Atatiana Jefferson Fort Worth Police Shooting
A large crowd of protesters gather outside the house, right, where Atatiana Jefferson was shot Saturday and killed by police, during a community vigil for Jefferson on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019, in Fort Worth, Texas. A white police officer who killed the black woman inside her Texas home while responding to a neighbor's call about an open front door "didn't have time to perceive a threat" before he opened fire, an attorney for Jefferson's family said. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
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As we noted over the weekend, a Fort Worth police officer shot and killed 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home over the weekend. The officer, Aaron Dean, was responding to a welfare call by a neighbor who had seen Jefferson’s door open in the early hours of Saturday morning. Jefferson was reportedly playing video games with her nephew and was shot by the officer through a window of her home.

Now, as the Associated Press is reporting . . .

The Fort Worth police chief says a white officer accused in the fatal shooting of a black woman in her home has resigned.

Interim Chief Ed Kraus said Monday that if the officer, Aaron Dean, had not resigned, he would have been fired.

Dean shot 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson through her window in the early hours of Saturday morning. Officers were called to her home when a concerned neighbor worried for her safety noticed her door was open.

Police have said the officer perceived a threat when he saw someone near the window and opened fire.

Earlier Monday, family lawyer Lee Merritt called for the officer to be fired and charged in Jefferson’s killing.

Here’s a portion of the bodycam video the Fort Worth Police Department released . . .

The Fort Worth Police Department released an image of a handgun that was reportedly found in Jefferson’s home at the time. But as Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price correctly noted (as reported by star-telegram.com) . . .

Price further commented on the image released of a gun found in the home where Jefferson was. She said the gun was irrelevant and that Jefferson had a right to have a gun in her home.

Jefferson’s family members have called for an investigation to be conducted by an entity outside of the Fort Worth Police Department.

Again from star-telegram.com . . .

Atatiana Jefferson’s family and their attorney, S. Lee Merritt, said they do not trust the Fort Worth police department to investigate the shooting themselves.

Merritt said the FBI, Department of Justice or another outside agency should examine the department’s policies and procedures because the department is “incompetent to investigate themselves.”

“They created a deadly situation and responded in a way that is not unique to the city of Fort Worth,” Merritt said. “Anyone other than the city of Fort Worth, who is obviously incompetent to investigate itself, should be called in.”

 

 

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109 COMMENTS

  1. It’s a sad day if a person can’t be secure in their own home from the government of all things. Apparently you don’t have to be SWATed to be shot in your own home by police. Just have a concerned neighbor calling the police to your home can get you shot.

    • This entire situation smells bad. A couple of years ago, I noticed that my next door neighbor’s front door was (uncharacteristically) open at midnight. I simply walked over to her porch and called her name to do my own “welfare check”, and she met me at the door to thank me for reminding her that she had left it open.

      Somehow, nobody died. I think it was something to do with neighbors knowing each other and taking care of the simple things themselves.

      • And that is why it’s good to form mutually supportive relationships with ALL your neighbors. You watch their back; they watch your back. Cops don’t need to get involved unless there’s clear and present evidence of criminal activity.

    • All media has become nothing but Left Wing propaganda. They are all pushing the same agenda.
      WHITEEEEEE police officer shoots a BLACKKKKKKK woman.
      Thomas Jefferson was right. A reset is long overdue. Time to Boogaloo.

    • I have zero-point-zero sympathy for that clown. If you’re naturally that wound tight, you have no business being a cop…

    • We’ll see . . .

      On one hand, look at what happened in Greenville, SC recently:

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/07/greenville-deputy-cleared-after-shooting-homeowner-through-front-window/1949010001/

      Cop screws up, shoots innocent homeowner through a window, lies about it (body cam definitively proved he was lying) . . . but the police and local DA decide, “cop did nothing wrong.”

      On the other, a couple of years back in another Texas jurisdiction (Burleson County) a bunch of wannabe SWAT cops bust into a small-time pot grower’s house on a “no knock” raid, and the first guy in the stack is killed by the armed homeowner. Despite a lot of pressure from the authorities, the local grand jury refused to indict the homeowner for shooting the cop.

      On the gripping hand (bonus points if you get the reference!), similar situation in a different Texas jurisdiction as the above “no knock” scenario described above (first cop through the door killed) . . . but in this case the homeowner *has* been indicted and is set to be tried for capital murder.

      You just never know how the ball is going to bounce . . . .

