Imagine if an African-American man shot a white Dallas Police Officer in the officers appartment!!!

[USALiberal]

Do you think the shooter would still be free?

Do you think the shooter would have been allowed to roam around the crime scene?

Do you think the shooters name would have been kept secret and only released after the social media discovered it?

Do you think the shooter would still not have been charged with a crime FOUR DAYS LATER??

We all know the answer to this. I guarantee the legal system is trying to figure out a way this cop gets off.

And saying the Texas Rangers are running the investigation to not be partial is BS. They want to protect officers also.

If there was ever a case where a citizens review board was needed, it is this one.

Sorry for the rant!!

[lostnfound]

1. TV coverage of the funeral and discussions about chronic violence in the black community nt

[struggle4progress]

2. "She sincerely believed he was intruding into her home! It doesn't matter that in fact

she was actually intruding into his home! It's a clear case for a Stand-Your-Ground defense!"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. I think in this case, it's the "Seize-your-Ground" defense.

Actually, I think it's the "Drunk Off-Duty Cop Shoots Black Guy" defense. Should be good enough.

[struggle4progress]

5. It's Dallas: many people will weep about how she's suffered enough

[tammywammy]

12. And yet Dallas County convicts ed a police officer recently

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Sentencing-Underway-for-Ex-Balch-Springs-Officer-Convicted-of-Murder-491972191.html

Convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years.

[Blue_Tires]

43. She already has her "official" story lined up

Link to tweet

[AJT]

33. Since when is shooting an unarmed person in THEIR home "stand your ground"?

It doesn't matter if she THOUGHT she was at her own apartment, she wasn't. Basically if she gets off you could walk up to any door, shoot a person and claim you made a mistake.

[struggle4progress]

44. It's Texas. And I think "Stand Your Ground" probably does mean you can shoot anybody,

provided they die so only your side of the story gets told

[Johnny2X2X]

39. That's her story

I find it troubling that the only thing released is her version of the story. Let me tell you, it is not an established fact that she mistook his apartment for hers. That's her story an d the police made sure only her story got out.

[struggle4progress]

41. He can't tell his side of the story, of course

[Johnny2X2X]

45. Of course

In general though, when someone is murdered, the police don't produce the suspect's excuse (s) to the Press. You don't see the police say, "The suspect was might have made a mistake and was tired after work." when it's some street shooting. In general, law enforcement work with prosecutors to try to prove guilt, it's the defense attorney that tells the suspects side of the story.

[HipChick]

4. This case will be white-washed...

[RockRaven]

6. I mentioned in another thread the media's participation in biasing the result here too...

Not only is the law enforcement/criminal justice system structured in such a way that this cop will face a vastly lighter penalty for this action than if the role between perp and victim were reversed, but the reporting on this event is egregious.

From the first reports we've got headlines and ledes saying she mistook his apartment for her own. Right away the excuse/defense is being baked into the story as FACT. How can they possibly justify reporting that as FACT when there hasn't been an investigation yet? How do they know it wasn't premeditated? How to they know it wasn't impulsive but intentional? How do they know it wasn't a hate crime? How do they know it wasn't a lover's quarrel? THEY DON'T KNOW what happened there yet, but all the headlines are carrying water for the perpetrator's defense from the very first moment. F- the media. F- journalists. F- copy editors.

[Johnny2X2X]

46. Exactly

I've been pointing this out too wherever I see a thread about this story. No one knows what happened, yet every media report about this says that she was tired after a long day at work and mistook his apartment for her own. That's her story, the investigation might come up with something totally different, but the story has been framed one way already. The way that the story has been framed is why she is only charged with manslaughter.

[Iggo]

7. I've said it a million times.

I want the same thing to happen to that cop as would happen to me if I did that to a cop.

Equal protection under the law.

[TrishaJ]

8. THIS

For some reason, if you are a COP, you get away with murder - there is no circumstance where this cop should get way with blowing away a man in his own home. If "sorry, wrong apartment" doesn't work for me, it shouldn't work for someone just because he or she is a COP.

This shooting had nothing to do with any law enforcement.

[USALiberal]

11. Yep!! nt

[flamin lib]

9. One bright spot is that DPD has handed the investigatin

over to the Texas Rangers at the Ranger's request. The Rangers are the state equivalent to the FBI and are really professional.

Dallas PD had charged her with manslaughter but recinded charges in defference to the Rangers. The change in prosecution does not bode well for the shooter.

DPD has had a black Chief for years followed by a female, hispanic, openly lesbian chief ( now running for Governor). We don't do much right here in TX but Dallas is no Baltimore.

