Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Randall Kerrick (right) has been charged with voluntary manslaughter after he shot and killed an unarmed man who was reportedly looking for help after getting into a car accident. Jonathan Ferrell, 24, was a former Florida A & M football player.
Ferrell apparently was in a car wreck and was seeking help by knocking on the door of a house. The woman inside called 911 out of fear.
The police found Ferrell a short distance away and he ran toward them — presumably thinking he could get help. Instead, the police tasered him and when he continued toward them, Kerrick shot him repeatedly. They later found a wrecked car believed to be Ferrell’s.
Why did dead guy run AT the cop? Why did dead guy run off the road? Maybe after the autopsy there will be evidence of Meth. Maybe he was crazy and just left the mental hospital. Maybe he was in need of being shot after being tazed. We don’t know. Go a bit easier on the cop.
We used to teach our children, that when they need help they should find a police officer.
I am very sad to say, that this is NOT something I teach my kids anymore, and I discourage it in others as well.
As this article illustrates well – The police are often the MOST dangerous people on the street.
If they don’t like that we see them this way:
then they had best look in the mirror and in the headlines –
change what they see in both,
and we will change what we see in them.
It appears that the object of “To Protect and Serve” has switched from applying to our communities to simply apply to only those people who wear a badge & carry a gun.
If they don’t want their patrol areas to feel like war zones –
then perhaps they should stop treating them that way –
lest they create a self fulfilling prophesy, for no “military” has really ever fared well long term against a motivated native insurgency.
Reblogged this on veritasusa and commented:
We used to teach our children, that when they need help – they should find a police officer. I am very sad to say, that this is NOT something I teach my kids anymore, and I discourage it in others as well. The police are often the MOST dangerous people on the street. If they don’t like that we have this attitude towards them, they best look in the mirror and in the headlines – change what they see in both, and we will change what we see in them.
For those that seek justice in this case or all the others, don’t hold your breath.
I’ve had strangers knock on my door and say they’ve been in an accident. I don’t let them in but I do call for help–for them.
From the flood of unjustified police shooting lately, it would appear that cops are not receiving the proper training. Two armed cops are approached by a disoriented accident victim and they first thing they do is try to taser him (and miss) and then shoot him to death. I wonder if this is the result of the militarization of our local police.
H.W. Otwell
1, September 16, 2013 at 11:11 am
“One speaker was a retired lawyer and judge who was African American. He now spends time talking to and teaching young men of color what to do and not to do when approached by police. He made mention of the fact that sudden movements and belligerent attitudes should be avoided.”
It’s very sad that we now have to teach young people to treat an encounter with police the same as an encounter with a stray dog or wild animal.
From what I’ve seen… This action is justified under the circumstances…. It’s just a beginning for bad cops I hope…
lets wait before rushing to judgement on either side.
Fred: “lets wait before rushing to judgement on either side.”
Tell that to the dead guy.
Al
You really don’t know what you are talking about with regard to Tasers do you? Here is what you wrote:
A law enforcement model Taser is a firearm. Not only in the common sense but in the NFA sense. For an individual to buy and own one legally requires the same procedure as acquiring a machinegun.
A Taser is NOT a firearm any more a firearm than a dart gun or a BB gun is. Federal Law does not consider a Taser to be a Firearm. It operates off the expansion of gases which propel the probes. It is not by gunpowder which would make it a firearm. Where do you get that one has to go through the same procedure as a machine gun? You mean get a FFL? No. It is not a violation of federal law for a civilian to own a Taser, though some states restrict it.
Non-LE (“civilian”) Tasers are powered by CO2 to avoid the firearm restrictions.
Tasers use Nitrogen as the propellant gas. This applies to the current LE Tasers and the C2 civilian cartridges.
Because there is some danger of death to the subject, the Taser must be considered a deadly weapon. The company represents it as a “less lethal,” not a nonlethal, weapon. It is only to be used on a human subject if deadly force is justifiable, though death and serious bodily harm to the subject is desired to be avoided.
Again, you are wrong. The entire purpose of the Taser is to provide an alternative to using a firearm or deadly weapon. I know your type of thinking that it is always a deadly weapon and you will never be convinced othewise so I am not going to debate you endlessly on this. You could consider a PR-24 or nightstick to be a deadly weapon because you can certainly beat somone over the head with it or strike them in the throat and it would likely be lethal. But the PR 24 and the nightstick are not considered deadly weapons per se. If you equate Tasers to be exactly equal on the force continuum as a pistol there would then be no reason to even carry a Tasewr because the pistol is a more reliable weapon to use in deadly force than a taser will be. The Taser is generally , depending on department, between pain compliance holds and impact weapon. Some consider it to be the same on the force continuum as OC / Pepper spray. But it is not on the same level as a pistol or shotgun, as you imply.
So where do I get my facts? I was a LEO and carried one from around 2006 until I retired from the profession.
Al wrote:
“There is nothing in law to compel police/sheriffs/LEOs to tell the truth .. . In addition, unlike non-LEOs, they will not be prosecuted criminally for perjury”
~+~
I’m curious where you got that information from?
First nothing to compel LEOs to tell the truth eh? How about this.
“I affirm under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States and the State of Washington that the information contained within this report is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.”
