We previously discussed the controversy over the shooting of a homeless man called “Africa” by the Los Angeles Police Department. It turns out that the man’s real name (well, the name he was using) was Charley Saturmin Robinet and he had a rather strange and violent past.
Police say that Robinet grabbed for one of their guns and refused to yield to their orders to drop the gun. It appears that at least one taser was used before the officers opened fire.
It turns out the the 30-year-old went by either “Africa” or “Cameroon” but was using the stolen name of a Frenchman that he used to get a passport to the United States. He came looking for an acting career in the late 1990s and took classes at the respected Beverly Hill Playhouse where George Clooney and Alex Baldwin attended. However, he could not afford the tuition and was later arrested for holding up a bank outside of Los Angeles. In the crime, he beat and pistol-whipped a teller. He was ultimately arrested after a car chase and he refused to plead guilty against the advice of his lawyer and was sentenced to 15 years. He was released in May 2014 and was shot dead less than a year later in the fight with police.
There is a real Robinet still living in France. What is interesting is that there was an initial effort to deport him but France said that he was not the real Robinet. There is no indication that the government proceeded with the deportation after that even though he clearly came from France. US immigration officials said he was called “Keunang” and was from Cameroon. Now here is the amazing thing. When Cameroon authorities did not respond to inquiries, he was let go despite being a violent illegal immigrant under controlling case law and regulations.
Obviously, this record does not mean that the shooting was justified. There still remains the question of whether he was holding a gun at the time of the shooting for example. There have been protests at the scene of the shooting and police are still reportedly investigating the matter though the initial comments of police officials appeared to support the account of the officers and use of lethal force.
Source: Telegraph
Karen S, just because the cops are reporting “their version” of what happened doesn’t mean that it’s true. In the video, you can clearly hear the taser. Why wasn’t the tasing enough for the cops to be able to arrest this man. And, let’s not forget, there’s the question of why the cops were there in the first place. Is this not a known area for homeless people to congregate and sleep? And just because someone has a violent past doesn’t mean that he’s still violent. The last I checked, America is still supposed to be the land of “innocent until proven guilty”; however, lately it seems that people want to go more by “guilty just because the cops say you are”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending violence against anyone. I’m just saying that there’s ALWAYS more to the story than what “the cops say”.
Was the man mentally ill or just a bank robber on the lamb? Being a street person he had the best chance of not being caught. Who knows what the police body cam will show, or the videos of the witnesses. No matter what the circumstances of the man’s presence here in the US, or even prior illegal history, should cops be using deadly force with uncooperative people? The report was that they tased him and it didn’t work, which seems almost unbelievable.
KarenS, Chris Rock did a hilarious and important video on how not to get arrested.
And here’s more advice – Stop breaking the law! (From Liar Liar.)
Isaac – that incident with the Indian man who spoke no English was egregious, I agree. I can’t compare that incident with one where the perp tried to get the cop’s gun. This has been all over the radio here. You can here multiple people yelling, “Drop the gun!” So they didn’t shoot instantaneously.
Yes, it needs to be investigated thoroughly, as should all officer involved shootings.
Let’s do a public service announcement:
If you want to survive a police encounter, do NOT go for the cop’s gun! Be polite and calm, obey the officer’s instructions, and if you have a complaint, save it for the IA department.
Steve H – so true. Don’t forget the part about the career of the white cop being ruined.
I live in SoCal, where we are well aware of the consequences of the flood of illegal immigrants.
They were talking about this on the radio yesterday. Identity theft is rife with illegal aliens. Some use many aliases. It is literally impossible to tell if an illegal alien had a violent past here or in their home nation unless we fingerprint them and compare with a database with the entire globe. Because they could be using the name of a deceased person with no criminal record.
In fact, they have a whole department in the LA morgue whose sole purpose is to try to correctly identify illegal aliens. Sometimes the deceased’s friends only knew him by his assumed name. They have to investigate every identity, and if it’s proven stolen or forged, sometimes there is no way to identify them.
You could hire someone to work installing safes, only to find that he is an illegal alien with stolen ID, and a long history of home robbery and rape. Or he’s a member of the Mexican drug cartels.
Illegal immigration is NOT a victimless crime, and it does have very serious consequences. That is the entire reason we have a legal immigration system.
