Again, you weren't there, have no idea how the situation played out or have any idea what transpired for them to shoot him...pure speculation. Do you honestly think a cop is just going to shoot a guy for kicks and giggles? They know the ramifications of killing a man Betall. They train for this each day.
Of course, not the same.....as far as we know.
But here's one that happened last year in SF.
http://www.policeone.com/news/2090668-Prosecutor-BART-cop-lost-control-in-train-shooting/
[SIZE=-1]LOS ANGELES — A former San Francisco Bay area transit police officer should be convicted of murder because he lost control and intentionally shot an unarmed black man on a train platform, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein gave an impassioned two-hour closing argument, saying the actions of defendant Johannes Mehserle on New Year's Day 2009 don't jibe with his contention that he mistakenly pulled his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein pointed to testimony by two other officers who said Mehserle, 28, told them he thought Oscar Grant was going for a gun during the incident that was videotaped by bystanders.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein pointed to testimony by two other officers who said Mehserle, 28, told them he thought Oscar Grant was going for a gun during the incident that was videotaped by bystanders.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"The defendant's desire to punish, to belittle, and to mistreat Oscar Grant not only resulted in chaos, distrust and disorder, it resulted in the death of an innocent person," Stein said. "For that he must be held liable."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein said Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him when he arrived on the platform and saw a raucous crowd watching other officers detained Grant and his friends after a report about a fight.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"He lost all control," Stein told the jury. "That's why you are here."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mehserle pleaded not guilty to murdering Grant, 22, and resigned from the Bay Area Rapid Transit police force after the shooting.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]His trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles because of excessive media coverage and tensions that have boiled over into violence in Oakland.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Defense attorney Michael Rains began his closing argument before the lunch break, saying jurors shouldn't convict Mehserle as payback for a shooting that the lawyer called a tragic accident.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"It's not a forum to address or redress social injustice," Rains said. "That's not your duty."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After arguments by both sides, the jury will begin deliberating whether Mehserle should be found guilty of second-degree murder or the lesser offenses of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Rains told jurors his client should be acquitted.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein methodically went through his case, posing three questions to jurors: did Grant resist arrest just prior to being shot; did Mehserle believe Grant was going for a gun; and did the defendant intend to pull his gun?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]A dozen people, some aboard the train, said they didn't see Grant resist arrest, Stein said. Some said they saw another officer, Tony Pirone, strike Grant, he added.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
<table style="clear: right; float: right;" width="53%"><tbody><tr><td>
<small>Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</small>
</td></tr></tbody></table>[SIZE=-1]Pirone was fired from the transit agency in April and is appealing the decision. He is not facing criminal charges. [/SIZE]
But here's one that happened last year in SF.
http://www.policeone.com/news/2090668-Prosecutor-BART-cop-lost-control-in-train-shooting/
[SIZE=-1]LOS ANGELES — A former San Francisco Bay area transit police officer should be convicted of murder because he lost control and intentionally shot an unarmed black man on a train platform, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein gave an impassioned two-hour closing argument, saying the actions of defendant Johannes Mehserle on New Year's Day 2009 don't jibe with his contention that he mistakenly pulled his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein pointed to testimony by two other officers who said Mehserle, 28, told them he thought Oscar Grant was going for a gun during the incident that was videotaped by bystanders.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein pointed to testimony by two other officers who said Mehserle, 28, told them he thought Oscar Grant was going for a gun during the incident that was videotaped by bystanders.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"The defendant's desire to punish, to belittle, and to mistreat Oscar Grant not only resulted in chaos, distrust and disorder, it resulted in the death of an innocent person," Stein said. "For that he must be held liable."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein said Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him when he arrived on the platform and saw a raucous crowd watching other officers detained Grant and his friends after a report about a fight.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"He lost all control," Stein told the jury. "That's why you are here."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mehserle pleaded not guilty to murdering Grant, 22, and resigned from the Bay Area Rapid Transit police force after the shooting.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]His trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles because of excessive media coverage and tensions that have boiled over into violence in Oakland.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Defense attorney Michael Rains began his closing argument before the lunch break, saying jurors shouldn't convict Mehserle as payback for a shooting that the lawyer called a tragic accident.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"It's not a forum to address or redress social injustice," Rains said. "That's not your duty."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]After arguments by both sides, the jury will begin deliberating whether Mehserle should be found guilty of second-degree murder or the lesser offenses of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Rains told jurors his client should be acquitted.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Stein methodically went through his case, posing three questions to jurors: did Grant resist arrest just prior to being shot; did Mehserle believe Grant was going for a gun; and did the defendant intend to pull his gun?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]A dozen people, some aboard the train, said they didn't see Grant resist arrest, Stein said. Some said they saw another officer, Tony Pirone, strike Grant, he added.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
<table style="clear: right; float: right;" width="53%"><tbody><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>[SIZE=-1]Pirone was fired from the transit agency in April and is appealing the decision. He is not facing criminal charges. [/SIZE]
One moment, they were just talking, the young police officer in the patrol car who had rolled up alongside the even younger pedestrian.