      • Niven (my favorite author) and Pournelle were a fantastic combo, and the Mote series is one of my favorite reads! (Along with The Smoke Ring, et al.) Gotta love Kevin Renner! Excuse me, make that SIR Kevin…

        Those were exceeded only by Lucifer’s Hammer, IMHO. Now that is the best EOTWAWKI story I’m aware of…

    • He should be shipped to Harlem and forced to wear a sign that says “shot innocent Black woman in her own home while she played video games.”

      They’ll never find his body.

      • Thanks for proving, once again, ghetto garbage like you are the ones that are racist and make everything about race.
        We hold our criminals accountable. You celebrate them.

        • You’re the one being racist. You think everyone in Harlem is a criminal? I’m not making this about race, but if there’s any people who would enforce some street justice, it’s people in Harlem.

  2. …and there goes his “qualified” immunity. The criminal / civil suits that are coming may leave him a pair of skivvies and a tube of KY for his stay in the gray-bar hotel.

    Bad judgement…bad shoot…bad consequences.

    • Don’t bet on it.

      Grand jurors are often followed by police and discreetly told to “give the guy a break”. You see, the “thin blue line” takes care of its own.

      In addition, in many jurisdictions, it is not uncommon for police officers to “stack” the courtroom with uniformed police officers in order to “suggest” that the jury brings a verdict for acquittal.

      This is what I would change in police departments:

      1. Eliminate “qualified” and “absolute” immunity for all government officials, not just police officers.

      2. Require police officers and other public officials to be “bonded” by an insurance company. The municipality could pay the basic “bond” costs, but would be prohibited from paying additional bonding fees. No bond=no job. You can bet that insurance companies and bonding agencies would be more diligent in weeding out the “bad apples”.

      3. Police unions should be abolished. Police officers work for the taxpayers, and as such do not need unions.

      4. Any awards for police mistakes or misconduct should be taken from their pension funds, not from the “general fund”. You can bet that police officers would “police themselves” if their pension funds were threatened.

      5. Police should NEVER be permitted to stack a courtroom or follow and harass grand jurors.

      6. Body and dash cams must be operational at all times. Police officers should never have the ability to turn them off. Any police officer who disables or turns off a dash or body cam should be fired. No excuses.

      7. Police departments should NEVER be allowed to investigate themselves. Outside agencies at the state level should always be used.

      8. A publicly accessible database of former police officers who should NEVER be permitted to hold any police job should be established and regularly updated. Along with bonding, eliminate “gypsy cops”–those who sign on with another department despite having an abusive record.

      More and more we see police officers get away with murder. Their statutory protections free them from prosecution for crimes that would get an ordinary person tried, convicted and incarcerated. It is long overdue to re-establish “equal justice under law” and eliminate ALL police “carve-outs”.

      From the murderer of Daniel Shaver getting rewarded with a pension to Scott Israel not doing his job regarding school shootings and Boston police planting drugs on people they stop, American “law enforcement” has a lot to answer for–none of it good.

      A large part of the “problem” is the training that police officers receive–right out of Israel. This “command and control” philosophy is responsible for much of the abuses by police officers that is occurring with increasing frequency. “We are all Palestinians now”.

      I realize that not all police officers are corrupt, but one “loose cannon” on a police force taints the reputation of ALL police officers. Police officers who stand around and do nothing when abuses are taking place are just as culpable for the behavior of the “loose cannon”.

      It is time for police officers to cease being “law enforcers” and becoming what they originally were–“peace officers”.

      • Police unions are the devil.

        They serve EXACTLY the same purpose as Black Lives Matter. They just serve different constituencies.

        Black Lives Matter exists to prevent young, Black felons from being held accountable for their criminal acts.

        Police unions exist to prevent cops from being held accountable for their criminal acts.

        Don’t forget that in the ’90s, the Chicago Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police demanded that convicted wife beaters be allowed to own, possess and carry guns… but only if they also carried badges. And they went on National Public Radio to say so too. You can get the [partial] transcript from NPR.

      • My wife was at home one day and the doorbell rang. This is unusual as we live 8 miles out of town on 11 acres. She opened the door and there was a deputy with a drawn pistol asking her who she was. turns out someone had a home security system and gave an alarm with our home phone number. I dropped the land line service so this would neber happen again. Could have been bad.