[heaven05]

10. to all 4 question

no

no

no

no

and no need to apologize we are DU and a lot of us know the truth and admit it here about racism in amerika.

[Demovictory9]

13. assuming she did mistake the apt as hers: What if a white woman had opened the door?

Does anyone believe she would have been so fast to pull a gun and "pow pow"?

[Iggo]

14. How much you wanna bet she had her gun out already?

Cop pounding on the door yelling, "Open up! Open up!" , my money says that gun was already out.

[Garrett78]

15. Had she never seen her own neighbor before? Was she drunk?

Was the front door unlocked? Was the door open? Did she just walk in without trying to use her key, assuming the door would be unlocked?

This same cop shot a man in the abdomen last year, and in that particular instance there was actually a struggle. Why did she shoot to kill on this occasion when there was no reason to shoot at all, much less a reason to kill?

We all know the answers to the questions in the OP, but I have a lot of other questions. Maybe some of them have been answered already, as I have not been following this story.

[USALiberal]

16. I heard he heard someone trying to open his door and opened it. Not sure. nt

[Garrett78]

18. So her immediate response was to pull her gun out and shoot to kill? Jesus H Christ.

Part of me wonders if this is all a ruse and she just wanted to murder her neighbor.

[USALiberal]

19. So true, maybe tell him to lay down? Or retreat and call backup? It is a weird story. nt

[haele]

37. She'll claim PTSD, rightfully or not. But she was still awfully quick with the gun off duty

She allegedly had her tazer taken from her last year during an arrest, and shot the suspect who took it (he lived). I'm sure she'll claim that incident traumatized her.

All that would prove to me was that she wasn't ready to come back and carry a gun. To not observe, listen, or just step back to assess the situation - even when tired - before pulling out that gun and shoot someone who was not actively threatening her shows she wasn't capable of responsibly handling a firearm.

Does a parent who savagely beats their baby and causes brain damage because they're tired get excused? And parents aren't constantly trained so as to account for being "tired" or "stressed" when they come on a situation as police are supposed to be trained.

Hell, just from being in the military, we're trained again and again on how to react to various serious situations so that it's second nature, whether we're tired, or stressed, or starving...or drunk. Situational Awareness.

And if she was impaired when she came home off shift, it's even worse - she got drunk, or high, or whatever - so that's no excuse at all.

Bottom line was that she reacted on ingrained expectations - which in this case was appears to be to instantly react to a Black Male opening a door as a mortal threat, instead of taking a second or so to ask oneself, "Hey, my key isn't fitting this lock, is this the right door?" and looking around before flying into "danger mode".

Haele

[Cha]

20. This is an informative link I was using last night..

“My night was interrupted by a cop ‘mistakenly’ murdering a neighbor. I seem to be the only one with any footage of this , so here you go.. first video is the cop a few seconds after she pulled the trigger, crying. And the second video is them pretending to revive what I believe to be an already deseased (sic) victim. These clips come from a 10 minute video. First clip is 57 seconds into the video. The second clip is at 7:33… there was 6 minutes she spent crying in the hall. I’m not intrested in selling this footage so go ahead and tag the blogs you want cause I’m sure my post and/or IG will magically disappear soon. #BothamJean.”

Alyssa Kinsey, Jean’s next-door neighbor who was so close she shared a wall with him, wrote on Facebook, “This happened in the apartment next to me, to my very kind and friendly neighbor. I am absolutely heartbroken. Please, please keep his family in your prayers and send love and light their way. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are in.” She shared a GoFundMe page for Jean’s family. It reads, “We are mourning the loss of our brother Botham Jean. He was a great Christian example and an inspiration to us all. We are asking for donations to cover funeral arrangements, his family’s travel expenses, and anything else they may encounter. He will be missed.”

In the interview with Heavy, Kinsey said, “I was talking to my boyfriend, heard a shot, then some sort of commotion. Sounded like yelling/running/some loudness so I jumped up, ran to the door, looked out the peep hole, didn’t see anything at that moment but I could hear a woman calling 911 and hyperventilating

https://heavy.com/news/2018/09/amber-guyger/

Glimmer of Hope for providing it.. https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11112636

[jberryhill]

30. She spots that she's on cell phone cam and does a quick 180 there

She certainly didn't want whatever she was going to say to be recorded.

[tblue37]

22. It was locked. Her key wouldn't work, so she kept trying it and saying to open up.

It never occurred to her that if her key didn't fit, then maybe it wasn't her door.

[Solly Mack]

17. Thank you

[Cha]

21. News clip today from The Dallas Morning News..

snip//

No arrest warrant had been issued for Guyger by Sunday.

