Ft. Worth Officer Charged with Murder

[rborden]

I’m kind of surprised no one is talking about this here.

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder for Shooting Woman in Her Home

 

[Blk04L]

Why didn't they announce their presence?
Odd case.

It was a welfare check, not someone calling to say they say 2 unknown men enter the house and could be robbing the place.

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

So he was checking on a open door question. Why did he not just go to the door and knock to see if anything was wrong? Did not have to show himself to do that to be safe. If nothing was wrong the person inside would acknowledge it. Shooting the woman thru the window? Weird in a lot of ways.

 

[Stanley]

You can't shoot someone through a window in their own home for no reason and just walk away with a "my bad".

 

[My94GT]

Yea I’m not sure I see anything wrong with how the police chief handled or spoke of this based on what I read in the article. Seems the cop that shot her was completely in the wrong.

 

[me32]

I’m kind of surprised no one is talking about this here.

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder for Shooting Woman in Her Home

There being pro active and trying to prevent a riot. I think the chief is doing the right thing.

 

[Mentos]

Based on what I read...the family is gonna get PAID.

 

[BigPoppa]

Yeah, I've been following this. It's pretty open and shut. Officer screwed up, but definitely no malicious intent. He got spooked.

He resigned and they charged him. If I was the DA, I'd offer him a plea deal that would keep him out of prison, but with a really lengthy probation, restitution, etc.

It was a lot more he did wrong in that he didn't announce himself, properly approach the scene, etc. This goes beyond "white cop kills black woman". It was more along "this guy screwed up way more than he should have".

 

[2KBlackGT]

I’m kind of surprised no one is talking about this here.

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder for Shooting Woman in Her Home

Lol, what? The officer deserved to be thrown under the bus, wtf?

Yeah, I've been following this. It's pretty open and shut. Officer screwed up, but definitely no malicious intent. He got spooked.

He resigned and they charged him. If I was the DA, I'd offer him a plea deal that would keep him out of prison, but with a really lengthy probation, restitution, etc.

It was a lot more he did wrong in that he didn't announce himself, properly approach the scene, etc. This goes beyond "white cop kills black woman". It was more along "this guy screwed up way more than he should have".

Nah, he killed a woman in cold blood. He needs to be locked up just as I would be if I did what he did.

 

[Stanley]

I don't think it was race related because I don't know if he even got a good look at her before he shot. He definitely has to do some jail time. She didn't jump out from behind something and scare him and get shot, she was standing in her kitchen thinking bad guys were in her backyard.

This is all avoided with a knock on a door and calling into the house that it's the police.

 

[Booky]

I can guarantee that 8 year old nephew will never have to worry about money.

What the hell was the officer thinking creeping around the house in the middle of the night, unannounced, looking in windows?

There is absolutely no way this could have ended well. The officer was damn lucky she was not faster on the trigger or he may have been pronounced dead at the scene.

 

[TBCobra]

I’m kind of surprised no one is talking about this here.

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder for Shooting Woman in Her Home

Umm, that officer deserves to have the book thrown at him.

 

[Weather Man]

Officer violated multiple protocols, he rolled himself under the bus.

 

[BlckBox04]

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Please elaborate what you mean by this.
If the Chief said nothing he would have been accused of covering this up. Why would the actions of the chief, who was standing up for the INTEGRITY (key word here) of his community, which is what part of his job task is to do, discouraged anyone who is interested in law enforcement?
If anything what he did, by outing someone who CLEARLY had no business being in the job to begin with, made people want to be in that department even more.

 

[ssj4sadie]

I’m kind of surprised no one is talking about this here.

It’s a bit disgusting the Police Chief is throwing his own officer under the bus. How does that encourage people who want to become LEO’s in the future?

Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder for Shooting Woman in Her Home

So you want LEOs to cover for each other when breaking the law?

 

[NoSlowGT]

I just hate the "white cop kills black woman" statements. No, a cop killed an innocent civilian. Just because she allegedly "pointed a gun" at him doesn't give him the reason to shoot her. If I saw someone with a flashlight roaming my backyard unannounced I would also have my pistol out.

 

[scott9050]

Imagine your wife was home alone in her bedroom and this happened to her. Not only is he going to serve hard prison time in state prison, he is going to most likely end up with Federal charges as well. There are too many police officers getting light sentences in these cases, that needs to change.
In the early-mid 90's in North Carolina there was a spate of police shootings where the police were making traffic stops, claiming that the car lurched at them and then killing the unarmed person behind the wheel. One of these officers was eventually charged with 2nd degree murder, and the incidents suddenly came to a halt.
I am pro law enforcement, but the numbers of unarmed people being shot because an officer "felt threatened" has increased dramatically.
Being that I am NFL lineman size, that makes me stop and think that a cop could use that reasoning against me.
This case reminds me of when the South Carolina state trooper shot the man for getting his drivers license. If you are so damn nervous that you are shooting someone the second a verbal command comes out of your mouth, you have no business being a cop.

 

[RedVenom48]

Second degree murder charges at least. Dude, wtf was he thinking.

If my fiance was at home alone and she saw someone lurking in the backyard Id expect her to grab one of the rifles, lock n load and call the cops.

It appears that this former officer gave a command for hands up a split second before he fired. Unless the body cam shows otherwise... officer had too twitchy of a finger.

 

[rborden]

Officer violated multiple protocols, he rolled himself under the bus.

I don’t know what their protocols consist of, would you mind filling in what exactly they are and how they were violated?

Please elaborate what you mean by this.
If the Chief said nothing he would have been accused of covering this up. Why would the actions of the chief, who was standing up for the INTEGRITY (key word here) of his community, which is what part of his job task is to do, discouraged anyone who is interested in law enforcement?
If anything what he did, by outing someone who CLEARLY had no business being in the job to begin with, made people want to be in that department even more.

Ok, I guessing I’m looking at this from a defense attorney stand point.

Cops get a phone call from a concerned neighbor that a residents door is open but no movement has been seen in a while.

Dispatcher relays call to officer. No doubt the officer has scenarios going through his head. Medical issues? Hostage situation? Home Invasion? Potential cop ambush situation where someone lures cops to a call and then ambushes them?

So upon arriving at residence, he walks around the house looking for evidence of foul play and doing a basic threat assessment. As he passes a window he sees someone, he gives an an order to put their hands in the air and sees a gun and fires (split second span).

Maybe he arrives on scene knocks and a potential hostage situation goes way wrong?

I was under the impression officers always check a perimeter and assess potential threats when arriving on scene. Maybe I’m wrong on this.

As for the Chief, I’m not saying he is covering, I’m just surprised he is so quick to assign blame to his officer instead of saying, let’s allow an investigation to proceed and go from there. To me this feels like the public wants a scapegoat and the Chief is caving to that pressure.

If I’m a defense attorney that’s the way I would spin this.

 

[shurur]

Police and their "Qualified Immunity" should only go so far.
I am quite sure this LEO will claim that he "was in fear for his life or grave bodily injury" or some such BS.
This LEO had damn well better do time...we mere civilians don't need anymore officers like this "protecting and serving" us.