        • “Why I will never talk to any police officer” by James Duane, Regent Law School professor and former defense attorney

  3. Although he resigned, it looks like he’s keeping his Peace Officer’s license. Most likely he’ll show up working at another cop shop sooner or later.

    • He’ll go work at one of the many one-horse town departments around the state, until people get wise to it, then he’ll move on to another one. The term for them is “gypsy cop”.

    • “Most likely he’ll show up working at another cop shop sooner or later.”

      He may apply, but I doubt he’ll get hired. *Any* cursory background check on the internet will flag him.

      I really doubt a job search is on his mind right now, he’s gonna be dodging civil and likely serious criminal charges for a *long* time…

      • Oh, he’ll try for another cop job.

        As with private sector criminals, there’s a lot of migration and recidivism by dirty cops.

      • Oh, it won’t be anytime soon, but most people will forget this guy’s name at some point. If he dodges any criminal charges, he’ll keep his LE certification, and someone will hire him. They won’t care about the criminal charges.

        • “If he dodges any criminal charges, he’ll keep his LE certification,…”

          Don’t LE certs have a time limit? My local Florida sheriff (Polk County’s very own Grady “Because they ran out of bullets”Judd) has a policy of keeping LE certs current if the LE in question ‘volunteers’ a few hours a year to the PCSO…

      • There are small departments here in Ohio that hire guys and gals like that. The pay is shit but they do hire them. Typically, they have one or a few seasoned officers and the rest are brand new to the field and rejects from other jurisdictions. The results are as you would expect. At one time, we enjoyed messing with on camera them as sport. (I don’t do that sort of stuff anymore.)

  4. Bad neighbor for calling the cops to start with.

    Bad shoot. Bad reasoning by the cops before the shoot. Poking around in a backyard unannounced at night, who else does that fellows (hint, prowlers!)? How many folks would be at the window with a gun if they thought prowlers were in their yard . . . .

    • Good neighbor for watching out for his neighbors.

      Not calling his neighbors before calling the cops, though (or even after calling the cops), was suboptimal implementation.

      • The neighbor was trying to be a good neighbor, but the “Good Neighbor’s” nativity contributed to that death. It still should not have happen, both officers royally screwed up, seems like they were already expecting a ‘bad guy’ to be in the home.

        The good neighbor sure seemed to take the quick n’ easy feel good way out of her “I saw a cracked open door” moral dilemma. If she was worried enough to call a welfare check, then she should have been worried enough to call the neighbor, holler at the neighbor, stay outside and meet the responding officers and talk to them directly.

        Yeah, hind-sight is third party arm-chair quarter backing is a beautiful thing, still, one would think that if you weren’t worried enough to ensure good clear communication, then why bother with the call in the first place.

    • Not a bad neighbor, just a cautious one. I have a woman in her late 80’s living next door who I know owns a small revolver. I have gone over more than once when she called in the middle of the night because she thinks something is happening. Once it was a raccoon when it discovered the pet door path to dog food paradise. Another time a possum in her garage. And once when the spring to her garage door let go with a loud bang at 2am. Plus others. Each time I go over and there she is holding her “38”. She told 911 when she thought someone was breaking in her house that she had her “38 and was going to shoot them. Then she fled to our house and I went over to investigate. ” It was a tv in the back room” The deputy still came and was laughing when I showed him the intruder. He actually was more concerned about her mental health . So we called her son in Michigan and he came for a visit. She of course refused to live with him . “” Feet first out the door” is the only way she is leaving her house is what she told him. Needless to say if I noticed her garage door or front door open in the wee hours I’d call the sheriff and let them do a check if she did not answer her phone or respond to a hello at the opening. No way I’m taking a chance and going in.

      • Ken W.,

        I had a somewhat similar situation. One of my children noticed two dogs running around on a day when the air temperature was in the teens and there was a wicked windchill around 0. I knew that they belonged to a neighbor a few doors down the street. So I trudged over. When I was still 80 yards out, I saw that their front storm door was propped open with a shovel and their front security door was wide open. That obviously cannot be good, especially when I tried calling them verbally and on their telephone and got no answer.

        Since my 12 year-old child was with me and my younger child was home alone for the 2 minutes that I thought I would be a few doors down, I was NOT going to investigate that situation. If there was foul play, there was no way that I was going to leave my children at risk. So I called our county Sheriff who sent a deputy out for a welfare check. He arrived about 12 minutes later and proceeded to clear my neighbor’s home. Strangely, no one was home.

