We have been following the case of Ohio officer Thomas White who shot an unarmed motorcyclist, Michael McCloskey, Jr. The crime was captured on the video below. White was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for the shooting which left McCloskey paralyzed two years ago
White, 27, was charged with felonious assault with a firearms specification and was convicted after a jury deliberated for six hours. Notably, two expert witnesses testified that White was justified in shooting the unarmed McCloskey. White himself testified and called this a “high risk vehicle stop” and that he considered it odd that McCloskey began to turn around while sitting on the motorcycle. Defense expert Columbus police Officer James Scanlon was even more forgiving and generous in his testimony. “I come to the conclusion that it was reasonable and, by all the standards we live by, it was justified.” He insisted that by fleeing the two motorcyclists gave White a reason to believe his life was in “imminent risk.” Urey Patrick, a retired FBI agent turned consultant, noted “one appeared to be out of control, the other suddenly stopped. They already indicated a willingness to flee. That’s an indicator that this is not a routine stop.” Notably, it was not clear that the motorcyclists knew White was behind them, but the experts insisted that it only mattered what White knew — not the men. Yet, that would allow an officer to gun down any fleeing suspect with any movement of the driver — a clear violation of Garner v. Tennessee.
The jury obviously rejected the testimony of those witnesses. From the videotape, I fail to see the reasonable basis for the use of force. The video shows White following Mr. McCloskey and a fellow motorcyclist, Aaron Snyder, for several blocks before the shooting. If these experts were correct, there would be tens of thousands of such justified shootings each year by officers.
The sentence was actually not the maximum of 11 years that White was facing.
Only three years of the sentence are mandatory under Ohio law due to the use of a gun.
Source: Toledo Blade.
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Justice. The “experts” are liars.
He should stay in jail till his victim can walk and ride a bike again.
That would be justice.
But at least he didn’t get off becasue he was a cop.
What kind of civil suit will there be now that White has been found guilty?
I’m glad the jury didn’t buy into the bunk being offered to them by the “experts.”
Result!
“I come to the conclusion that it was reasonable and, by all the standards we live by, it was justified.”(Columbus police Officer James Scanlon, a 31-year veteran with the Columbus Police Department. who shot a suspect in the past … )
Somebody in the Columbus Police Department better keep a careful eye on this guy ’cause the “standards” he lives by are questionable. His neighbors might also, “justifiably”, want to give him a wide berth.
I am surprised an Officer was convicted for its criminal acts. After all this is a rather upscale area of Ohio.
Four Dead and Nixons coming…..
Buddha,
They have been doing that since the end of the Clinton years. When the implemented to aid to enemy combatants acts and the Sct upheld it recently. Like yesterday.
I suppose Garner will be rewritten on the expedited hearing to determine if Garner is applicable to the states as stated.
Miranda has been rewritten where silence can be used against you, so this is the next logical step.
“Urey Patrick, a retired FBI agent turned consultant, noted ‘one appeared to be out of control, the other suddenly stopped. They already indicated a willingness to flee. That’s an indicator that this is not a routine stop.'”
No, genius, it indicated that ONE of them had a willingness to flee as McCloskey had STOPPED. Motive and action of one in a group is not attributable to others in the group unless it’s a RICO violation, nitwit.
Are they giving out FBI badges in cereal boxes now or what?