U.S. Constitution
See other U.S. Constitution Articles
Title: Cops Shot Unarmed Georgia Woman in the Head, Admired Their Marksmanship, Prevented First Aid After
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2015/07/15/ ... unarmed-georgia-woman-in-the-h
Published: Jul 15, 2015
Author: Ed Krayewski
Post Date: 2015-07-16 10:25:27 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 3994
Comments: 21
An awful story in Georgia about a fatal 2010 police shooting as investigated by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News, illustrates many of the structural and systemic problems in policing and police discipline, not just in Georgia but around the country.
35-year-old Caroline Small took police on a low-speed chase that ended with her Buick Century in a ditch on its rims. The two cops who followed her shot her, claiming they feared for her life because she could drive the car, which was without tires now, down the narrow path between her and them . After shooting her in the head, the cops are caught on their cameras talking about their marksmanship. A subsequent investigation of the incident cleared them of wrongdoing but the investigation by the Journal-Constitution found a number of problems:
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News investigation of the case found that:
• Glynn County police officers interfered with the GBI's investigation from the start, seeking to protect the officers.
• The department tampered with the crime scene and created misleading evidence that was shown to the grand jury.
• The local district attorney shared the state's evidence with the officers nearly two months before the grand jury convened and cut an unusual deal with them just before it met.
Both cops remain employed as police officers in Georgia and were never disciplined. Video shows them waving off a former EMT who witnessed the shooting and was trying to offer first aid. Last year a federal judge threw out a wrongful death suit by the family because, she said, the cops said they felt Small was a threat and so killed her lawfully. Small's interaction with cops began when someone saw her sitting in her car in a parking lot and called police about suspected drug use.
The factors that contributed to the "nothing to see here" approach in Georgia are not unique to that state. Police shootings are universally investigated by someone substantively connected to law enforcement—be it the police department's own internal affairs department, state investigators, or outside prosecutors. Police shootings are generally protected by law not only if a reasonable threat existed, but if the cop involved perceived a threat. The system of law enforcement privileges—things like treating disciplinary files as private personnel records and employment as a police officer as a public service privilege—meanwhile, ensures obfuscation can prevent transparency and accountability.
In the last year, incidents of police brutality have received more and more attention, but the burgeoning police reform movement still focuses on the issue on a case-by-case basis. It draws more attention to individual cases of brutality and the ancillary issue of racist cops rather than the systemic problem of police brutality. Those systemic problems are created by a set of privileges extended to police officers and law enforcement by the government that can be revoked by them as well. The prosecution of the six cops accused of killing Freddie Gray, for example, may feel like a victory to protestors, but every protection those cops enjoyed, including waiting 10 days to give an official statement and remaining on the city payroll with termination proceedings impossible until a conviction is secured, other cops will continue to enjoy. The lucrative system can remain intact for police officers, prosecutors, and other government officials, and all it cost was the prosecution of six cops.
Read the whole heart-wrenching piece about Caroline Small here.
Via the Twitter feed of Radley Balko.
Ed Krayewski is an associate editor at Reason.com (1 image)
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
" An awful story in Georgia about a fatal 2010 police shooting "
Yes it is. She probably was a female John Dillinger. The kops were in fear for their lives.
One day, Karma will pay them horrific visit!
Si vis pacem, para bellum
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
I am starting to think there is something behind all these White cops killing blacks. Revenge maybe? Or perhaps they are sick and tired of watching cops getting crucified for arresting black thugs and then watching the liberal, hate themselves and their race, white judges turning them loose time after time.
#3. To: BobCeleste (#2)
I am starting to think there is something behind all these White cops killing blacks. Revenge maybe? Or perhaps they are sick and tired of watching cops getting crucified for arresting black thugs and then watching the liberal, hate themselves and their race, white judges turning them loose time after time.
I don't know and don't care. What I do care about is a certain segment of government that is armed by the taxpayer and seem to have official permission to murder citizens.