Jean's family is calling for Guyger to be arrested and charged so the case can begin its way through the court system.

Attorney S. Lee Merritt, whose law firm is representing Jean's family, said Guyger should be "treated like every other citizen, and where there is evidence that they've committed a crime, that there's a warrant to be issued and an arrest to be made."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/09/09/internet-wrong-botham-jean-officer-amber-guyger-didnt-pose-together-photo

Botham Jean

[USALiberal]

23. I 100% agree with you! nt

[ck4829]

25. Good God

[ck4829]

24. K&R

[Shemp Howard]

26. This is not a white vs. black thing!

This is a cop vs. an innocent civilian thing.

If Mr. Jean had been white, or brown, or whatever, he still would have been shot. And that's because today's cops just love to shoot first, then ask questions later. If you doubt that, just Google Daniel Shaver. He was a white man who was shot by a cop just because.

In my opinion, making this a racial issue just muddies the waters. And it divides people. Cops are out of control, period.

[JHB]

27. Nope. Race can't be discounted here...

Cops "just happen" to be a bit more "out of control" with black people.

Why do you think so many people are OK with cops being out of control in the first place? Why there isn't much stronger demand for better training and getting some damn "bad apple" detectors the work before someone is beaten or killed?

Ignoring that divides people too, ya'know.

[Shemp Howard]

29. I won't disagree.

Race is a factor here. But so is age. And so is gender. If an elderly black woman had opened the door for Officer Guyger, that woman probably wouldn't have been shot.

I guess my point is this. Let's not focus on race (or age, or gender) here. Let's focus on the cop who pulled the trigger, and killed an innocent person.

Cops are out of control. Everyone - regardless of background - is at risk.

[LanternWaste]

34. What specifically leads you to allege that?

"If an elderly black woman had opened the door for Officer Guyger, that woman probably wouldn't have been shot..."

(other than simple guesses, that is)

[Shemp Howard]

36. Cops shoot innocent young black men...

...and they shoot innocent young white men. But they much less often shoot the elderly, although that certainly has happened.

Let me say this. Cops are out of control. Everyone - black and white, young and old - needs to unite to stop it. But we are not uniting. Instead we are squabbling among ourselves. People are saying that some bad experiences with the police matter, but other bad experiences don't matter. Group A has a legitimate complaint. But Group B should just STFU.

The Police Establishment must love this sort of thing.

[disenfranchised]

28. This is a white cop vs. innocent black civilian

You cannot remove race from this incident.

As a white man, I do not have to leave in fear of police. If I were a person of color, I would. That is the issue.

[Shemp Howard]

31. I'm a white man, and I fear the police.

When I was a young man (back in the 1970s), I had no reason to fear the police. They behaved as I expected they would. My few contacts with the police were like an Adam 12 TV episode. Everyone involved was polite and respectful.

That's not true anymore. I get hassled, and I get disrespected. I'm treated like dirt. I'm treated like I have a hidden machine gun on me. Would a black man be treated worse? You bet. But please don't discount my experiences.

It's us against them.

[LanternWaste]

35. Being asked not to remove race is not discounting your experiences.

What in the world leads you to believe otherwise?

[Blue_Tires]

42. Please... Don't start.

[Yavin4]

32. Where are all of the small, limited government conservatives decrying the abuse of power?

This woman is a government employee given the power to use lethal force in certain situations, and she abused that power without question.

[Johnny2X2X]

38. Agree, and do you think it was a mistake would be the headline

I've brought this up. Thank you, so true.

And the entire story has been framed as she mistakenly thought she was entering her own apartment like it's an unassailable fact. That's not an established fact, that's her version of what happened and the police told it to everyone for her. Just about every headline has her version of the story as a basis for it. That will be her defense, that it was an accident. We don't know if it was an accident or not, the investigation is already tainted. The narrative was set by the police.

Since when does the police give the suspect's side of the story to the public. If it had been the other way around there is no way the police would have said, "It was a case of mistaken apartment and the suspect was really tired."

WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! All we have is the suspect's story which we should not really have yet. It's just speculation. For all we know they had a confrontation before the shooting, for all we know they knew each other, that's speculation too.

It's been framed this way so that a minimum punishment will not be met with as much outrage. This will drag out, the shooter will give a tearful apology which the public will see, and she'll get a few months in minimum security and lose her right to be a police officer. The ground work for her trial and subsequent slap on the wrist has already been done. The truth is not likely to be pursued because a plausible explanation was already given by the authorities. It's not the police's job to help suspects like this.

[USALiberal]

40. Great points! Nt