        The moral of the story, there are plenty of situations where it is appropriate to call your local police department for a welfare check — assuming that they conduct themselves appropriately.

        • That was smart of you. Odds are it is nothing but it still is not worth taking a chance on going in if no one answers. Especially if they are a skittish elderly woman who wanders around carrying her “38”.

          The loud bang was the other night. I went over wandered around and did not see anything so I went back to our house . Of course she called again in the morning when her garage door would not open. Ever try to lift one with a broken spring before? Maybe it;s our hurricane reinforced doors it was all I could do to open it.

          Yes, I seem to be who she depends on for help. We have been neighbors for over 30 years and I try to give her a hand since she seems to get taken at times. Not looking forwards to getting real old if that is common.

        • You gotta feel bad for this guy. No way he ever expected they’d show up and kill his neighbor. Same as you’d have been shocked if that deputy went in and killed your neighbors.

          These days a lot of people don’t want to get involved because of the fact that the law might come after them for doing the right thing but to send the “good guys” in and have them do this… damn.

          That guy’s gonna have some issues for awhile.

        • You did it right. Tried to establish contact first, without putting yourself at undue risk, and only after failure, called for a welfare check. If the “Good Neighbor” in Dallas had done that, we probably won’t be having this discussion, . . . well, we probably would, just at a different time and about a different occurrence.

  5. Yet another example of why if you’re attacked and have to defend yourself, rather then call the police, you should instead abide by the 3 S’s:

    Shoot, Shovel, Shut up.

  6. Just another example of the lousy training of today’s Leo’s. Nationwide we see more and more of these unjustified shootings. I come from a cop family and this stuff makes me sick.

    • He should be. Would make every cop in the nation think twice before pulling the trigger and getting a thrill up their leg they finally got to kill somebody. I’ve read that cops, before they become police, have hallucinations of grandeur of shooting innocent people to show how tough they are. They’re really psychotic people deep down, usually are drug addicts, sex addicts, lot of them are child abductors and rapists. That’s why so many kids go missing, mostly cops kidnapping them, raping them, then selling them to drug dealers to be used as sex slaves in other countries.

  7. This from the article over at ammoland.

    “The latest victim is Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, 28, Fort Worth, Texas who was killed in her bedroom at home 2:30 am in the morning when her neighbor saw her front door open and called the police on a non-emergency police number for a “Wellness Check” just so they can check on her to see if she was ok. She was worried.”

    This is the other component of this that has really rubbed me the wrong way, this expectation for the state to take care of all of us rather than accepting some personal responsibility. Nope can’t do that, being a good neighbor is not walking over and knocking on the door jam, or just hollering from in-front of the porch. Nope, being a good neighbor is calling the police. WTF, so what if it’s a non-emergency number? You think the cops are going to come un-armed in fuzzy bunny costumes because you f*cking dialed 411 instead of 911?

    There is a reason alarm monitoring companies call you and your entire call list first before calling the cops.

    Damn do-gooders will get you killed.

  8. What’s going on in my state? Houston PD kills a whole family a few months ago in their home and now all this going on in Dallas and Fort Worth in their homes to??? We’re shooting ourselves in the foot here people, the Democrats will take all the guns if we keep this up!! Hell maybe they need to if we can’t do any better than this

  9. Definitely call your neighbors first. Calling the police is a big deal. You should have exhausted other options before you ever do that. I have actually called my neighbor when I saw her basement door open at night. I just figured her kid forgot to shut the door when they went in for the evening. Calling the police wasn’t even a distant thought. It actually sounds pretty crazy.

    That being said, I feel sorry for the neighbor. It isn’t his fault the police sent a trigger happy coward to do a man’s job.

  10. I’m thinking that the forthcoming civil rights suit will negate any TCOLE or POST certifications he may have.

  11. Anytime I ever conducted a welfare check I had two methods. If it had been a while since anyone had seen the citizen I conducted a “smell check” around windows and doors. A couple of times this wasn’t necessary. Step out of the car downwind and the buzzards in the trees was the first clue. Second, a fresh welfare check. Case in point. Knock and announce. Loudly. Then enter if necessary. One of those revealed a quadruple homicide. I’ll reserve judgment until the investigation is complete. Much as you would like others to do if it were you.

    • I guarantee you that if a cop gets shot doing a no-knock raid at the wrong address, the citizen won’t be getting a pause for the facts to come out, much less the benefit of doubt.

