Courtesy of HuffPo:
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released cell phone footage Wednesday of the police shooting of Kajieme Powell, a 25-year-old black man killed on Tuesday in St. Louis, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
A convenience store owner called 911 on Tuesday when he suspected Powell stole drinks and donuts from his shop, according to a recording of the call. Another woman called to report Powell was acting erratically and had a knife in his pocket.
Two officers in a police SUV responded to the calls, the cell phone video shows. When the officers got out of their vehicle, Powell walked in their direction, yelling and telling them to shoot him already.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said Tuesday that both of the officers opened fire on Powell when he came within a three or four feet of them holding a knife "in an overhand grip."
But the newly released cell phone footage undermines the statement, showing Powell approaching the cops, but not coming as close as was reported, with his hands at his side.
The officers began shooting within 15 seconds of their arrival, hitting Powell with a barrage of bullets.
It is clear that this young man was quite disturbed, and based on what he said early in the video, and the fact that he waited for the police to arrive, and then demanded that they shoot him, that he was seeking what is referred to as "suicide by police."
It is also clear that he was cognizant enough of his surroundings to move up on that lawn so that when the officers fired their bullets they would not hit any innocent bystanders.
That shows a level of awareness that the police could have used to diffuse the situation if they had been better trained.
Personally I could not see the knife in the video, but I could definitely see that he did not have it in an overhand position ready to stab one of the officers.
They could definitely have tazed him, or pepper sprayed him.
This is murder.
I watched that very disturbing video yesterday.
ReplyDeleteNINE bullets, and then they handcuffed him (after he most likely was already dead...)
I bet the police could have talked the guy down if they had wanted to. All he was to them was target practice. That many shots to disable someone?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
I think it is systematic. They will need to have cameras on every officer with the way things are looking in this area. Where else is it this bad?
DeletePlus, the police were in a police car. They did not have to get out immediately. Or the driver could have gotten out with the car between them. They were perfectly safe. They drove up and killed the poor guy instantly! Either they are evil murderers or they lack the minimum intelligence to be working as police officers.
ReplyDeleteHe was also no threat to anyone else. He didn't harm, harass or bother any of the passers by.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think you could add on to your post the video clip of the officer threatening to kill protesters.
officer threatening to kill protesters....
DeleteI couldn't agree more. That guy was very revealing.
When you cuff a dead man... you have not only slipped into the insanity bucket of crazy, you own that damn bucket!
ReplyDeleteWord.
DeleteSeriously, and sadly...Word.
"When you cuff a dead man...."
I wonder if they have that as part of their training.
Nine rapid fire shots, two after he was on the ground. And why did they handcuff him afterward? He was dead!
ReplyDeleteMurder.
This video does NOT match the lies of the head of their police department! This man did NOT need to be shot at and killed. No wonder no one trusts city police forces throughout the country. I know I don't!
ReplyDeletePolice have to stop killing folks and especially black and brown folks! What happened to the old shoot to maim that was done years ago? These guys are friggin' jerks! I have zero respect for them and that feeling is also spreading throughout the country. We are NOT a third world country!
Shoot to maim went out the window after 911 and Homeland Security was invented. HS has taken over police training and all citizens are viewed as terrorist suspects.
DeleteLocal cops have become nothing more than chickens and killers in America! We are no different than some of the countries we admonish.
DeleteThey need to get over 911 and act like human beings from the United States of America.
Management of the people in charge of police forces throughout the country (and their subsequent training techniques) need to be changed and that is going to have to come from President Obama and his Administration.
Can anyone blame our black and brown Americans if these horrible actions continue and there are uprisings across our country? Especially once the cameras of the media are no longer watching?
The Most Important Commentary You'll Read About Ferguson
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/21/ferguson-michael-brown-middle-school_n_5697882.html
LOVE THIS!
ReplyDeleteReal Women Super Heroes Chase Down Terrified Islamic State Killers (IMAGES)
Oh wow! These real women super heroes don’t mess around. The heavily-armed women are hot on the trail of Islamic State [IS] guys, formerly known as ISIS. And the killers are quaking in their sandals, because if a woman kills a jihadist man in battle, he does not get their Heaven ticket punched.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/20/real-women-super-heroes-chase-down-terrified-islamic-state-killers-images/
Notice the nervous young officer's hand move up to and stay at his gun while walking up to push the "crowd" back. Hostile. Aggressive. And very telling.
