Author Topic: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop? (Read 680 times)

MaterDominici · « **on:** October 23, 2019, 01:03:08 AM »

Who would ever be a cop?
If Officer Aaron Dean is guilty of murder, what’s next? Should we charge doctors with murder when they make mistakes and someone dies? Is professional malpractice really now a strict liability offense for murder whenever someone dies?
By Contributor Oct 16, 2019, 1:36pm CDT
William ChoslovskyShare this on Facebook (opens in new window)

Fort Worth, Texas, Police Officer Aaron Dean has been charged with murder in the shooting of a woman, Atatiana Jefferson, in her home on Saturday.

So is the new standard that whenever a cop — even just mistakenly — shoots a citizen while doing his job, it’s murder?
If so, then let’s be very clear what the natural consequence will be: cops will be less likely to do their jobs.
Really, would you want to be a cop?

You get a call at 2:30 in the morning. Adrenaline running. You hear something. You overreact. You shoot. You kill an innocent.
That is what happened last weekend when Aaron Dean, a young, white, Fort Worth, Texas officer, killed Atatiana Jefferson, a young black woman. Dean was called to her home to investigate an open door early in the morning. He shot and killed Jefferson when she appeared on the other side of the window with a gun in her hand.

Atatiana Jefferson
To be sure, Dean violated police policy by failing to identify he was a police officer when he suddenly saw someone — Jefferson — standing on the other side of the window. It is unclear whether in that split second he saw she had a gun. Either way, his violation was deadly.
In the old days, when police had license to do anything, nothing would have happened to Dean. There would be no consequence. That was, of course, wrong.
But the pendulum has swung so far that today — because of a mistake with no ill intent — Dean is charged with murder. He went from being on patrol looking for a bad guy to being the bad guy in a split second.
That too is wrong. Very wrong.
The proper consequence should be you lose your job. You violated policy. You made a mistake. You were negligent in doing your job, and it cost a life.
You — and your employer the police department — may also be sued civilly for the mistake. Prepare for a big-money judgment against you.
But losing your job and suffering financial penalty is one thing. Losing your liberty is another.
Absent ill intent, an officer should, at most, be charged with manslaughter, the standard of which is usually gross indifference or recklessness.
Such seemed the case with Amber Guyger, the Dallas cop who in 2018 mistakenly entered her neighbor’s apartment while off duty and tragically shot and killed Botham Jean. Guyger was convicted of murder.
But murder for an on-duty officer, like Dean this past weekend, for screwing up on the job? And perhaps piling on civil rights claims, as if an officer at 2:30 a.m. can make out race in a split second through a window, and then fire purposefully because of it?
Dean’s case is particularly bad — meaning he should lose his job, not his liberty — because reports now state that Jefferson, scared the cop outside was an intruder, pointed a gun at him from inside the window. With a gun pointed at him at 2:30 in the morning, he made a split second, tragic decision.
You might, too, in that situation, no matter your color. The truth of the matter, which we will never know, is that had Dean not fired, Jefferson might have shot him, fearful he was an intruder.
My goal is not to absolve all cops. As with any profession, there are rogue cops who cross lines. Murder charges for cops might at times be justified, as we sadly know here in Chicago.
But Dean’s case is not one of them.
If Dean is guilty of murder, what’s next? Should we charge nurses and doctors with murder when they make mistakes and someone dies? How about a firefighter who drives the truck too slow? Or the construction manager of the building in New Orleans that collapsed and killed a worker inside?
Is professional malpractice really now a strict liability offense for murder whenever someone dies?
As for the racial overlay, there is, sadly, enough racism in this world we don’t need to go looking and manufacture more. We don’t eviscerate our country’s sad racist history by charging white cops with murder every time they shoot a person of color.
The logical consequence of all this will be police won’t get out of their cars, what some call the “Ferguson effect.” Like you, almost all of them just want to do their jobs and go back to their families.
But if in doing their dangerous job they risk going to jail for murder when screwing up, good luck recruiting cops. Don’t complain when they stay in their cars. There’s way too much downside to do otherwise.
And as a result, we will all be less safe.
William Choslovsky is a lawyer in Chicago.

ByzCat3000 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2019, 01:46:54 AM »

I think counting on cops to keep us safe is likely a bad plan.

And while I don’t know the details of this case, cops rarely are held fully responsible for their actions.

Nadir · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2019, 02:40:24 AM »

Well, it's pretty scary that she called the police for help and he shot her. A horrible scenario! Sounds like a case of first shoot then ask questions, having not even identified himself. Also sounds like poor training. Tragic. Let us pray for the repose of her soul.

But it should be manslaughter, not murder.

What does it mean " to investigate an open door? "

MaterDominici · « **Reply #3 on:** October 24, 2019, 12:46:37 AM »

Quote from: Nadir on October 23, 2019, 02:40:24 AM

Well, it's pretty scary that she called the police for help and he shot her. A horrible scenario! Sounds like a case of first shoot then ask questions, having not even identified himself. Also sounds like poor training. Tragic. Let us pray for the repose of her soul.