It doesn't matter if you are black or white,young or old,male or female. You should have a reasonable right to expect to not be murdered by agents of the state.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
#4. To: sneakypete (#3)
It doesn't matter if you are black or white,young or old,male or female. You should have a reasonable right to expect to not be murdered by agents of the state.
Exactly. Just like our dawgs. SAVE OUR DAWGS FROM THE POLICE STATE!!!
#5. To: buckeroo (#4)
Exactly. Just like our dawgs. SAVE OUR DAWGS FROM THE POLICE STATE!!!
I'm not sure I understand your point there,but I will say that if you kill my dog and don't kill me at the same time you have just made a fatal mistake.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
#6. To: Deckard (#0)
"35-year-old Caroline Small took police on a low-speed chase that ended with her Buick Century in a ditch on its rims."
A low-speed chase ending in a ditch and her car lost all four tires?
Something's missing ... and it's not just the tires.
#7. To: misterwhite (#6)
Something's missing ... and it's not just the tires.
Something's missing alright -
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News investigation of the case found that:
• Glynn County police officers interfered with the GBI's investigation from the start, seeking to protect the officers.
• The department tampered with the crime scene and created misleading evidence that was shown to the grand jury.
• The local district attorney shared the state's evidence with the officers nearly two months before the grand jury convened and cut an unusual deal with them just before it met.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts#8. To: sneakypete (#5)
I'm not sure I understand your point there
I was adding to your earlier statment:
It doesn't matter if you are black or white,young or old,male or female. You should have a reasonable right to expect to not be murdered by agents of the state.
Don't forget the dawgs. You apparently filled in the point ...
but I will say that if you kill my dog and don't kill me at the same time you have just made a fatal mistake.
#9. To: sneakypete (#5)
" I will say that if you kill my dog and don't kill me at the same time you have just made a fatal mistake. "
Agree wholeheartedly!!
Si vis pacem, para bellum
#10. To: Deckard (#7)
Her ex-husband summed it up perfectly. "She wasn't just a junkie. She was a mom."
#11. To: Deckard (#7)
" An Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News investigation of the case found that:• Glynn County police officers interfered with the GBI's investigation from the start, seeking to protect the officers.
• The department tampered with the crime scene and created misleading evidence that was shown to the grand jury.
• The local district attorney shared the state's evidence with the officers nearly two months before the grand jury convened and cut an unusual deal with them just before it met. "
Well gee, if the kops did it, its gotta be OK, right?
I guess Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News is just engaging in "YELLOW JOURNALISM". Right ?
But the important question is "Did the kops go home safe?
Si vis pacem, para bellum
#12. To: misterwhite (#10)
Her ex-husband summed it up perfectly. "She wasn't just a junkie. She was a mom."
You're a douche - picking a quote out of context.
His wife had relapsed in the months leading up to the shooting and been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Dissociative Disorder. He believes her mental health issues played into her actions the day of the chase. She needed help from police, he said, not to be shot. Justice, he said, was not served.
Small has never spoken about the case before, but he is speaking out now, in part, to help clear his wife’s name. After the shooting, he said, the public discussion about her drifted to her troubled history with addiction and distracted from the officers’ actions.
“She wasn’t just a junkie,” Small said. “She was a mom. She was a college student. She loved painting. She loved to read….I do want more people to understand that she wasn’t just some horrible person running away from the police, because that’s not who she was at all.”
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts#13. To: Deckard, misterwhite (#12)
She wasn’t just a junkie….some horrible person running away from the police, because that’s not who she was at all.”
Right, she wasn’t just a junkie…
Small had cocaine in her system, a half-empty bottle of vodka in her car, and a history of running from police. Heroin was Small's drug of choice, her father told GBI agents.
The pursuit began when a Glynn police officer responded to a report of a woman shooting up heroin or cocaine in a car at the Embassy Suites parking lot at Glynn Place Mall.