ReplyDeleteImagine him walking up with a hand out for a handshake and asking for the help and first names of the first people he comes in contact with, and then asking them by name to help him out by moving back some and helping him keep others back as well.
I know. Not in this world with the reality of baggage that instinctively moved his hand to his gun as he began barking orders at people, in their own neighborhood public space, who had done nothing to warrant his aggressive posturing other than to be there. Speaks volumes.
They admitted to shooting him ONCE only and that was because they were being attacked. I just don't see it.
ReplyDeleteI see a mentally ill boy gunned down by cops as soon as they exited the vehicle.
You get the feeling the police in this area are ordered to kill as many black men as they can.
ReplyDeleteThe investigations are long over due. What a shame. We had a guy swing a gun outside a grocery store. Busy area, busy time of day. The police didn't even have real bullets in case they couldn't talk him down. They were going to injure him with rubber bullets. The police in Missouri have a different protocol.
Very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteSince when did mental illness become a death penalty offense in this country?
I guess we now know the answer to the question "what will society do with the (non-white) mentally ill after the state institutions are closed?"
Like the videographer says "oh my fucking god, this again?".
Fucktard police. They could not wait to kill another black man.
ReplyDeleteWasilla eyes:
ReplyDeleteTrig and my daughter attend the same school. I will not be disclosing the name because of privacy. It is public though, not private school.
No, please do not publish the name of the school.
DeleteBut a few insider tidbits occasionally would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you very much in advance.
Not enough PAC money left for private school. Sarah was counting on the income from her pay-per-view channel to send Bristol' s first born to private school.
DeleteAnonymous2:14 PM:
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
Murder.Period.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I saw, neither hand was up in a threatening position. I would like to see the video enhanced so that you can really see the victim up close, not to see him shot, but to see where his hands were at the time. This reminds me of the shooting of the homeless mentally ill man in New Mexico. He was killed and the charge was illegal camping. He was shot several times in the back, flat on his face and they let a dog loose on him.
ReplyDeleteHere in Arizona, the Phoenix TV coverage of officer-involved shootings is always so skewed in favor of the police that the truth almost never comes out for several weeks. When the cops really screw up - as when they recently gunned down two store employees as they ran from the store where they had briefly been held hostage by robbers before they were able to get free and make a run for it - those stories disappear from the news the same day. The same day. Consistently. Watching the events in Ferguson has reminded me of how things were during the anti-war protests in the sixties and early seventies. The cops have more military gear now, but nothing else has changed. And the conservative reaction to Ferguson is completely consistent with the way they have always reacted, "Nothin' wrong with them sons of bitches that a few machine guns wouldn't cure." They cling to rules and authority figures the same way - and mostly for the same reasons - that toddlers cling to teddy bears, and they are terrified of those who openly defy the power of their teddy bears, especially if there's some of those scary black people involved (must be a communist plot). After his experiences dealing with student protests in California as Governor, it was the wonderful Ronald Rayguns who saw to it when he became president that the police got access to military war equipment. There weren't going to be any more hippies and hooligans thumbing their noses at HIS authority and scaring the shit out of him and other REAL 'Merikans. There's nothing new under the sun ...
ReplyDeleteIf this isn't a shock to the conscience, I don't know what is. I agree, it's murder and unjustifiable. I don't care if he stole a doughnut and a soda or even if he had a weapon on him, there was no reason whatsoever to shoot him, let alone kill. A Tazer and a trip to the hosptial for help was all that was called for, but, clearly, he never stood a chance, walking with too much melanin and a possible mental problem, you know racism was enough.
ReplyDeleteI hope this tape makes it to the prosecutor, unedited. And a copy to the SPLC and every newspaper in the area. for good measure.
I feel a state of shock watching that video. Unnecessary murder.
ReplyDeleteRemember the other side, too. http://imgur.com/gallery/l62iF
ReplyDelete