Another Unarmed Citizen Shot Dead. 2 More Killer-cops get a PAID VACATION

[99th_Monkey]

Unarmed Kansas Man Shot and Killed By Police After a “Verbal Exchange”
By Mike Sawyer * January 4, 2015 * The Free Thought Project

Wichita, KS — Two Witchita police officers are on paid administrative leave following the shooting death of an unarmed 23-year-old man.

Interim Chief Nelson Mosley, with the Wichita Police Department, said in a press conference Sunday that police were called to a disturbance around 6:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Two officers responded and reportedly found two men inside of an SUV. Police asked both men to get out of the vehicle.

According to their report, the 44-year-old driver complied with the verbal commands of police, but the 23-year-old began a verbal argument. Police Lt. James Espinoza said the 23-year-old man engaged in a “verbal exchange” with the officers when he was outside the vehicle.

The argument led to the back of the police cruiser at which point they repeatedly yelled at the 23-year-old to place his hands on the vehicle, which he did not do according to the report.

“Officer A then fired his taser,” said Mosley at the press conference. Officers claim that the man did not respond to the taser. At this point Officer B claimed to “see the suspect reach towards his waistband,” so she fired 2 shots into the man’s abdomen.

“Upon officers arriving and meeting the man until the shots were fired was 3 minutes,” said Mosley.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/unarmed-kansas-man-shot-killed-police-argumentative/#7IPhxwUtKvUcYcuL.99

[bravenak]

1. He never even touched the cops and bang !

This is fucking sick. I want to see the dash cam. Reached towards his waist band my ass! Same bullshit line every time.

[sabrina 1]

9. That's their standard claim. 'Reached for his waistband'. Does everyone carry their guns in their

waistbands? I don't know, just wondering.

It is SHAMEFUL what this country is willing to put up with from their civilian police.

They don't even keep records of the citizens they kill.

It's mind numbing that anyone can still claim this is not a police state.

[bravenak]

12. I cannot understand how anyone falls for the 'reached for his waistband' when the man was unarmed.

I think man people don't want to know the truth at all if it makes them feel uncomfortable. Easier to pretend everything is okay. Soon we'll all be in danger and it will be too late. They'll start shooting old ladies for being aggressive or reaching for the waistband of her church dress. I do not get it. At all.

[sabrina 1]

15. I don't get it either. I think a good part of it is the media, they do not report on the cops except

Last edited Mon Jan 5, 2015, 01:40 AM - Edit history (1)

to 'honor' them and call them 'heroes'.

CNN did seem to be getting better in Ferguson in the beginning. Especially when the cops started pushing journalists around.

But the word must have come down that they were to stop tell the truth, because the coverage did change.

I, eg, would not know that the cops kill over 1,000 Americans, or did last year. That's more than soldiers killed in war zones. If it was not for the internet.

I do think if the media was covering this issue, people would be a whole lot less apathetic. Or maybe they wouldn't. I would like to think so.

[bravenak]

20. I wish people would either stop watching network news or the networks would report the news.

Don Lemon got on my nerves so bad this year I could scream. He was one of the absolute worst journalists of the year.

All that hero nonsense needs to stop too.

[Feral Child]

55. Agreement, bravenak.

Driving around in a cruiser does not equal "hero", and that's how most cops spend their careers. They'll take a report now and then, arrest a drunk driver, maybe catch a burglar climbing out a window. Not heroic.

Applies to soldiers, too. Not every GI is a hero. I wasn't. I was in a "free kill" zone, all the villes had been relocated. No large animals, they'd been scared off by the ruckus. Scorpions and "fuck-you" lizards.

If the bushes rustled, I fired. Sometimes we found something, mostly we didn't. If I got shot at, I sucked dirt and fired back. Nothing heroic in staying alive.

That "Thank you for your service." nonsense hacks me off too. That's a Republic meme best exemplified by that muscle-bound moron Sylvester Stallone: "All they want is for their country to love them as much as they love it." Histrionic crap.

Nobody spat on me at the airport. Nobody noticed me. Especially when I applied for work.

What I wanted when I got home was a decent job. OK, maybe some more dinky-dow to smoke and some down-time with my girlfriend, too, but mostly a job.

Sorry, digressing again, but yeah, we need real news, not jingoistic propaganda and excuses.

[bravenak]

58. My uncle says the same thing you say.

Stop thanking him. He hates that shit. He lost a lot of friends over there and does not feel like a hero.

[Feral Child]

62. I try to forget about it, mostly.

Not let it define me. That, and the Pretenders, is why I don't use the avatar.

