Supreme Court Takes Up Case on Liability When Police Provoke Violence

By | December 6, 2016

  • December 6, 2016 at 1:47 pm
    GoldC says:
    Hot debate. What do you think?
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    Observations:
    1) This incident is from 2010, so the current culture of heightened vigilance regarding police shootings is irrelevant and deserved no mention;
    2) The police didn’t provoke the violence – Mendez with his hand on his BB gun did.

    • December 6, 2016 at 3:14 pm
      George Lee says:
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      No! his story is not irrelevant & it does merit mention. It is just one of the incidents that have been encouraged by attitudes like yours. Incidents like this have occurred over & over again & again in several different localities & dismissed by reasoning like yours,— many times resulting in the death of innocent humans. The only thing to get people like you to see the light is to have the same thing happen to you, & then you should be forced to apologize & thank the cops for their good work in keeping the public safe. This is the “Stanford Experiment” in practice.

      • December 7, 2016 at 9:12 am
        GoldC says:
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        Which “story?”

        My comment is inspired by my experiences with crime and law enforcement.

        TN’s comment below makes sense. But I’m sure the police entry sounded nothing like rodents.

        This happened in the 70’s and 80’s, too. Police then acted faster and thought less. Compare stats and you will see that the psychoanalytic nature of law enforcement that prevails today didn’t exist in the past.

  • December 6, 2016 at 2:02 pm
    Jeff says:
    Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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    I don’t know about you, Gold… but if I’m sound asleep and someone kicks the door in, I am reaching for my sidearm immediately because I have no idea who my assailant is. If all I have is a BB gun, then I grab the BB gun. I am normally a VERY pro-police individual, but law enforcement officers need to start considering the lives and safety of the general public as equal to their own safety again. This kind of crap didn’t happen when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s.

    • May 9, 2017 at 2:21 pm
      A Reader says:
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      The police had asked the landowner if it was okay to search the property. The landowner then gave the officers permission to search the area. There was probable cause due to the fact that there was a wanted individual in that known area. Yes, the officers didn’t state that police were there to search, but the landowner should have stated that there were some people living in a shack on his land.
      LA County should win.

  • December 6, 2016 at 3:36 pm
    TNReader says:
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    I am pro police as well, but in this case, since the officers had been told of the presence of the couple, and the people were in a windowless shack, why didn’t the officers just instruct any occupants to step out of the shack?

    Also wonder why the officers individually should be responsible? The city should be responsible for proper training and the actions of the officers.

  • December 6, 2016 at 3:47 pm
    Vic says:
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    Just because you have a badge and a gun and your job is to enforce the laws of the people it does not entitle you to empty your weapon on another human being because you felt threatened. The police are projecting an ambivalent view of the public as being above the law rather than enforcing it. The law should be enforced on everyone no matter which side your on and punished equally without prejudice. It’s very simple and basic in order for a society to live in harmony.

    • December 6, 2016 at 4:26 pm
      GoldC says:
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      How does your comment relate to the story?

  • December 6, 2016 at 9:54 pm
    Paul Finestone says:
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    When you reach for a gun, you accept the consequences of violence. The law is very clear on this. The police officers were in uniform. When your first move to to grab at a firearm, the officers absolutely have the right to use equivalent force in their own protection. For every story like this, there are thousands of cases where the police have served and protected to all of our great benefit. It is a liars narrative that the police in general are wrong. They are the very thin line between major violence and the population including all of us. Perhaps the over focus on the police has provided vastly excessive protections to killers, murderers, rapists and drug dealers at all of our expense. I am fully with the officers in this case. As should be the entire insurance industry -whose operations and profits ride on a law abiding society. I suggest that those of you do not back the police should take part in a police “ride along” program. A couple of nights of that will change your mind forever on this issue and provide a true basis for gratitude for all these offices do for all of us.

    • December 7, 2016 at 1:53 pm
      Jeff says:
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      My concern here is that law enforcement now is nothing like it was 20+ years ago. They don’t knock on your door at 2pm, announce that they have a warrant and ask you to come out. Instead, they show up at 4am, throw flash-bang grenades through your windows while someone smashes your door off the hinges with a battering ram and enter your home with guns drawn.

      Suddenly you go from sound asleep to being temporarily deafened and partially blinded, sitting up in bed to find yourself surrounded by smoke and a bunch of people in combat gear and a dozen laser pointers on your chest a few seconds later. Forgive me if I think I might just reach into the nightstand for my pistol as I hear all the loud noise, but before I realize it’s police and not someone breaking into my home to rob me and/or do unspeakable things to my wife and children.

      Police are NOT… I repeat NOT supposed to be used as a para-military fast attack group. They are supposed to “protect and serve”. Somewhere along the way, some of them have forgotten that.

      • December 12, 2016 at 5:29 pm
        Bob says:
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        I want to know where you came up with this imagery. In your head?

        The police killings are more than other years, for sure, but what you just illustrated is not what is occurring even remotely close the a normal occurrence with the cops currently. This shack referenced in the article, the cops were likely very confused how exactly to enter based on what I read. There were no flash bangs in the article I just read. You just used some heavy imagery and conflation, so you’re going to have to use examples and numbers then on flash bang usage and bashing in doors at 4 am. Forgive me if I don’t believe someone who sounds like they have proclivity to extreme over exaggeration.

    • December 7, 2016 at 1:58 pm
      SWFL Agent says:
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      Thanks for the lecture Paul. I believe most of us on this site do support law enforcement. While I haven’t participated in a ride along program, I know enough about the job (and people) to know that’s it’s difficult, dangerous, and not something I want to do. And I have gratitude for those that choose the profession. The judge in the case felt the “officers reasonably feared for their safety” . That’s a standard defense. Was there a better way to approach the building so their “fear” could have been minimized? Most police are smart – They knew, or should have known, that this was a bad neighborhood where citizens often have firearms to protect themselves against other citizens. I say the likelihood of opening the door, unannounced, and having a gun being pointed at them was pretty high



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