LAPD Officer Shoots at Driver Eight Times Over Double Parking Incident

[Revnak]

Officer Fires 8 Wildly Out-of-Policy Shots at Man Fleeing Pretextual Stop; Evolving LAPD Statements Attempt to Pin Blame on Driver - Streetsblog Los Angeles

LAPD is accusing 30yo Travis Elster of assault with a deadly weapon to justify the shooting.

la.streetsblog.org

I understand this is a blog rather than an article, but the heavy reliance on video and photograph evidence does help make up for the unreliability of blogs from my perspective.

But yes, it’s an absurdly familiar story of LAPD endangering lives to arrest black people minding their own business. The officer fired eight times on a man evading a search that was prompted by an instance of double parking in a private parking lot. There is no clear justification for the stop or the search in this case other than the driver happening to be black. No justification for the use of deadly force at a busy street other than the driver attempting to avoid what is quite clearly an illegal search.

 

[bluegate]

'Murca!

 

[thebobmaster]

Quick! Let's dig into the background of the driver, and anyone he might be related to, to find something he did wrong that the cop would have no way of knowing about, but would otherwise justify his actions!

 

[Gergar12]

You would think the police who practice active shooter drills would know how to aim.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Quick! Let's dig into the background of the driver, and anyone he might be related to, to find something he did wrong that the cop would have no way of knowing about, but would otherwise justify his actions!

It'll just be a word jumble of rationalizations and pure fantasy put in front of the eight words the racists really want to say: "He was a thug who had it coming."

 

[Gordon_4]

You would think the police who practice active shooter drills would know how to aim.

Aiming and shooting is actually a lot harder than it looks. Like to be good at it means it has to be your daily driver activity: like being a designated marksman in a rifle company. Police are given a very basic drill over and over to aim for centre mass (the torso) and keep firing until the target stops moving. Lather rinse repeat. They can allegedly shoot competently, but not expertly.

As for the case at hand, oi vey. LAPD, go home you’re drunk.

 

[Thaluikhain]

To be fair, the police officer might have been having a bad day.

 

[Trunkage]

To be fair, the police officer might have been having a bad day.

Man, people are taking The Joker way too seriously

 

[McElroy]

"So anyway, I started blasting."
- the cop probably

 

[Dalisclock]

Officer Fires 8 Wildly Out-of-Policy Shots at Man Fleeing Pretextual Stop; Evolving LAPD Statements Attempt to Pin Blame on Driver - Streetsblog Los Angeles

LAPD is accusing 30yo Travis Elster of assault with a deadly weapon to justify the shooting.

la.streetsblog.org

I understand this is a blog rather than an article, but the heavy reliance on video and photograph evidence does help make up for the unreliability of blogs from my perspective.

But yes, it’s an absurdly familiar story of LAPD endangering lives to arrest black people minding their own business. The officer fired eight times on a man evading a search that was prompted by an instance of double parking in a private parking lot. There is no clear justification for the stop or the search in this case other than the driver happening to be black. No justification for the use of deadly force at a busy street other than the driver attempting to avoid what is quite clearly an illegal search.

You'd think if some of these cops wanted to shoot someone so badly they'd have joined the military or a PMC or something, because I swear it feels like there's a lot of these Trigger happy cop incidents against people who aren't fucking armed.

 

[Agema]

You'd think if some of these cops wanted to shoot someone so badly they'd have joined the military or a PMC or something, because I swear it feels like there's a lot of these Trigger happy cop incidents against people who aren't fucking armed.

If you want to shoot at real people the army is often not a good pick, because even despite the odd war the army actually does very little fighting. If you're in a spec ops unit (SEALs, etc.) you've got a much better chance. And if you do want to shoot someone, nice to shoot people less likely to shoot back.

 

[Thaluikhain]

You'd think if some of these cops wanted to shoot someone so badly they'd have joined the military or a PMC or something,

One might ask what the difference is, and only be half-joking. Quite a lot of the training and organisation of various police forces mirrors military or PMC, and they especially like ex-military types to join.

 

[laggyteabag]

Jeez.

You watch the footage, and there are people everywhere, and this officer just point-blank fires 8 bullets into this car. Even if the driver was a threat, the officer obviously had zero concern for bystanders.

Im so glad I live in a country where officers aren't armed, unless specifically called for.

 

[Chimpzy]

You'd think if some of these cops wanted to shoot someone so badly they'd have joined the military or a PMC or something, because I swear it feels like there's a lot of these Trigger happy cop incidents against people who aren't fucking armed.

A fair number of cops are former military/pmc actually. For example, the sheriff in the Atlanta massage parlour shootings? I mean the actual sheriff, not the spokesman? Apparently did a tour in Iraq with Blackwater.