Where is Eric Holder when we need justice? It’s a given that when a white cop shoots a black man, that the white cop is guilty, that the local authorities cannot be trusted to charge the guilty white cop, that the only way justice can be served is for the Department of Justice (!) to investigate, and that the DoJ will eventually find the white cop innocent but will barely whisper a word about.
Sorry but I don’t believe a word of what the cops said….
THE REAL STORY HERE is that with billions spent on Homeland Security this guy with no money or resources managed to get a fake passport and get into the US!!! That is a real story!
Isaac, If this guy went for a cops gun, which is certainly likely, then you are going to get shot.
Regarding the immigration. David is correct. What should be disturbing is the under reported lowering of the bar of not deporting violent illegal aliens. WTF!
Just wondering what this guys past had to do with what happened the day that he was shot…. NOTHING! as far as I can tell…
The focus here should be on one individual and five police officers. Where is the evidence of training for subduing an individual when there is one officer per arm, arm, leg, leg, and another to jump onto its chest? This was the same crime committed by the police when they choked that cigarette loosie vendor to death. The choker was build like Mr. America. There were several other officers. Why did not someone simply taser him and then restrain him. Police abilities seem to be woefully wanting in this department.
The taking to the ground of the old man, grandfather, who did not speak yet understand English by two cops is another example.
Just because a black man goes on a rampage in Ferguson and the cop is forced to shoot him does not give license for the abuses by police in other situations. Each situation must be investigated based on the peculiarities of the situation, cops, alleged criminal.
issac, it seems to me the LEO’s need training in a couple of areas:
1) How to deal with the mentally ill
2) Having LEO’s disarm themselves when they take a resistant perp into custody.
3) Understanding that a perp being tazed cannot comply with commands
4) Learning how to defuse a potentially violent situation. There is nothing wrong with backing off from an unarmed perp rather than escalating the situation to where you have to shoot to kill
I heard someone say he had his hands up, so obviously the police are lying.
There are other documents for anyone who might be interested:
https://www.scribd.com/search?query=charley+robinet
“Charley Robinet Release Document”
https://www.scribd.com/doc/257593020/Charley-Robinet-Release-Document
At 8:08, “fnn”:
“Robinet” was released from immigration custody in November 2013 under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting the amount of time individuals subject to a removal order can be detained.
Federal prison records indicate that “Robinet” was released May 12, 2014. A representative of the U.S. Marshals Service said Tuesday that “Robinet” was wanted on a federal warrant issued in January for a probation violation.
Kice said that since his released (sic), the individual had regularly reported to ICE as required by his order of supervision. His next scheduled reporting date was Thursday.” (http://ktla.com/2015/03/04/man-shot-dead-by-lapd-on-skid-row-was-from-cameroon-not-france-ice/ … and they need a good editor.)
“US immigration officials said he was called “Keunang” and was from Cameroon. Now here is the amazing thing. When Cameroon authorities did not respond to inquiries, he was simply let go despite being a violent illegal immigrant.”
Wasn’t there a court decision on this? I think the USG has to release them if their home country won’t agree to take them back.
Of course there’s more to the story:
“He was convicted under the name Charley Saturmin Robinet for a 2000 armed robbery of a bank in Thousand Oaks, and sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
While in prison, the fake Robinet was ordered removed from the country and then remanded to ICE custody in June 2013, according to a statement from Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles office of ICE. The federal agency sounds (sic, should be found) French travel documents, which were initially issued by the French consul general’s office.
The documents were then rescinded when consular officials determined “Robinet” was a Cameroonian national, Kice said. Officials in Cameroon did not respond to requests for travel documents to that country, according to Kice.
“Robinet” was released from immigration custody in November 2013 under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting the amount of time individuals subject to a removal order can be detained.
Federal prison records indicate that “Robinet” was released May 12, 2014. A representative of the U.S. Marshals Service said Tuesday that “Robinet” was wanted on a federal warrant issued in January for a probation violation.
Kice said that since his released (sic), the individual had regularly reported to ICE as required by his order of supervision. His next scheduled reporting date was Thursday.” (http://ktla.com/2015/03/04/man-shot-dead-by-lapd-on-skid-row-was-from-cameroon-not-france-ice/ … and they need a good editor.)
When will we ever fix our immigration procedures? The most important role of the federal government, if not the only role, is security and immigration.