I have dreams sometimes. Strangely, I have a sense of smell in my dreams.

Lots of fine young black troopers in the Nam. Tell you uncle "Hi" for me.

[bravenak]

63. I will.

I hear you about the dreams, though.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. Part of it is white reporters afraid to go into "black" neigborhoods....

Never mind other white people not only live there but joined the protests.

I blame the media cutting back on classic city beat reporting. There was a time when the press knew more about what was happening than the "official" version. Now they just relay that official version and act like anyone with another version to tell is either lying or "uninformed".

Which is REALLY irritating when you see these idiot stenographers pretending to be reporters acting all smug because they feel they have the backing of the mayor and police chief, etc...

[sabrina 1]

29. Actually I think it's a Corporate decision. Any kind of protest against the status quo is

not going to be tolerated by Corporate America. We don't have any actual journalists left.

I was actually surprised at the initial coverage of Ferguson on CNN.

But then, just when the coverage was having an affect, they simply stopped covering the protests, which are still going on.

One reason, when the public actually got to see the way the police behaved, saw their tanks and military garb in a US city, there was a huge reaction and calls to demilitarize the police. Congress even had to respond to the outrage. Which shows how effective the media can be.

And then the coverage stopped.

They do NOT want to demilitarize the police.

I think they were pulled off this story to prevent any more outrage at what has happened to our civilian police so things could just continue the way they are.

The reporters were not afraid in Ferguson. Black and White. The protesters were no threat to them. BUT THE POLICE WERE! The police were bullying them, pushing them, ordering them to 'get back' etc. Threatening even.

So it wasn't the community they were afraid of, even when Reporters complied with police 'orders' they STILL screamed at them.

It is the authorities they are afraid of, afraid of losing their jobs among other things.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. They always say the story is different depending on which side you are on...

And the cops wanted the media to literally be on THEIR side.

[Boreal]

44. *ahem*

92 years old - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Johnston_shooting


93 years old - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-shoots-death-93-year-old-woman-answering-911-complaint-article-1.1783289

[bravenak]

52. Noooo!!!

I did not want that to be real! Wtf? I feel sick. Do we need to say Senior Lives Matter? I'm pisse: now.

[Boreal]

71. They aren't the only seniors!

There's the old man I mentioned in the nursing home. 95 years old in A FUCKING NURSING HOME USING A WALKER!!!

Just a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday, in need of a walker to move about, cops coming through the door of his retirement home with a Taser and a shotgun.

The old man, described by a family member as "wobbly" on his feet, had refused medical attention. The paramedics were called. They brought in the Park Forest police.

First they tased him, but that didn't work. So they fired a shotgun, hitting him in the stomach with a bean-bag round. Wrana was struck with such force that he bled to death internally, according to the Cook County medical examiner.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-02/news/ct-met-kass-0802-20130803_1_butcher-type-kitchen-knife-park-forest-police-taser

Shot five times with beanbag rounds after tasing him.

[bravenak]

72. WTF. Why? Why? I don't see why they did that.

All of these cases, just ignored. That was murder. There was no excuse for that.

[Boreal]

75. Because

that's how it is in a police state, bravenak, and we live in a police state.

I know that cops get psych testing before they're hired and I'm convinced that at least some departments are looking for the worst traits in new recruits. Sociopaths, bullies, small dick complex, rage, you name it. Then add in the militarization of police with all Homeland Security training bullshit and suddenly these bullies think their Marines and treat everyone like they're enemy combatants. Fuck, cops have handcuffed and tased tiny little kids when the morons working in schools call cops on five year olds having temper tantrums. We're all the enemy, bravenak, and at serious risk any time a cop shows up.

[CrispyQ]

51. They are conditioning us to be fearful of questioning anything they do.

We can kill you & get paid time off. If you kill us, they will buy out our mortgages & name streets after us. This is one of the perks of protecting the 1%.

[bravenak]

53. This is how revolutions start .

One last straw and poof. Big collapse.

[bettyellen]

56. bad cops know they HAVE to say they believed their life was in danger- so reaching for a gun, the

perp acting "crazy" are what they know are deemed to show they "believed" their life was in danger. If you look at why Zimmerman's story sounded like bullshit is that he used every reason at once to cover his ass. He both "thought" he saw a deadly weapon, said Trayvon was acting nuts, and then called the sidewalk a another deadly weapon. Any LEO or wannabe knows these would be their "outs" and if there are no witnesses- they are free to use them.

[bravenak]

57. They sound like they are instructed to use those partucular lies.

Waistband! Aggressive hands! Resisting! Looked like a demon! Same old shit from Jim Crow.