But it should be manslaughter, not murder.

What does it mean " to investigate an open door? "

If you aren't already familiar with the initial event, there's a link within the first few sentences up there. In short, it was a neighbor who called and asked the police to check on her as he thought it unusual for her door to be open and lights on at 2:30 am. She, not knowing the police were outside, presumed it might be a criminal and was holding her gun while attempting to determine who was prowling around her home in the middle of the night. A case of poor communication all around.

Nadir · « **Reply #4 on:** October 24, 2019, 01:21:21 AM »

No, I didn't know that sequence of events. What a shame that the neighbour did not check with her first. So sad for all parties.

Pax Vobis · « **Reply #5 on:** October 24, 2019, 08:45:16 AM »

Quote

cops rarely are held fully responsible for their actions.

This.
.
Also, many cops nowadays are trigger-happy fools. There was no need to sneak up on the house. They could have announced their presence and shined flashlights through the windows. This cop didn't follow procedures, MULTIPLE TIMES, and he should be held accountable. You can't go around shooting people at 2:30am, especially when the original call had NOTHING to do with criminal activity. If the 911 call was that the neighbor was shooting at people or had a hostage, then ok. But it wasn't even close to this and the officer ESCALATED the issue. DE-ESCALATION is the job of all officers; it's what they are trained to do. If they can't do that, they should not only be fired but be in jail.
.
Police corruption is out of control, most of them protect each other (including bad cops) and many of them are masons, who use this protection to oppress the poorer communities. Make no mistake, this is all planned, and the bad masonic cops are using their immunity to wipe away the trust of the public in policemen and the justice community, just like the communists/masons wiped away the trust of priests/clerics using the child abuse scandals. Once you have a lack of trust in police, society delves into chaos and civil unrest. What a race war? What race rioting and murders? All of this is building up to such a situation. The poorer communities have many legitimate gripes with bad cops, and if you mix this with the communistic "community leaders" who are communistic masters of stirring up the population's emotions, you have a large-scale race war on the horizon.

ByzCat3000 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 24, 2019, 11:49:37 AM »

Quote from: Pax Vobis on October 24, 2019, 08:45:16 AM

This.
.
Also, many cops nowadays are trigger-happy fools. There was no need to sneak up on the house. They could have announced their presence and shined flashlights through the windows. This cop didn't follow procedures, MULTIPLE TIMES, and he should be held accountable. You can't go around shooting people at 2:30am, especially when the original call had NOTHING to do with criminal activity. If the 911 call was that the neighbor was shooting at people or had a hostage, then ok. But it wasn't even close to this and the officer ESCALATED the issue. DE-ESCALATION is the job of all officers; it's what they are trained to do. If they can't do that, they should not only be fired but be in jail.
.
Police corruption is out of control, most of them protect each other (including bad cops) and many of them are masons, who use this protection to oppress the poorer communities. Make no mistake, this is all planned, and the bad masonic cops are using their immunity to wipe away the trust of the public in policemen and the justice community, just like the communists/masons wiped away the trust of priests/clerics using the child abuse scandals. Once you have a lack of trust in police, society delves into chaos and civil unrest. What a race war? What race rioting and murders? All of this is building up to such a situation. The poorer communities have many legitimate gripes with bad cops, and if you mix this with the communistic "community leaders" who are communistic masters of stirring up the population's emotions, you have a large-scale race war on the horizon.

Cops nowadays are more concerned with their own safety than ours. I once saw a quote on a libertarian forum (to be clear I do not mean to condone libertarianism in any kind of across the board way) “a hero will give up his life for your safety, a cop gives up your life for his safety”. Obviously not every cop, there are good ones, but the system allows this type of behavior now

RomanCatholic1953 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 25, 2019, 11:57:28 AM »

The Mass Media makes it a very big deal when a white cop shoots a black and it is in the press and the media week after
week. If a black cop shoots an another black or a white you will probably just hear about in the area where the shooting
takes place. Very seldom it hits that national and the world's news.
There are several theories why:
a. Keep whites in a constant state of guilt. They are easily more controlled.
b. Blacks to blame whites for past discrimination policies, and white cops cannot be trusted.
c. The ruling elites that are mostly liberal democrats and rino (Republicans in Name Only) republicans needs constant
racial hostility to keep them in power. They want to keep people at each other's throats over racial issues, in which
the people dare not discover what they are really doing in constructing a one world government in which the elites
will suppressed God and his laws.

Author Topic: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop? (Read 680 times)

MaterDominici

Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

ByzCat3000

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

Nadir

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

MaterDominici

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

Nadir

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

Pax Vobis

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

ByzCat3000

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?

RomanCatholic1953

Re: Officer Dean murder charge - Who would ever be a cop?