        • It’s called, “Officer, I want to cooperate with your investigation. However, I decline to answer any questions, or make any statements until I have spoken with my attorney.” That’s the end of it. Nothing admissible after that. I don’t care how many episodes of Law & Order you have seen.

  12. It’s “Know your target and what is beyond it”, not “Know your target and what is beyond it unless you’re a cop, then you can just blast anything.”

  13. That was quick and is pretty indicative of whether or not there was a reasonable perceived threat, even ignoring the fact that she was in her own home.

    Also, TTAG, it would be great if you would be a little more circumspect in your in-line ad placements. It’s pretty shitty when you put a hyperlink to the word ‘gun’ in “The Fort Worth Police Department released an image of a handgun that was reportedly found in Jefferson’s home…” and instead of leading to an actual photo of the gun in question is links to an utterly irrelevant Beretta ad. Doesn’t bother me if it’s a link in an informational article about handguns or something but it’s pretty squirrely in an article about a woman being shot to death.

  14. Resignation?? That’s it??
    No rules, regulations??
    Bring on the rightful civil suits.
    What the hell was this LEO thinking??
    Cheeeezzzzzzzzzz.

  15. More than likely the cop was coached by a lawyer or his union health & welfare rep to resign or face losing whatever pension he had coming,,, & I agree , a bad shoot… I would normally side with the police, but if it’s true what I read,, this is not good. Bad Shoot.

  16. “Interim Chief Ed Kraus said Monday that if the officer, Aaron Dean, had not resigned, he would have been fired.”

    One might logically think that would be the case,now to root out Shoot First and Ask Questions Latter from any and all training department wide as unacceptable.

    The citizens of FW are going to a giant hit in their taxes to cover the law suit and the officer needs to face charges.

  17. Too many of today’s LEO’s are getting trained up to react to routine low risk scenarios as if they’re responding to high risk felony in progress armed assailant calls, and the tragedy in Ft. Worth is just the latest example. Up to the second news cycles makes it seem as if LEO’s are in greater danger than ever before which is simply not true. The number of LEO’s killed with firearms was much higher in the 70’s & 80’s. LE training needs to stop training that apparently is causing too many LEO’s to err on the side of using deadly force.

  18. I’m all for calling out racism when I see it, but in this particular case, I don’t think it matters a good goddamn what color either of theses people were/are.

    Unless the cop says he shot her because she was “being in a house while black”, and maybe he did. I dunno, maybe I’m just not seeing all the angles properly here.

      • Based on how quickly he fired per bodycam video, he did not have enough time to determine race, gender, species or whether it was his own reflection in the window.

  19. So at any time during this “welfare check” did the police, you know…knock on the door? Or ring the doorbell? Shouldn’t that be the first step in this process?

    • Maybe at some point, earlier better than later, identify themselves as police. Granted body cameras don’t record the 1st 30 seconds, but I never heard the word police uttered.

  20. Jesus! Lynching? You guys are all about due process. Except for this guy. He’s guilty due to badge. Resigned. That’s it? You seriously believe that? Even if he’s absolved of responsibility he’ll probably be financially ruined for the rest of his life. I was sitting in my home 1+ year ago. Bam, bam, bam! “Open the door!” I bolted off the couch and grabbed a Sig P-220 off the coffee table. Me, “Who’s there?!” Them, ” Police!” Yea, right. Me “Stand to the side where I can see you from a window!” He did. Me, “Get that light off me so I can see you!” He did. Shit! Sgt. G. I opened the door. Me, “What the fuck, over?” Him, “It’s okay! He used to be a deputy.” Other officers came out of the shadows. Him, “Someone used your address and robbed the Dominoes driver in your front yard.” Next day. Bam, bam, bam. Me, thinking, not again. Me, “Who’s there?” It’s me P., E.” Ah, Lt. H. We go way back. Him, “I heard what happened last night. He asked, ‘They committed an armed robbery in who’s yard?! Did they want to die?!” He went on to say they were 10-15 X2. Not saying the officer was correct, but remember, you are the other half of this situation. Act accordingly.

    • “act accordingly”

      …by not walking around in your home when the police are surreptitiously prowling around your back yard.

      also, nb4 GF’s standard auto-reply of “if you think you’d do better, get your own badge!” string of comments.

      • Well, tired of it. You’re obviously an expert. Lots of training and experience. You game it for us. Oh, please do it realistically.

