couple of times.

Per the news, everybody died.

So, to me, killing someone behind the wheel of a car is a hell of a risk. Sometimes you take a hell of a risk to get something done that has to be done. Sometimes you don't.

It's making that high-stakes decision in a split second under extreme stress that's the problem, I suppose.

 

[Renegade]

So, to me, killing someone behind the wheel of a car is a hell of a risk. Sometimes you take a hell of a risk to get something done that has to be done. Sometimes you don't.

The simple reality is, if a car is coming at you, the best defense is to move out of the way. Tueller Drill shows us we can get pretty far before we could get a shot of. And as mentioned, even if the shot is a kill shot, the car is still coming at you, so now what?

In this case it was slightly different, shooter was firing in defense of 3rd person, or so he claimed.....

 

[sharkey]

I have followed car shootings for years, and have never found one where killing the driver spontaneously resulted in a reflex action of stepping on the brakes, care to share? In all cases I know of the car keeps going forward.

Sure, I can share. Your premise above is incorrect. So a successful shooting into a car must result in the driver stepping on the brake? In that case, all shootings into cars are unsuccessful. So there has never been a case where shooting into a car has been justified? I think that is the Q you should be asking. The answer is of course yes. If the officer legitimately believed his partner was gonna be run over, than I can fathom shooting into the car to shoot the driver. For every shooting you show me where officers miss, I can show you one where they didn't. Again, use of force situations are dynamic and chaotic. Very few people have the training or fortitude to do everything correctly in that situation.

That is life. As a LTC, if I shoot someone, I will be second guessed too. Did not stop me from getting LTC. In fact, it motivated me to see what shootings are deemed justified and which are not so I can plan a course of action.

Well it is also life that as more people become jaded towards OIS or civilian shootings, they will face more prosecutions even when it is uncalled for (not saying this case should not have gone to court) Societies view of policing today would stop me from applying. There is a definite shift from 1990. The risk of being second guessed AND going to prison for a justified shoot has never been greater. Glad your motivated to think it thru though, that will definitely help IF you ever need to pull the trigger. It will also help your reaction time not to hesistate. As a former LEO, I saw some hesitate. Hell, I hesitated in shooting someone trying tostab me that would have been completely justified. It worked out but it also could have gone very bad for me. I contend the police should actually shoot more people but don't.