Officer Peter Farrick told the GBI he found Small disheveled and glassy-eyed behind the wheel of the Buick. Small was picking at the empty car seat and looking under the console.
When Farrick asked her to turn off the car, she instead slowly drove off, he said.
Both Sasser and Simpson were at police headquarters when the pursuit began. Sasser responded because he was the shift supervisor. Simpson told GBI agents he went out intending to deploy "stop sticks" to disable Small's car. At one point, Small nearly hit Simpson head-on during the chase.
It would take 30 minutes before Small, Sasser and Simpson met face-to-face. Ignoring other motorists, pedestrians and traffic signals, Small led state troopers and police four miles through business parking lots, up and down residential streets and across yards until she careened down Armstrong Avenue.
After three attempts, Malone successfully used his patrol car to spin Small's car around and shove it off the street in the 200 block of Armstrong. Sasser quickly pulled up to the front of her car.
Boxed-in and with four tires shredded to the rims, Small had nowhere to go. 'Let me get her out'
The Buick came to rest with its trunk about two feet from a utility pole and mailbox. Malone's patrol car was jammed against the sedan's right rear quarter panel. Sasser later described his patrol car as "hood to hood" with her car. His front bumper was nearly touching hers, the GBI investigation showed.
There was a 73-inch-wide gap, however, on the passenger side of Small's car. Her Buick was about 70 inches wide. With little room to maneuver, Small tried anyway.
Throwing the car into reverse, she slammed into Malone's car, the utility pole and mailbox then drove straight forward into Sasser's car. Ignoring Sasser's shouted commands to "stop" and "get out of the car," Small ping-ponged back and forth, only moving about a foot, maybe two, in either direction.
Sasser was closest to her. Shielded by his open patrol car door, he was about 71/2 feet from where Small sat frantically working the gear shift on the steering column. To his left, Simpson was about 10 feet from Small. A third Glynn officer, Jason Dixon, stood to Simpson's left.
Malone made a dash to snatch Small out of the car. He told the GBI that Small tried to back into him but she hit the utility pole and mailbox instead. Malone retreated to the safety of his patrol car when he realized the Glynn officers were pointing their guns in his direction.
"Let me go in and get her out of the car," Malone is heard saying on the police videos after she reversed into his car, the pole and mailbox a second time.
"No. No. If she moves the car again, shoot her," Simpson replied.
The officers, Doering said, were trying to protect Malone because they didn't know if Small had a gun.
#14. To: Gatlin, (#13)
Small had cocaine in her system, a half-empty bottle of vodka in her car, and a history of running from police. Heroin was Small's drug of choice, her father told GBI agents.
But she was in "recovery".
#15. To: Kluane (#14)
Small had cocaine in her system, a half-empty bottle of vodka in her car, and a history of running from police. Heroin was Small's drug of choice, her father told GBI agents.But she was in "recovery".
And "she wasn’t just a junkie."
#16. To: Deckard (#12)
he wasn’t just a junkie,” Small said.
It doesn't even matter if being a junkie was all she was,the cops still didn't have any right to murder her.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
#17. To: Kluane (#14)
Small had cocaine in her system, a half-empty bottle of vodka in her car, and a history of running from police. Heroin was Small's drug of choice, her father told GBI agents.But she was in "recovery".
You say that like you think it is ok for cops to just shoot to death someone in her condition.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
#18. To: sneakypete (#17)
You say that like you think it is ok
Didn't "say" that at all. Are you in "recovery"?
#19. To: Kluane (#18)
You say that like you think it is okDidn't "say" that at all. Are you in "recovery"?
Yeah,shithead,you DID "say" it when you wrote that brain fart.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
#20. To: sneakypete (#19)
Didn't "say" that at all. Are you in "recovery"?Yeah,shithead,you DID "say" it when you wrote that brain fart.
In case you aren't aware - Kluane is yukon.
You're just playing his game when you try and debate his drunken gibberish.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts#21. To: sneakypete (#19)
The only brain farts are emanating from your foul keyboard.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]