      • tired of it, the crickets chirp. Not defending the officer. Have reservations myself. Still want to hear how you handle high stress situations. You know. With all that training and experience. We could all use your insight. The life you save could be mine!

        • “High stress situations”

          Yeah sure. There’s nothing more stressful than creeping around a woman’s yard before shooting her dead in the couch, from outside, when she presented no threat to you, was not attacking, and was unarmed. Your attitude toward this situation is exactly what the rest of us talk about when we say it’s hard to trust law enforcement in general. Because even if you’re not the one who pulled the trigger here, you make excuses for the murderers in your ranks. At best it shows tacit approval and at worst trying to outright cover for them. There’s no ambiguity whatsoever on the bodycam footage

        • Red, long before body cams I answered a welfare check. We hate them by the way. One of the last ones I answered ended in me opening all the windows and doors before the funeral home went in with square point shovels and a body bag. Don’t see that on Cops. Oh, sorry. I lied. It ended when the deceased’s daughter from N.C. hugged me at the funeral home two days later and thanked me for all I had done. She wept. So did I. A coworker answered a welfare check. He did it by the book. Knock and announce. No response. Began smell check. Met flat footed by the subject he was checking on. She had a Marlin 336 in 30-30 locked and loaded on his chest. His weapon was holstered. It was mid-day. She knew who/what he was. He calmly talked her down. She was Signal 20. He didn’t charge her. He arranged counseling that didn’t involve confinement. Jeff left L.E. when a man nearly beat him to death after he gave him a ride home. A ride home. Again, Signal 20. At the risk of some rolling their eyes again; you think you can do it better? Go getcha’ some!

    • Calling for summary punishment is indeed absurd and an emotional lashing out. I just hope this guy gets what he deserves, whatever that is.

  21. You can’t trust the FBI to do an impartial investigation either.
    This is a job for Walker and the Texas Rangers.

  22. Will get his pension and won’t go to prison. I’d be surprised if he even goes to court.

    Whenever stupid shit like this happens I’m reminded of that scene from The movie ‘The Great Raid’ where the Japanese soldiers have POWs kneel down and shoot them in the back of the head execution style one by one. I’m reminded of that scene because I suspected it happened in real life with a police officer and it was recorded from beginning to end the police officer would still get off scott free. I understand they have a difficult job but they don’t get treated the way we get treated when they murder someone in cold blood. And that’s what this was: a cold blooded murder of a woman in there home by a trigger happy cop who I bet wanted to kill someone. And happens over and over again. And the police officers get off scott free over and over again. Makes my blood boil. It makes me almost agree with what black lives matter says. But me agreeing with progressive terrorists who hate police and cheer when police are murdered is like shaking hands with a leper.

    • With that little time on the force they usually get disability (from the trauma of the crime they committed) not a pension. They’d have to rehire him back briefly like they did Brailsford for that though.

    • A whole department could gangrape an 8 year old to death on film and it’d be excused as a “thorough cavity search.” The cops that shoved the plunger up a guy’s ass in NYC should have gotten life in prison so they could have objects shoved up their ass on a daily basis. Instead most were out after 10-15 years of easy time.

      • I am surprised. To a point. The only reason I mean the only reason he’s been arrested for murder is because of public outrage. That’s it. No public outrage This would just blow over. Once this does blow over he’ll be found not guilty. Or maybe, maybe convicted of manslaughter with a reduced sentence. But even that’s pushing it.

  23. This nonsense has absolutely got to stop. I hope like hell my neighbors never call for a “welfare check” at my home, I have kids and a dog!

  24. The assumption should have been that the open door might have been inadvertently left open by a resident. These officers responded to the open door of a residence at 4am as if they were responding to a felony in progress. Parking down the street and creeping up guns drawn when no crime whatsoever had been reported makes it clear responding officers arrived with an irrational mindset and assumption that a crime was being committed when there was no reasonable basis for such a response. Then one of responding officers became irrationally fearful of a person inside the residence looking out a window trying to figure out who these unknown persons were snooping around outside in the middle of the night. Even if she had a gun in her hand, that is a reasonable thing to do given the fact she had know way of knowing the prowlers outside were actually police officers neglecting to identify themselves.

  25. Worthless little coward deserves life in prison, nothing more than scum that hides behind the thin blue line.

  26. If this woman only a dog, she’d still be alive. The cop would have unloaded the clipazine on dog giving the woman time to seek cover.