[bettyellen]

65. they all know, the only acceptable excuses for shooting a suspect- I think if

they can say they believe they saw a gun it is even better- but if they don't have a shiny object in the hand, then the reach for the waistband is the best story they can come up with. My brother was LEO and I knew about this while he was in the academy.... the reason Zimmerman's story set off so many bells was that he used EVERY reason that could get him of the hook at once. Overkill! To me it was obvious he knew what in the law could possibly excuse his behavior. Same with Wilson, if Mike Brown weren't an unpredictable danger, he could not excuse shooting him in the back. These were the ONLY stories they could tell to get them off. Every cop will say these things, unless they want to go to jail.

[bravenak]

66. Damn!

I got that overkill vibe from both of them. MMA style blows, Demon face, waistband grab. All bullshit.

[bettyellen]

67. yep- the "believed my life was in danger" are magic words.

[uponit7771]

60. Yeap, Wilson said the same thing in GJ testimony even though the witness's said Brown had his hands

... up

[brer cat]

14. Three minutes.

Ordered them out of the car, had an argument, repeatedly told him to put his hands on the car, tased him, shot him. Three minutes. These cops are damned efficient, I guess.

The "reached for his waist band" is getting very old and stale...not to mention unlikely and unbelievable.

[bravenak]

21. I do not believe the waistband thing.

At all. I want video or it didn't happen.

[benz380]

49. "Please move to the back of the police car where there is no dash cam. Thank you." BLAM!!!!! n/t

[bravenak]

59. For real! That was suspect as hell.

Liars.

[99th_Monkey]

4. Did you forget the :sarcasm: smilie? nt

[Initech]

3. Time to take away guns from the police.

They can have them back when they learn not to shoot first and ask questions later.

[uppityperson]

5. Are passengers required to exit vehicles? or rather, when are they required to

do so? Aren't cars like homes, where they need cause, especially for passengers?

[99th_Monkey]

6. Good questions ... but I think vehicles are different from domiciles in this regard

But I haven't noticed cops respecting citizens rights to not get a "no-knock" raid of homes
by a militarized SWAT team at 3 a.m. complete with battering rams & flash-bomb grenades.

Not to mention the recent SCOTUS decision that cops can plead "ignorance of the law" when
it comes to respecting citizens 4th Amendment rights, and totally get away with it.

[PoliticAverse]

7. No cars aren't like homes, the police can order the driver and passenger out of the vehicle..

Two relevant US Supreme Court decisions:
Pennsylvania vs Mimms (1977) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_v._Mimms
Maryland vs Wilson (1997) http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1996/1996_95_1268/

[Boreal]

10. Well

Cops can and do break into people's homes with no knock warrants so we're not safe there either.


Someone said disarm the cops until they don't shoot first and ask questions later. I say disarm them or just get rid of them, period. Then disarm the military right along with them. Outrageous, people will say, but why? Why give license to others to commit murder? Humans are crazy.

[Boreal]

8. Googled this and

cannot find the MURDER victim's name. Why is the press not saying his name, FFS? Helps to keep him less personalized/more anonymous 23 year old, I'm sure.


At least 5 people have been killed by U.S. police since January 1, 2015.
At least 1,100 were killed in 2014.
At least 1,868 have been killed since May 1, 2013.

http://www.killedbypolice.net/
https://www.facebook.com/KilledByPolice

And

http://www.dogmurderers.com/

[99th_Monkey]

11. Wow that's a lot of dead Americans

Thanks for the links.

And welcome to DU. ;hi:

[Boreal]

13. The victim's name is

John Paul Quintero.

http://www.kwch.com/news/local-news/officerinvolved-shooting-in-east-wichita/30519640

[stage left]

16. Again with the old "he reached for his waistband" excuse.

About time to retire that one. It's threadbare.

[Boreal]

17. Statement from family

My name is Alina Quintero. I am the cousin of John Paul Quintero and the spokesperson for our family.

At this time I'm going to read a statement prepared by our family and will not be taking any questions.

Last night, my cousin John Paul Quintero was executed in front of his father by Wichita Police. Our family is devastated at the senseless killing of our family member.

John Paul was a loving person, he was well liked by his friends and family and enjoyed spending time with his loved ones. He also enjoyed reading about the law in his spare time and felt that he needed know his rights.

We called the police for help during an incident that had involved knives in the home and had since been resolved. This call was placed by his father, my uncle and by his aunt, who was no present at the home, for the safety of her daughter and to further deescalate the situation so that everyone could make it home safely.

