The panicky 911 caller said a man with a 10-inch butcher knife was threatening people. So when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies saw a wounded, bloody man rush out of a West Hollywood apartment with someone on his heels, they opened fire.
But the man they gunned down Monday night wasn't a mad slasher; he was a fleeing hostage.
John Winkler, 30, an aspiring television producer, died at a hospital.
"Taking the life of an innocent person is a police officer's greatest nightmare," Interim Los Angeles County Sheriff John Scott said Thursday at a news conference.
The entire department mourned Winkler's death, he added.
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7 comments:
Mindless robots, cops lost the ability to think for themselves. Now they're trained everyone is the bad guy.
Completely untrue statement.
Daily evidence proves that 7:26's comment is right on the mark.
POster 7:52 AM
Your post is bS this is 100% true... More innocent people are hurt and killed over the inability of the cops to care, think and react appropriately... They shoot first and ask who ever is left alive questions... But you know how they say, My word against his and he id dead...
I bet you think it is justified for swat raids into peoples homes who the cops had no business being there huh? like when the cops do a 3 year long investigation following a guy and they raid the wrong house of the wrong people in which the color of the house is wrong the address is wrong and the persons age and race are wrong... OH NO ACCOUNTABILITY THERE RIGHT? had the innocent people not sat on the couch in their own home doing nothing illegal, they would not have gotten shot right?
You think its ok because a cop has a metal piece of shit stuck on their shirt you think its ok for them to run amuck and kill people... I have YET TO SEE ANY COP IN THE USA GET JAIL OR TIME FOR KILLING PEOPLE EVEN WHEN THERE IS DIRECT EVIDENCE THAT SHOWS THE COP IS A MURDERER OR PUT HIMSELF IN THAT POSITION IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO USE FORCE...
People like you and think like you make me sick... I can't wait until this shit happens to you directly and then your song and dance will change... I guarantee it...
Just so you know, when the crap hits the fan, NO ONE WILL DEFEND YOU OR PROTECT YOU for that reason, AND I WISH THIS ON NO ONE BUT YO DIRECTLY... Lets let you get the short end of the stick like the rest of us have...
While it does not appear that this was malicious in any way it still happened. WHY? This should be the end of this officers career. Ending someones life is more than a mistake.
Having known many a police officer I can say they are nice people while acting as a civilian. They go to church they attend community functions. They are generally nice folks. Once the uniform goes on I do not trust any of them at all. If I happen to run into a cop I know I might be less nervous but why should I have to know the officer personally for them to treat me like a person?
We are in a pressure cooker right now and something will give.
When, as an agent of the government, you kill an innocent person, there HAS to be SOME kind of penalty. I mean, more than "its my greatest nightmare" (and thank God I'm a cop, so there won't be any repercussions).
If you or I kill an innocent person (say, we fired an assault rifle in the middle of town and shot a man sitting at a bar 200 yards away instead of the guy who just ripped us off in a drug deal), PRISON is our next address. Put a badge on and all it is is a "nightmare".
It was a KNIFE. He wasn't even close to them (that "danger" thing, huh? Or was it "fear"?). But, like cops love to do, they just blasted away before they determined who was supposed to get blasted. But NOW, they are "sorry". Which I'm sure makes the family feel SO much better.
Quit thinking that every situation needs a bullet.
Quit being afraid of EVERY DAMN THING THAT MOVES.
Quit killing hundreds of unarmed people EVERY YEAR.
Quit your job.
Or join the circus. I hear there is a shortage of midgets. Physical and mental.
Of course, THEN we'd get stories about little animals getting tortured, trapeze artists getting raped, money missing from the ticket sales, drugs being smuggled in tiger cages, and unhappy customers getting shot by groups of "unidentified" midgets. Other misdeeds would be covered up by the midget circus investigators.
There could even be a reality show, "Toy Boys". Dress 'em up, some, too. Frilly pink. Lovely lavenders. REALLY big badges. Who wouldn't PAY to see THAT?
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