I have mixed feelings on this....

[oldag]

Most of y’all know I’m retired Air Force. Pretty much all I’ve seen is the body cam video without any talking head analysis.

From a tactical perspective, it appears the deputy was responding to a domestic dispute. The guy and girl that deputy encountered in the apartment complex entry area did no favors feeding old hearsay tales to the deputy that was irrelevant to the situation at hand, but started the mindset this would be high threat.

The deputy had a second officer on the way and, as far as I can tell, did not hear anything outside the apartment to necessitate immediate intervention.

As far as the airman is concerned, if somebody is pounding on my door while I’m on my phone, the last thing I’m interested in is grabbing a gun and answering the door; I’m just going to ignore that shit if I’m not expecting somebody. If I’m going to answer the door, I need to get off the phone and use the GD peephole before I open it.

Door opens, deputy sees the gun, adrenaline dump happens and bang bang bang then “drop the gun”. Piss poor decision making there, but given a 911 call and the info provided by the female, he had to investigate, so there’s no pre-meditated intent to murder.

Given a gun in hand at the doorway, use of deadly force criteria is met from a legal perspective although department policy will come into play.

Shitty things happen when people do stupid things and the deputy and airmen both did some stupid things.

So a person does not have 2A rights in his on home?

 

[leVieux]

As an AF veteran I really am struggling with this incident. The airman legally owned the gun and was licensed to carry it. He was in his own residence. The officer identified himself but the young airman was facetiming with his gf and didn' hear the verbal commands, just the knocking. He answered the door with his firearm in his hand. The officer reacted and opened fire. And it was the wrong residence for the domestic call.. What are your thoughts?

https://nypost.com/2024/05/09/us-news/robert-fortson-bodycam-florida-deputy-fired-without-warning/

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Since you did ask; there are two sides to every story.

But, this looks to be a clear case of ‘’Cop did wrong’’.

Police everywhere must understand that many U S Citizens are legally & properly armed, especially in their own homes.

Absent a ‘’hostage situation’’, Police must anticipate encountering armed citizens, who are non-criminal, and within their rights.

I hate to think how many times I’ve answered my door, gun-in-hand.

OTOH, as Ayoub now teaches; Just don’t open the door.

If I hear ‘’Police open-up’’, my response will be: ‘’I am heavily armed and am calling 911. If you are REAL police, I will cooperate’’ !

’’No-knock’’ warrants are a terrible idea in almost every case. Local Officers tell that almost every criminal home invasion begins with the knock and ‘’Police, open-up !’’

I once testified for a young non-criminal, UNARMED, Black fellow who was seriously injured in a similar situation, only to see him be convicted on a terrible up-charge. Bottom line, he got shot in the head for taking a hit off someone else’ joint. Then
convicted of something he never did.

Please let’s hear from our LEO’s on this site.

What do they say a Citizen should do ?


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[toddnjoyce]

So a person does not have 2A rights in his on home?

Your question has no relationship to my statement.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Did anyone say Ring cameras?

 

[Ausländer]

Please let’s hear from our LEO’s on this site.

What do they say a Citizen should do ?

The LEO in the video went to the wrong house - whatever 'they' think a citizen should do no longer matters because of that.

 

[Here4TheChix]

As an AF veteran I really am struggling with this incident. The airman legally owned the gun and was licensed to carry it. He was in his own residence. The officer identified himself but the young airman was facetiming with his gf and didn' hear the verbal commands, just the knocking. He answered the door with his firearm in his hand. The officer reacted and opened fire. And it was the wrong residence for the domestic call.. What are your thoughts?

https://nypost.com/2024/05/09/us-news/robert-fortson-bodycam-florida-deputy-fired-without-warning/

"Police", "Deputy", or "police officer" would be a better way to say this, I assumed Air Force Officer...

I wasn't sure why an "Officer" would have shot an "Airmen"... until I saw the video.

The Thread Title/Subject is also a bit click-bait'y, and unspecific.

 

[TXAZ]

I worked at DPS (non LEO) and definitely support law enforcement.

The Airman did nothing wrong or illegal.


But this officer needs a substantial prison sentence and no qualified / sovereign immunity for the department for the civil component.

It has to be painful to make horrendous mistakes.

Edited due to very poor eyesight.

 

[Texasgordo]

The Thread Title/Subject is also a bit click-bait'y, and unspecific.

It's a forum tradition for a thread title to be vague or totally irrelevant.

 

[Havok1]

These issues seem to be fairly frequent with LE.

luckily I have a house and can check the cameras before deciding if I want to go to the door.

 

[retired_tim]

These issues seem to be fairly frequent with LE.

luckily I have a house and can check the cameras before deciding if I want to go to the door.

I'm with you. Cameras on all 4 corners and front and back door.

 

[thescoutranch]

If you look at the body cam footage, you can see that he went to apartment 1401 and that was the apartment he was told disturbance was in. (unless the video was edited., not saying it was). So he was at the correct apartment, as far as he knew.

His actions following that, were all completely wrong.

 

[Southpaw]

The LEO in the video went to the wrong house

The officer was told “1401” but went to “1407”.

That doesn't seem to be correct according to the video. He was told 1401 and went to 1401.

 

[Gordo]

That number was added...

Ring cameras don't do shit if the ATF is at your door.
They just cover it up, like they did in Arkansas.
Need several, some hidden on another system.
Then maybe a direct feed from a satellite,
And maybe a moat, a 20' wall, and razor wire.

 

[rp-]

But this officer needs a substantial prison sentence and no qualified / sovereign immunity for the department for the civil component.

It has to be painful to make horrendous mistakes.

We all know he will walk though. Nothing ever seems to happen in these scenarios except maybe a forced resignation.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Southpaw]

That number was added...

So you are saying the video and audio were edited in the body cam footage?

 

[Nicholst55]

There is a 'spirited discussion' of this incident on another forum that I frequent, which has a large LEO membership. Assuming that the bodycam video was NOT altered/edited, it certainly appears that the deputy saw the gun and panicked, immediately firing SIX times before ordering the suspect to drop the gun. Operating on the same assumption, the deputy went to the correct apartment. Now IF the video was edited, then all bets are obviously off.

The LEOs on the other forum insist that the bodycam video doesn't portray the entire situation, and the deputy should be given the benefit of the doubt before saying that he murdered the Airman. Perhaps. One important thing to recall is that this is the same Sheriff Department that had the recent "acorn incident," where two deputies shot up a squad car with a handcuffed suspect inside after an acorn fell onto it. Perhaps a systemic problem?

From my perspective, it certainly appears that the deputy simply panicked and shot the Airman without provocation or just cause. One thing that I did learn from the discussion is that Federal LEOs do not wear bodycams. That fact might be useful at some point in the future, if the lizard brain can recall it at the appropriate moment.

 

[Lonesome Dove]

Cop made a bad choice and should have investigated more before knocking on that door.

 

[Gordo]

So you are saying the video and audio were edited in the body cam footage?

I'm saying the number was added. It isn't a door number, or a mail box number, and if you were standing at that spot, you wouldn't see that number where it is.
Who puts an address, or apartment number at knee height?

 

[Gordo]

Perhaps. One important thing to recall is that this is the same Sheriff Department that had the recent "acorn incident," where two deputies shot up a squad car with a handcuffed suspect inside after an acorn fell onto it. Perhaps a systemic problem?

I didn't make the connection.
Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Apartment number was eye level to left of door.