Attorney for Atlanta officer: Rayshard Brooks 'was not running away' when he died

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Pstmstr

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I am of the opinion that the defense attorney has access to additional video footage that we have not seen yet.

Several portions of body cam video were online yesterday. It was an outright lie about them kicking or standing on him. The officer is clearly rendering first aid and then cpr.


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Pstmstr

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Several portions of body cam video were online yesterday. It was an outright lie about them kicking or standing on him. The officer is clearly rendering first aid and then cpr.


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Nope. When they moved to initially cuff him up is when the fight starred.


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Snattlerake

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Which one or multiples of these errors do you all think the officers in Atlanta make?

Ten Deadly Errors:

1. Failure to Maintain Equipment and Proficiency – Clean your guns, magazines, and handcuffs. Keep your flashlights charged. Keep a fresh battery in your radio. Get to the range and practice shooting. Work with your zone partner on handcuffing techniques.

2. Improper Search, Improper Use of Handcuffs – A lot of cops have been hurt or killed because of a poor search. Learn how to do a systematic and thorough search of prisoners and frisks of suspicious people. Understand that weapons can be secreted anywhere on and in the body. When handcuffing, make sure they are on properly and double locked. Always handcuff behind the back. Here in Florida, we lost three law enforcement officers after a murder suspect was handcuffed in front and retrieved a handcuff key hidden on his person.

3. Sleepy or Asleep – If you do not get enough sleep, you become a danger to yourself and your partners. A lack of alertness is exceptionally dangerous.

4. Relaxing Too Soon – Do not relax until the call is over and you have left the jail and gone back in service. Most veteran officers can tell stories about a guy that was “cool” and then suddenly snapped. Offenders may act relaxed, but do not let them lull you into a false sense of security. If you slack off while around someone who wants to hurt you, you invite disaster.

5. Missing Danger Signs – Danger signs could be verbal cues, non-verbal cues, bulges, clothing, location, or any number of other things. A suspect who keeps touching his hip while talking to you could be giving you a non-verbal indication that he is armed. A suspect who doesn’t directly answer a question could be hiding information. A specific type, style, or color of clothing could be an indication of gang affiliation. Become informed of what danger signs may exist and then actively look for them.

6. Bad Positioning – Know where you are and figure out the safest place to be. For example, if you can get the cars in a traffic accident into a parking lot, wouldn’t that be a safer place than standing in the road to conduct your investigation? In a Terry Stop, how close are you to the suspect? Where is your cover officer? Can you effective respond to a sudden attack from your current position? Is there some form of cover you might be able to use?

7. Failure to Watch the Hands – Their eyes may be the windows to their soul, but their hands will kill you. Although watching the hands falls in with missing the danger signs, this error has hurt or killed so many officers, it is deserving of its own place on the list. Humans are tool users. With little exception, this means offenders will use their hands to obtain a weapon to attack you. Hands will retrieve a gun from the waistband, a knife from the pocket, or a baseball bat from behind the door. Can you see their hands? Where are the hands? What are they doing?

8. Tombstone Courage – Don’t rush in if you don’t need to. Take your time and wait for backup. Sometimes you have to go in alone. Most of the time you don’t, so wait for your partner!

9. Preoccupation – If you are messing with your computer or cell phone, how can you watch their hands or pick up on other danger signs? Also, if you are so stressed about your finances, relationship with your spouse, or about your drinking problem, how are you supposed to remain alert all shift? If you are stressed out, talk to a peer counselor or request help from the employee assistance program at your agency. There is no shame in asking for help, especially if it can prevent you getting hurt on the job.

10. Apathy – Don’t think it can happen to you? Think again. Bad things happen on all sorts of calls, on all shifts, and to officers of all levels of experience.

After watching the videos, I personally would say number 5 was the biggie. He showed some signs of wanting to run. He was glancing around looking for an easy escape route. Number 4 possibly entered into it too after 40 minute of friendly bantering he caught the cops off guard because they relaxed too soon. Number 2 handcuffing, was a factor because as stated they relaxed before handcuffing. Number 7? Well it's really hard to watch hands after going hands on and on the ground when there are 4 of them in the scrum not including yours. Weapon awareness was definitely a factor maintaining a safe weapon danger funnel from sweeping your partner and yourself. Once that weapon was gone out of the officer's control the "Oh sheite!" pucker factor took over I'm sure with multiple "What if's" and "what do I do now?" scenarios entering both officer's minds. I'm also sure the training and the use of force policy was rolling through their brains trying to remember if this scenario was ever gone over in their FATS training.

I will be pissed if the Atlanta Police does not have a policy about losing your taser to the perp and the use of force continuum allowed.
 

jfssms

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Which one or multiples of these errors do you all think the officers in Atlanta make?

