MURDERER GOES FREE! was pretty much the headline I saw yesterday about the shooting of Daniel Shaver. The very much edited version of the video I saw did not explain much nor the articles accompanying the video. But one thing it called my attention immediately was that we had one officer responding to a call with a long gun. And that Ladies and gents told me that this was not a hotel manager calling the cop simple noise complain and eviction.

It was not till this morning that I caught Donut Operator’s video and explanation. Watch it all and I shall continue after.

Not quite the same stuff you read in most places, is it? And I have to say this: you shove your arm behind your back and it is going to be interpreted as you about to reach for a firearm. I know, was in a similar situation and it was reacting or finding out if there was a gun. And sorry but  I am not giving you the benefit of the doubt with my life at stake.

Was it a bad procedure? Yes. it was a cluster fuck and in hindsight,  things could have been done differently. But Bad procedure in this case does not mean it carries the same weight as breaking the law. For all we know that procedure has been used thousands of times before by Mesa PD without negative results. They were riding on luck till the tank hit empty and somebody got killed.

As for a civil case, I haven’t investigated if one was done, but I figure the family has a better chance there. IANAL but bad procedure can be used against the department in a lawsuit.

This was an enormous shit sandwich with some people taking a bigger bite than others.