We believe that the police will try and say that there was a knife present at the scene. We would like to confirm that they confiscated knives from the home as well as a knife in the car. However the knife found in the truck was in the back and out of reach of John Paul. None of the knives from the home were outside of the home.

The police escalated a situation that could have been resolved and the officer that killed John Paul shot him with her service rifle all but eliminating his chances of survival, while he was both unarmed with his hands up and intoxicated, likely not having full capacity to follow officer commands.

To add insult to injury the police have only contacted us to place blame on John Paul, which we reject. We want justice for John Paul, who like others across the country who are gunned down, while unarmed, by police.

Right now our family has yet to make final arrangements as that his mother is in route from Texas. We plan to hold arrangements in San Antonio, TX. John Pauls hometown. In the meantime we have set up a Go Fund Page which can be found at http://www.gofundme.com/jo6t6o to help pay for arrangements and expenses for our family.

http://www.kwch.com/news/local-news/family-of-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-speaks-out/30525882

[99th_Monkey]

27. Thank you so much for posting this

It really helps to "humanize" this really sad incident.

[Boreal]

36. No problem and TY

for alerting us all to ANOTHER murder by these out of control fuckers. I get so upset about every one, including all of the dogs also murdered by them. Every murder represents numerous lives RUINED forever.

[Live and Learn]

34. Just as I suspected, the father had already resolved the situation

and then the police came along and escalated it. Obviously the police are ill equipped to handle this kind of crises. People need to realize that calling them in this day and age could well be a death sentence.

[Boreal]

38. That's right

NEVER CALL THE COPS. I can think of a few instances, right off the top of my head.

Man, wife and daughter were at the grocery store. Mom and daughter got into an argument and dad called the cops. Cops came and killed the dad in the parking lot. That murder is on Youtube.

Lady in Arizona called cops on her son who was being asshole. Cops showed up and killed him and the dog.

Granny called cops over mentally disabled grandson (who was outside) having issues. Cops arrived and killed him.

This isn't family but worth mentioning: Chicago area nursing home called police because a man in his late 80s using a walker, chose not to have surgery for some ailment. Cops came and killed him because he was so threatening with his walker and telling people to get off his back.

NEVER
CALL
THE
COPS

You do not know what they will do and you cannot control them.

[Live and Learn]

39. Not the way it should be. People are taught to call the police for help.

But the reality is different these days. Call anyone but the police for help.

[uponit7771]

61. +1

[starroute]

18. More here -- it was his own family that called the cops

http://www.kwch.com/news/local-news/family-of-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-speaks-out/30525882

The family admits John Paul was drunk and had a knife when he got into an incident at the home on Oliver Saturday night, so several family members called 911 for help. But they say he was not armed when police got there.

"There was knife present, but it was in the back of the SUV and out of arms reach for my cousin to even grab it," Alina Quintero said.

The family feels officers escalated the situation and used a gun too soon against John Paul.

"It wasn't right for them just to kill him for no reason at all, like we called you for help and instead of coming to help us you destroyed us," Alina said.

[Boreal]

22. That happens a LOT

Moral of that story is NEVER CALL THE COPS. Just don't do it. It could be your loved one or you is who is next.

[Boreal]

19. Photo

[Live and Learn]

35. Argh, so young and with so much life yet to live. Tragic! nt

[rhett o rick]

23. If you don't completely capitulate you run the risk of being killed. nm

[99th_Monkey]

26. I was accosted by 4 cops at a homeless rights demonstration

In retaliation for me saying I had constitutional rights to enter the county courthouse, in order
to file a complaint for being ejected from said courthouse. I had just been ejected from
the courthouse, because they were claiming "you have no business here so you must leave the
building".

Anyway, my point is about what all happens when an unarmed citizen gets "taken down" by cops.
At the time I was about 60 years old, and have a life-long leg injury (total hip replacement gone
wrong) and I was piled onto by four officers at once. I was screaming "my leg .. my leg" while
trying to protect my leg from getting re-injured and/or broken. The cops claimed i was "resisting
arrest" because of how I was trying to protect my leg.

They never pressed charges and released me, after I spent a night in the slammer, because they
knew it was BS.

That was almost 15 years ago, and things have gotten much worse since, IMHO.

[Live and Learn]

37. Horrific story. So sorry you had to experience that. nt

[Boreal]

41. Natural reaction to being hurt

is to try to protect yourself and that is ALWAYS "resisting".

Your story brings to mind a Youtube of cops, in the station, who deliberately dumped a man, who was paralyzed from mid chest down, right out of his chair onto the floor.

