There is a disturbing report out of San Bernardino County where Sheriff’s deputies claimed that they fired 13 rounds, wounding Keivon Young. Young, 18, had been mistaken for a murder suspect, Robert Pope, yet the police did not identify themselves. However, they said that Young was “sneaking through the people’s front yards and hiding behind bushes” and fired after he reached into his waistband and “withdrew two knives.” Young’s attorney says that police transcripts show that the knives were discovered after the shooting.
The police had staked out the home because Pope’s sister had once lived there.
Kevion Young was with his family around 9 p.m. in a garage when he went to the side of the house to relieve himself. He said that he was shot in the leg without any notice that the men where plain clothes police and said that the knives were in his waistband for protection. He said that he had dropped to the ground and was trying to put his hands on his head. One of the bullets penetrated the home filled with friends and family, including a baby. Other shots hit a nearby car and the home of a neighbor.
Stories reported that Young was shot brandishing the knives and sneaking around homes. That leaves a considerable gap in accounts.
The transcript would seem to support Young. The police case investigator found that after being confronted “The subject fell down to the ground. They moved in toward(s) him. At that point, he removed 2 large knives from his waistband.” However, the audio tape contains a garbled recording of an officer yelling “Let me see your (expletive) hands! ” and then immediate gunfire, without clear sheriff’s department identification. Young could be heard saying “I didn’t even know who you guys were, you ride up on me with flashlights. I didn’t know nothing.” He is heard crying for help and asking if he is going to jail. Then the statement is reportedly heard on the tape. An officer says “Probably not. I don’t know, dude. You didn’t assault us, right? But you have to understand when we are cops and we are coming up on you . . . ”
Of course, the police can say that this officer was not the one who saw Young pull out the knives.
What is also suspicious is that Young was arrested on two counts of assaulting a peace officer. However, those charges were later changed to two felony counts of resisting arrest and one felony count for possession of dirk or dagger. It is extremely rare for charges to be reduced in a case of an assault on an officer when there are witnesses to the alleged crimes.
Four months after the shooting, Young remains in jail.
Kudos: Michael Blott
Wow, what’s wrong with these officers? Why did they let him live and create a nuisance now? They should have just offed him when they had a chance. I mean, just another black kid murdered by police officers, who would care anyway? Now people will come out of the woodwork again, claiming that police is acting recklessly, etc etc. They could have saved everyone a lot of time and hassle by just ending his life right then and there, happens everyday in this great nation of ours anyway, so one more dead black kid wouldn’t really matter, would it? I hope these fine peace officers don’t have to suffer too much now. Hell, they might even be put on paid vacation just because some liberals will make a fuss, that’s just not fair. I hope they make that kid pay all the hospital bills, given that he now gets treatment in the greatest healthcare system on earth, which this sneaky little knife carrying thug clearly doesn’t deserve.
rickard, if you subscribe to this blog you will get a lot more but it is mostly USA stuff.
Being black in lily white San Bernadino is grounds for trigger happy pigs to open fire
Walking or driving while black or brown is a serious crime in some areas.
What Karen wrote.
California tends to go with bad faith weapons charges if at all possible. A family member of mine was hit with felony weapons possession for having his own military police baton in his apartment. The booking officers asked him if he had a machine gun. They were stunned when he told them all he had was a wooden stick.
Do I have the transliterations correct?
“Dissing the Po Po” equals “Obstructing an Officer” equals “Acting Appropriately in Self-defense”?
If so, surely the police officers are actually innocent, as also are their dissers?
Whatever happened to the now-forbidden-by-law social psychology notion of situational attribution?
Or, as the late Dr. Karl Menninger titled a book he wrote, “Whatever Became of Sin?”
(To, With, and For, me (and is so for no one else?), “sin” is three letter archaic euphemism for traumatic estrangement from directly-observable objective reality.)
It is clear that this young man must pay for the incompetence of the officers. These assaulting an officer charges are common when the police make mistakes, like shooting an innocent person.
Trigger unhappy po po.
Obviously, if the police admit to making mistakes, they will lose “respect.”
Alas, the word, “respect” took on a fascinating meaning during the decades when I lived (for a while) in Chicago’s East and West Garfield Park neighborhoods, and worked (for over 20 years) on Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood.
It is wise, for those seek to live long, to not dis folks in the hood.
if possible (rarely so?), it is wise for those who live in the hood to not dis the Po Po.
And, no, sorry, I am not at all fluent in Ebonics.
Nonetheless, I am becoming flummoxed as to how to avoid dissing the Po Po.
Another blue coverup. When will the vigilantes mount a response. The legal system is ineffectual and self-serving. Every bullet fired toward this kid, should go deep into the shooter.
Couldn’t agree more with Karen.
This sounds very troubling. Since we have audio clearly proving that the police failed to identify themselves, why is Young still in jail? Since audio clearly proved that the officers lied in their statements, why haven’t all charges against Young been dropped?
The police department needs to be very careful to foster confidence in the community.
I suspect that when he quietly went on the side of the house, in the bushes, to relieve himself, he surprised the officers, who became convinced he was creeping up on them and panicked. Once one hears the first shot, the others assume they are under attack and fire.
I have great respect for police officers, who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. But they can be fallible or they can have a bad apple.
The department needs to send a clear message, get this kid out of jail, drop all charges, and pay him for his injuries. They made a mistake. Own it.
If you relieve yourself on the side of a house then you deserve to get shot. Only in America.
Gotta remember the jack boots are never wrong, sig Heil! Der Furher would be pleased. We carry on in his absence.
Trumped up charges to help in the negotiations during the civil rights violation lawsuit that is sure to come. On another note. The officers were presumably close enough that brandishing knives would be a threat. 13 shots aimed at center mass and only one shot hits a leg?