  27. One of my “concerned” neighbors did the same to me one night. They thought they heard a noise near outside my door and called the police. I was not shot, but falsely arrested. I had been in bed sleeping; it was like what used to happen in the communist country I fled. Looking at the 911 transcript reminded me of a childhood game of telephone. The callers words were contorted beyond recognition and the police arrived expecting a violent crime scene. It still was no excuse for the violence and civil rights violations I was subjected to.

  28. Most of you are L.E. haters. Why? Jealous? Sour grapes? Heart of hearts know you’re too much of a coward to walk up to that car full of gang bangers alone at 0300 hrs? No real idea of how it’s really done? Except what you see on t.v. Don’t call them. Ever. For anything. Even after you handeled it yourself. See how it works out for you.

    • Gadsden Flag, I think you are taking this too personally. While we may not agree on much if anything. I’m going to put it to you straight since I do have some of the same experiences you have challenged other people on. I’ve been in high stress situations and I wasn’t asked to resign/fired, brought up on charges, being sued civilly, losing everything but the shirt on my back if I’m lucky. I’m also not sitting in Ft Leavenworth since that is a little close to the proverbial home for me. Yes it absolutely takes a special kind of person to run towards gunfire rather than away, into a burning building, walk into a war zone, or into the aftermath of a shooting or stabbing to render aid to hopefully save a life. It does and those that really can do it deserve the recognition they deserve. However the truth of the matter is we including myself, we signed on to do it, no one made us. You know as well as I do going to work everyday with the lie that there is no inherent life threatening risk in the job isn’t very conducive to making it home. We have to accept the risk with the reward. If the risk can’t be lived with we reconcile with that and get out or worse. Playing the victim doesn’t work in this case. Especially when you are wanting those you serve to respect and support you. I respect all public service because I know first hand that it’s a shit thankless job. I absolutely won’t support a wrong though. Like it or not this case we have here is absolutely a wrong no two ways about it.

    • Most of the people here are absolutely not cop haters. When there is a story of a cop getting the better of some POS low life, people here cheer for that cop. Just as they cheer for the common citizen that gets the better of some home invader or rapist or whatever.

      But hell, when a cop turns out to be the POS in question, tolerance is real short. That’s all. The badge turns out to be worn by an idiot who got an innocent killed, that’s not going to go over well.

      So, this officer murdered a woman thru her bedroom window. He has now been arrested and charged.

      There’s no good outcome here, but at least the right decision has been made so far.

    • Deal,

      Now can you ensure they will follow their end, cause I don’t need nor want their services. Nor you and your mouth.

    • So you’re defending the cold-blooded murder of a woman in her own home due to a trigger happy police officer? Good to know where you stand on the subject.

      And no. We’re not cop haters we just don’t like the badge being used as a get out of murder conviction free card.

    • Not an L.E. hater and not saying don’t call the ’em. I am saying, don’t call the police on something that’s likely an innocuous mistake/oversight of a neighbor, at least not until you’ve established that there is something actually to be concerned about. Interactions with the police are not risk free, just like operating equipment and machinery, be aware of the risks, take safety precautious when using, and don’t play around with it.

    • Do a Google search 0n police brutality nationwide then tell us how brave you are. Good cops are great until they cover a scum sucking dirty cop

  29. Sorry guys…. As much as this pisses me off, it’s not MURDER …. THE MURDER CHARGE IS BS….. This little puss pig didn’t mean to kill her….
    This murder charge is A RACIST ACT BY THE PROSECUTORS…..
    JUST BECAUSE SHE WAS BLACK AND HE WAS WHITE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT…… TO SUGGEST OTHERWISE IS PLAYING THAT BS RACE CARD……
    I’M SO SICK OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM ENABLING THIS RACIST BS..

    Anyway, like I said, it’s NOT MURDER … IT’S MANSLAUGHTER…..

    GROW UP AND GROW A BRAIN YOU MORONS… Lol

    • Did it occur to you that the murder charge might be intentional overcharging? If the jurry says it was not a murder (and I tend to agree based on the information i have), the cop goes free.

  30. “They’re supposed to come and check on you…not kill you…what was he thinking?”

    This is the result of all too many “welfare check” calls. The Warrior Cop seminars with their emphasis on DON’T HESITATE TO SHOOT has permeated the Job and replaced tactical approachs and the think before you shoot mentality.

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