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Ruark wrote:One thing for sure: you can count on the press for tweaking the story to make it as juicy as possible and to make the cop look like a homicidal lunatic.

Beyond all the points that have been made so far, I'm a little concerned about the incident itself going ultra-viral and generating copycats, a whole new nationwide epidemic.

You know they are going to squeeze it for all its worth. Swatting has been around for a while now so not being new, I hope we don't see a surge in incidents either.

You know, there are some other points of interest:

A friend and I were discussing this and he said that the police should have known something was up because you could tell the caller was lying in the 911 call. The only way we know that he was is because it's all after that fact -something my friend is unwilling to accept. When he didn't appear to know how many stories the house was and he didn't appear to know what kind of gun it was or even where the bedroom was. You can point to it as an "a-ha" moment. The 911 dispatcher couldn't see into the future though. I just try to put myself into these situation and imagine limiting myself to knowledge they had at the moment. It's easy for me then to read this guy like he's disconnected or on drugs, maybe even mentally impaired. You notice the caller did a good job of escalating the situation by indicating he was probably going to set the house of fire real soon.

As for the house not being a single level house as described, what is the protocol for a discrepancy like that? I'm quite sure they just can't leave and go get a beer.

There are no winners in this, the victims family or the police officer. For now, to me this looks like a unfortunate situation where someone couldn't follow verbal commands by a officer of the law - again . . . after the real person to blame tried to get a stranger on the internet killed. He did.

So a question just came to me. What would i do in this situation? I think if I perceived conflicting orders, I would just leave my hands in the air.

srothstein wrote:

Which brings me to point two. I don't see an officer to the right of the victim. I do see a patrol car parked there. What makes no sense to me is why they would park a car there and then have the officer back away to across the street. Tactics would have said to not park that close to begin with, and not to leave the cover of the car to cross an open street.

I should clarify that the officer that was being perceived to be in danger is to the East or to the victims right as if he had just walked out the door. The main group of LEO's were to the north of the house across the street and it took me a bit to get my bearings. I was focused on the police car too and kept looking at the building or right next to the porch not seeing anything. If you watch it again, the LEO is in front of the small house to our left.

srothstein wrote:

EDIT - Thanks Steve_M. Your post makes what I was posting a little more clear. You did it while I was writing too.

Your welcome - As I'm reminded from time to time by a dear friend - Every once in a while the sun shines down in on that root cellar I call a brain.

MechAg94 wrote:Did you noticed how far away the cops were from this guy? IMO, they were never under any significant threat no matter what his hands were doing or what he might have had in them. If they were in the yard close to him, I can see giving more leeway, but they were pretty far back. That is too trigger happy for me.

[ur]lhttp://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article192244734.html[/url]

-Quote from article-

Livingston provided this account of what happened when Finch opened the door:

“Officers gave him several verbal commands to put his hands up and walk towards them. The male complied for a very short time and then put his hands back down to his waist. The officers continued to give him verbal commands to put his hands up, and he lowered them again.

“The male then turned towards the officers on the east side of the residence, lowered his hands to the waistband again, then suddenly pulled them back up towards those officers at the east.

“The officers on the north side of the street feared the male pulled a weapon from his waistband, retrieved a gun and was in the process of pointing it at the officers to the east. Fearing for those officers’ safety, the officer on the north side fired one round.”

-End quote-

I'm no ballistics expert but I'm quite sure had there been a pistol, it would be lethal at that distance. Whether or not he could have hit his target, we will never know. The LEO's didn't know either. As it turns out there was a LEO in the yard of the small house to the right. They were closer and as the quote points out the LEO that fired the shot feared for his fellow officers life. The video looks like to me that it backs this up.

Edited for spelling - I'm no grammar pro either

I watched the body cam video last night that was shown in real time and then it was slowed down. The guy had his hands up and then put them down by his waist and raised them rapidly and it appears he has something in them. It took me a few times watching it to get that though. The LEO didn't have a few times. They didn't have the luxury of putting everything in slow-mo. What got this innocent person shot was primarily the low life that made the call. Secondly though, what got him shot was him lowering his hands and bringing them back rapidly with what looks like something black in his hands and if you listened to the call, the swatter said he had a black pistol.

They need to bring a harsh and long punishment upon the low life that made the call.