Ten Deadly Errors:

1. Failure to Maintain Equipment and Proficiency – Clean your guns, magazines, and handcuffs. Keep your flashlights charged. Keep a fresh battery in your radio. Get to the range and practice shooting. Work with your zone partner on handcuffing techniques.

2. Improper Search, Improper Use of Handcuffs – A lot of cops have been hurt or killed because of a poor search. Learn how to do a systematic and thorough search of prisoners and frisks of suspicious people. Understand that weapons can be secreted anywhere on and in the body. When handcuffing, make sure they are on properly and double locked. Always handcuff behind the back. Here in Florida, we lost three law enforcement officers after a murder suspect was handcuffed in front and retrieved a handcuff key hidden on his person.

3. Sleepy or Asleep – If you do not get enough sleep, you become a danger to yourself and your partners. A lack of alertness is exceptionally dangerous.

4. Relaxing Too Soon – Do not relax until the call is over and you have left the jail and gone back in service. Most veteran officers can tell stories about a guy that was “cool” and then suddenly snapped. Offenders may act relaxed, but do not let them lull you into a false sense of security. If you slack off while around someone who wants to hurt you, you invite disaster.

5. Missing Danger Signs – Danger signs could be verbal cues, non-verbal cues, bulges, clothing, location, or any number of other things. A suspect who keeps touching his hip while talking to you could be giving you a non-verbal indication that he is armed. A suspect who doesn’t directly answer a question could be hiding information. A specific type, style, or color of clothing could be an indication of gang affiliation. Become informed of what danger signs may exist and then actively look for them.

6. Bad Positioning – Know where you are and figure out the safest place to be. For example, if you can get the cars in a traffic accident into a parking lot, wouldn’t that be a safer place than standing in the road to conduct your investigation? In a Terry Stop, how close are you to the suspect? Where is your cover officer? Can you effective respond to a sudden attack from your current position? Is there some form of cover you might be able to use?

7. Failure to Watch the Hands – Their eyes may be the windows to their soul, but their hands will kill you. Although watching the hands falls in with missing the danger signs, this error has hurt or killed so many officers, it is deserving of its own place on the list. Humans are tool users. With little exception, this means offenders will use their hands to obtain a weapon to attack you. Hands will retrieve a gun from the waistband, a knife from the pocket, or a baseball bat from behind the door. Can you see their hands? Where are the hands? What are they doing?

8. Tombstone Courage – Don’t rush in if you don’t need to. Take your time and wait for backup. Sometimes you have to go in alone. Most of the time you don’t, so wait for your partner!

9. Preoccupation – If you are messing with your computer or cell phone, how can you watch their hands or pick up on other danger signs? Also, if you are so stressed about your finances, relationship with your spouse, or about your drinking problem, how are you supposed to remain alert all shift? If you are stressed out, talk to a peer counselor or request help from the employee assistance program at your agency. There is no shame in asking for help, especially if it can prevent you getting hurt on the job.

10. Apathy – Don’t think it can happen to you? Think again. Bad things happen on all sorts of calls, on all shifts, and to officers of all levels of experience.

After watching the videos, I personally would say number 5 was the biggie. He showed some signs of wanting to run. He was glancing around looking for an easy escape route. Number 4 possibly entered into it too after 40 minute of friendly bantering he caught the cops off guard because they relaxed too soon. Number 2 handcuffing, was a factor because as stated they relaxed before handcuffing. Number 7? Well it's really hard to watch hands after going hands on and on the ground when there are 4 of them in the scrum not including yours. Weapon awareness was definitely a factor maintaining a safe weapon danger funnel from sweeping your partner and yourself. Once that weapon was gone out of the officer's control the "Oh sheite!" pucker factor took over I'm sure with multiple "What if's" and "what do I do now?" scenarios entering both officer's minds. I'm also sure the training and the use of force policy was rolling through their brains trying to remember if this scenario was ever gone over in their FATS training.

I will be pissed if the Atlanta Police does not have a policy about losing your taser to the perp and the use of force continuum allowed.
 

rawhide

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Yep, he was a dumbass. But the issue of whether or not a taser, that had been fired twice already, was a deadly weapon. Or, is a taser a deadly weapon at all, because the manufacturer does not classify, advertise or sell it as a deadly weapon, and that is who the prosecutor will have testify at the trial.

So, that will be a big part of the testimony and trial.
According to a former prosecutor talking on a Court TV show I watched a couple of days ago, in GA a taser is considered a deadly weapon.
 

Pstmstr

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I'm going with shooting a unarmed man in the back.

Wasn’t on the list but you’re right. They should have shot him at contact distance in the chest the minute he tried to grab the taser. Just curious, have you ever been arrested?


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