It was a low-key give-and-take, question-and-answer exchange Friday afternoon, not hostile or confrontational.
That changed in an instant, when the pedestrian pulled a handgun out from his baggy clothing, stepped back and fired three shots into the officer, who never had a chance.
Patrolman Christopher Matlosz slumped behind the wheel of his police cruiser, mortally wounded, his gun still in its holster. The gunman ran away, touching off a massive manhunt by land and air that continued Saturday, with authorities vowing he would soon be caught and punished.
No arrests had been made as of late Saturday morning.
Scores of officers on foot, in cars and in helicopters were scouring the area where the shooting occurred, a neighborhood near the Jersey shore where Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said several drive-by shootings had occurred.
She called the shooting "an execution-style killing."
The 27-year-old Matlosz had just transferred off the midnight shift a week ago. He was engaged to be married next year, and his fiancee rushed to the hospital where he died less than an hour after being shot.
"This is a terrible tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to Officer Matlosz's family, friends, fellow officers and the entire New Jersey law enforcement community," Gov. Chris Christie said. "While the facts are still being gathered, we support the Lakewood police and Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in their work to bring swift justice to whomever is responsible."
Likewise, Attorney General Paula Dow promised swift punishment.
"Rest assured, the suspect responsible for this horrific act will be apprehended and brought to justice," she said.
Within hours of the shooting, individual police officers began circulating the name and photo of a 19-year-old man who they claimed in e-mails and Internet postings was the suspect in the case. But a spokesman for the prosecutor's office would not confirm that the person named in the online postings was the suspect for whom authorities were looking.
The suspect was described as a black male in his early 20s or late teens, 5-foot-6 or 5-foot-7, stockily built with sunken eyes and puffy cheeks. He was wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans slung so low that gray boxer shorts were visible, according to a witness account to police.
Matlosz was conducting "a routine stop" of the suspect, chatting with him for a few minutes, Ford said, leading authorities to believe the two may have been acquainted with each other before the shooting.
"This was an encounter that was between the officer and the person, not hostile," she said. "The individual stepped back and suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot the officer."
While the suspect fled on foot, a neighbor called 911 just after 4 p.m. to report an officer down. Matlosz, who wore badge No. 317, was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he died in the trauma unit. He is survived by his mother and a brother.
"Every year we lose police officers in this country and so many of their losses are just like this one: routine, nonviolent situations" that suddenly turn deadly, Ford said. "Now it hits home. This is the risk every officer takes when he put on the badge."
The State Policeman's Benevolent Association is offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect, according to the group's spokesman, Jim Ryan.
Lakewood is an ethnically diverse community of 60,000 residents located 54 miles east of Philadelphia and 47 miles south of New York.
Matlosz joined the department Aug. 14, 2006, and lived in nearby Manchester Township, according to Lakewood Police Chief Robert Lawson.
"Chris was one of our most popular officers," the chief said. "You might say he was the best of us. He was very dedicated to his job. I have a lot of accolades about him from the public."
Before joining the Lakewood Police Department, Matlosz worked as a police officer in Englishtown, a Monmouth County suburb, and as a Class 2 special police officer in Freehold Township, Manasquan and Long Branch on the Jersey shore.
He graduated from Howell Township High School and earned his degree in criminal justice from Brookdale Community College in 2004.
His death was the second shooting involving a Lakewood police officer in recent years.
In September 2009, another Lakewood police officer, Patrolman Jonathan Wilson, was critically wounded when he was shot in the face during a gun and drug raid. Three other officers were shot but received lesser injuries.
A suspect in that case faces attempted murder charges.