I wrote that kind of statement (or it was pre-printed on the form) on every report / probable cause affidavit I made when I was a LEO and I signed attesting to it. That statement is required when presenting information especially on charging documents or affidavits for search or arrest warrants. If the officer doesn’t attest under penalty of perjury the judge is going to toss it. Not to mantion:
“Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you will give before this court is the truth?”
So where do you get that this is not required?
As for the perjury issue. Again I don’t see where you get your supporting evidence. I have seen perjury and false swearing charges levied against officers and some convictions over the years. I agree it is not perjury when someone makes a mistake in their testimony, but there are times when a material fact was intentionally misrepresented and a perjury is levied.
I know this is anecdotal, but back in 1988 I took a firearms instruction class at one of the state police academies. There was a jail trustee who worked on the range cleaning up and doing odd jobs there. I thought that was highly strange to have a trustee assigned to a secure area with firearms available, but then out of the blue the trustee, who we were engaging in small talk during a break said that he was a police officer in the area and he got nicked in U.S. District Court for perjury based on some testimony he did. He lost everything, his career, etc and was now imprisoned for it.
“The fact that a Taser shot doesn’t work does not mean the next course of action must be using a firearm.”
A law enforcement model Taser is a firearm. Not only in the common sense but in the NFA sense. For an individual to buy and own one legally requires the same procedure as acquiring a machinegun.
Non-LE (“civilian”) Tasers are powered by CO2 to avoid the firearm restrictions.
Because there is some danger of death to the subject, the Taser must be considered a deadly weapon. The company represents it as a “less lethal,” not a nonlethal, weapon. It is only to be used on a human subject if deadly force is justifiable, though death and serious bodily harm to the subject is desired to be avoided.
The doctrine is that if you are justified in shooting a subject once, you are justified in shooting the subject ten or a hundred times, whatever it takes to make the subject stop moving.
Also if the subject is dead, the subject will not testify against you.
Police = good guys
Non-Law Enforcement = Suspects at the least, probably “Perps” (perpetrators), certainly the Enemy.
Police are no longer Peace Officers who use the law to keep the peace, but Law Enforcement, who enforce the law.
There is nothing in law to compel police/sheriffs/LEOs to tell the truth. They, like all witnesses, cannot be sued for damages due to perjury. In addition, unlike non-LEOs, they will not be prosecuted criminally for perjury.
Read Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 US (1983) for a treatment by the US Supreme Court. The Court did not say that LEOs were granted immunity from criminal prosecution for perjury, only that in the history of Western jurisprudence it had never happened and probably never would happen.
The tendency is for LEOs to “enhance” or “embellish” the truth rather than to blatantly lie. To add imaginary testimony to make the subject look worse. For if their perjury becomes obvious to the judge, it may result in dismissal or acquittal.
Jonathan Ferrell, Unarmed Man Killed In North Carolina, Was Shot 10 Times By Officer: Police
By MITCH WEISS & JEFFREY COLLINS
09/16/13 07:09 PM ET
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/jonathan-ferrell-shot_n_3937175.html
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An unarmed man seeking help after a car crash over the weekend was shot 10 times by the Charlotte police officer who’s now charged in his death, investigators said Monday.
The release of the information supporting the voluntary manslaughter charge came at the end of a day that also included the first public remarks by victim Jonathan A. Ferrell’s family. A family attorney and representatives of the NAACP questioned whether race played a role in the shooting of the black man by a white officer.
Ferrell’s family said the former Florida A&M University football player moved to Charlotte about a year ago to be with his fiancee and was working two jobs. He wanted to go back to school and eventually become an automotive engineer.
“You took a piece of my heart that I can never put back,” said Ferrell’s mother, Georgia Ferrell, as she clutched a stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll her 24-year-old son loved as a child.
A police news release said Officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 times at Ferrell early Saturday while responding to a breaking and entering call, hitting him 10 times. Kerrick was scheduled for a first court appearance Tuesday on the voluntary manslaughter charge. continues…
running towards cops now can get you killed or seriously harmed. when i was a teen running towards cops got you help. they took the time to stop and listen. who’s to say he was running to the cops as opposed to just be out running at night as some people are want to do since the streets are more empty..he could have been the owner of the home who made the call… in any case the young man did nothing wrong
Poorly trained officers equal yet another terrible tragedy.
No apparent witnesses so how can we know he actually “charged” at the police menacingly. If the police did believe it was an attempted burglary they may well have ‘prejudged’ the situation. It does not make sense, however, that this man was shot down unless they overreacted with malice towards him and concocted a story to justify their brutal handling of this young man in the prime of his life..
Who protects us from the police? No one because they are per se heroes and the rest of is are per se criminals and targets. Police are no longer the ones to go to when you need help.
See what I mean. Men/women that are quick to draw their guns and are going to rush into judgement before seeing what is going on, should never be in military or a be a police officer. This cop should be charged with murder. There is a saying about someone being shot multiply times (or stabbed), Its called overkill. Anyone that overkills another human being should be charged with murder. So basically people if you want to kill people and get away with it become a police officer. That is what we are learning and that is what the law is teaching.
I’m with ya Mack.
I often am left asking, who protects us from the police?