 

[Gordon_4]

If you want to shoot at real people the army is often not a good pick, because even despite the odd war the army actually does very little fighting. If you're in a spec ops unit (SEALs, etc.) you've got a much better chance. And if you do want to shoot someone, nice to shoot people less likely to shoot back.

And by and large the special units don't want trigger happy fuckheads who crack under pressure. In fact their pre-selection and training periods are deliberately supposed to weed out gun-wankers who snuck under the radar of the regulars. Not that its a silver bullet, as recent scandals with the Australian SAS regiments (providing they're true) show that even the best trained can go doolally, or even bluff their trainers to the point a crazy head gets in and starts doing evil shit. Even then, I have this weird feeling my odds are better if I come against the wrong end of an Australian soldier's rifle than an American police officer's pistol.

 

[happyninja42]

You'd think if some of these cops wanted to shoot someone so badly they'd have joined the military or a PMC or something, because I swear it feels like there's a lot of these Trigger happy cop incidents against people who aren't fucking armed.

Many of them ARE ex-military, and they often have unresolved psychological issues from their deployment time, that they hide so they can keep their cop job. Because hey, if I let on that I am feeling emotionally unstable, and might not be able to control my impulses, in a job that is highly likely to DO that, they'll fire me! I can't lose my job man!

 

[Thaluikhain]

And by and large the special units don't want trigger happy fuckheads who crack under pressure. In fact their pre-selection and training periods are deliberately supposed to weed out gun-wankers who snuck under the radar of the regulars. Not that its a silver bullet, as recent scandals with the Australian SAS regiments (providing they're true) show that even the best trained can go doolally, or even bluff their trainers to the point a crazy head gets in and starts doing evil shit. Even then, I have this weird feeling my odds are better if I come against the wrong end of an Australian soldier's rifle than an American police officer's pistol.

As I understand it, the SASR was having problems, in part, due to daily conducting combat operations, which isn't what they (or anyone) is really supposed to be doing. Not an excuse for murdering civilians, but this problem is not one that applies to US police, though they like to pretend that it is.

 

[Agema]

And by and large the special units don't want trigger happy fuckheads who crack under pressure. In fact their pre-selection and training periods are deliberately supposed to weed out gun-wankers who snuck under the radar of the regulars. Not that its a silver bullet, as recent scandals with the Australian SAS regiments (providing they're true) show that even the best trained can go doolally, or even bluff their trainers to the point a crazy head gets in and starts doing evil shit. Even then, I have this weird feeling my odds are better if I come against the wrong end of an Australian soldier's rifle than an American police officer's pistol.

I fear that the overlap between people who don't crack under that sort of pressure and people who abuse POWs and desecrate corpses is unfortunately substantial.

I'm pretty sure somewhere or other I came across this assessment of some notable ex-SAS guy ("Andy McNab"?) was that he's a sociopath. A high functioning sociopath, who accepts societal rules of appropriate conduct and so functions as a productive, law abiding citizen: but he is fundamentally lacking in empathy and care for other people. And even for those who didn't start out that way, I suspect that's much of what military training is designed to make them more like.

 

[happyninja42]

I fear that the overlap between people who don't crack under that sort of pressure and people who abuse POWs and desecrate corpses is unfortunately substantial.

I'm pretty sure somewhere or other I came across this assessment of some notable ex-SAS guy ("Andy McNab"?) was that he's a sociopath. A high functioning sociopath, who accepts societal rules of appropriate conduct and so functions as a productive, law abiding citizen: but he is fundamentally lacking in empathy and care for other people. And even for those who didn't start out that way, I suspect that's much of what military training is designed to make them more like.

Yes, given the built in reluctance to actually kill other humans in our species, a lot of the combat training is built around "othering" the enemy. To desensitize the soldier to the idea of killing them, so they will be less likely to choke in combat. The problem is that the conditioning soldiers get during what might be a LONG military career, doesn't really just shut off when they are civilians. Transitional stress back to civilian life fucks with a lot of them, and many don't handle it well. Very often the ones with mental disorders FROM their time in the military. So they just keep going through life, acting like a soldier, which comes out at the worst times. But hey, they've got military training! So they will be a great addition to our police force! They even know how to use all these toys we got second hand from the military! Nevermind he's a boiling kettle about to explode of stress and anxiety, give him a gun and send him out there to police the streets! What could go wrong??

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The problem is that the conditioning soldiers get during what might be a LONG military career, doesn't really just shut off when they are civilians. Transitional stress back to civilian life fucks with a lot of them, and many don't handle it well.

It comes to the point where some end up wanting to be in jail just so they can have a regimented, controlled life again, rather than the chaos and self-initiative of civilian life. But that's just one of several rants I could go on about how "first-world countries" treat their soldiers both during and after service.