[Boreal]

40. THIS

Even lipping off to your oppressor can get you killed. As a matter of fact, I think there was a case where the murder victim called a female cop a bitch or something and that was it. Killed him.

So many of these murders. I've followed this shit for years. I could go on for pages just recounting what I remember! You could watch Youtubes all day and not get to the end of them.

[Brigid]

48. Wow.

Watching those all day would make for a depressing day.

[SomethingFishy]

54. Exactly.

And at this point you don't have much choice as apparently they are allowed to shoot you without question.

[damnedifIknow]

24. I thought 2015 might be different

Silly me.

[Art_from_Ark]

32. I think 2015 is going to be a bad year

I hope I'm wrong.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. I'm tellin' ya, cops are killing blacks for gettin' "uppity"....

The only question now is: Is the seeming increase because of coverage or is it because these cops have increased their killings?

If the cops have increased their killings is it because they are sending a message that a black president doesn't mean you get respect as an equal?

[Boreal]

42. This young man

was Hispanic. It's not just black folks getting murdered. Black, white, Hispanic, Indian, you name it and ALL of us need to advocate for the other and not make this about race. This is about an out of control police state.

It has nothing to do with Obama's skin color. It's a result of the growing police state that the establishment WANTS, especially since 9/11. Do you remember Miriam Carey? She was the black lady, in a car with her BABY, when DC cops shot her to death for taking a wrong turn. Within hours of her murder, congress gave the killers a fucking STANDING OVATION. That's on Youtube.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

64. Betcha if he was white this wouldn't be an issue because he would still be alive.

[Boreal]

73. Shitloads of unarmed whites are killed by cops, too

Not just people of color. There's a reason the media doesn't report it and I'm working on a post about it and will do a thread. For now, just remember we ALL have to stick together and care about each other. We are ALL the enemy when there is a police state and that's what we have.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

77. It's very easy to live under fascism if you are not one of the targeted groups.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

70. She did more than take a wrong turn.

[Boreal]

74. The wrong turn is what started it

When she took the wrong turn, cops descended on her car and started banging on it and yelling at her, with guns drawn. THAT SCARED HER and she backed up and drove off, Then they chased her and cornered her, scaring her further so she fled, out of fear and they chased her and killed her. It was clod blooded murder of a terrified woman with her little baby in the car.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

76. I guess being terrified qualifies as "mentally disturbed".

[Yo_Mama]

68. This problem began long before Obama. It isn't just happening to black people.

I think it is growing worse because older cops are retiring and the younger ones have been trained very differently.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

69. The older ones know you can serve on the NYPD for 30-40 years and never draw your gun.

[DFW]

30. Wichita= Koch Country

I think this is how they initiate police training there:

[Boreal]

43. Many, many murders by cops

take place in blue areas. It's not a partisan issue. When congress applauded Miriam Carey's killers, it was Steny Hoyer who led the disgusting spectacle. Murders by cops happen all over with the approval of Dems and Reps.

[Hutzpa]

33. Cop killing has gotten out of hand and the reason is simple

the president is unable to take serious action against the police force.

[div size="3"]Time for the President to take action on these senseless police killing.

Enough!!

[Savannahmann]

45. Last year, I suggested naming the head of the ACLU as the Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights.

That would be a pretty significant first step wouldn't you agree?

[Boreal]

46. It couldn't hurt

but I don't think it would change much. Militarization of police, as well the police worship culture is coming from Washington and that includes support from the DoJ. They give lip service to the angry public while they continue to build the police state. Anyone who opposed that agenda would be marginalized, imo. However, I like the idea and think that anything and everything should be done to stop what's happening. I'm very cynical about it, I'll admit. When congress applauded the murder of Miriam Carey it was crystal clear that the establishment is afraid of the public and wants this police state to keep the masses in line through terror.

[Hutzpa]

47. Agreed on both points

[p]yours and savannahmann. The major problem I can foresee as you put it is the individual being marginalized
which will be very challenging as police abuse has been allowed to progressed unchallenged for so long that it is
seen as the norm, also Hollywood has not helped either with their glorification of police enforcement and activity
which has helped propel their arrogance even further.

[p]I will also look into their PR department, I don't see the need for a police force to have such a department unless
they're planning on spinning their clandestine activities., which as we all know has been happening for few years.
Until a solid team can be put together that really cares about cleaning up the police force, we will forever see the
continuation of police killings with no prosecution, which is very sad and pathetic.

[Logical]

50. The bullshit waistband story! nt

[gopiscrap]

78. Like I have said before:

FUCKING ASSHOLE PIGS ARE OUT OF CONTROL It's going to take a revolution to straighten things out!