Let me preface this post by saying Mesa is a suburb of Phoenix and I'm from here. This is my hometown and there's plenty to be proud of. They turned out my snarky ass, didn't they? This is bad. While we were told as children that the police were friends and here to protect us, sadly in a few cases, this has turned out to be false. Don't get me wrong, that isn't the majority. But with alarming frequency, the ones we count on to serve and protect, sometimes do not.
On January 18, 2016, Daniel Shaver was on a business trip in Mesa, staying at a moderate hotel called The La Quinta Inn and Suites. Apparently he was having some guests in his room and while hanging outside on the balcony of his room, he showed off a pellet gun, which was seen by another guest. The guest became alarmed and called 911, and the Mesa PD dispatched several officers in tactical gear to assess the situation. It gets a little fuzzy here but there was body camera footage. The team tried to coax the occupants out of the room, thinking that one of the occupants had a rifle or was armed in some way. And while crawling down the hallway, allegedly, Daniel Shaver begged for his life, "Please don't shoot me," And officer Phillip Brailsford shot him 5 times killing him.
Officer Brailsford was fired and charged with 2nd degree murder. There was some controversy about how the officer had modified his weapon by putting the words, "You're F--ked" on the side of his assault rifle. There has been an ongoing debate about releasing that body camera footage and I didn't think they would. Much to my shock, they redacted it and with the moment of death edited out it is availible in the link below.
I don't know what to say other than I think releasing that video before the trial is a horrendous idea. Doesn't matter if it was redacted. Frankly that makes it worse!! I honestly am not blaming the victim here but come on yo. When are people going to figure out that waving around toy guys is the most assinine thing ever??
I didn't follow this case all that well but since it happened here but it was on the news every 5 minutes so there was no avoiding it. Also that Dahmer thing and Chuckles Manson choking the big chicken, I've been busy.
Much to the consternation of many, the jury acquitted Officer Phillip Brailsford for the killing of Daniel Shaver back in the summer of 2016. I got a whole lot of nasty emails because---just hear me out dammitt!!! The dude who was killed had a toy gun and was playing with it, leaning off the balcony and pointing to the pool with it. Now, I don't know if you don't find that scary as hell but me? I don't think I'm going to blow off someone pointing a gun at me from a building's 10th floor or whatever floor it was. Don't get me wrong...I feel for the family. But I've said it once and I'm just going to keep saying it because so many stupid people aren't getting the clue: if you play with a toy gun and put yourself at risk, the cops will treat it as a legit firearm. Think Boo Boo, think.
This is bad. While we were told as children that the police were friends and here to protect us, sadly in a few cases, this has turned out to be false. Don't get me wrong, that isn't the majority. But with alarming frequency, the ones we count on to serve and protect, sometimes do not.
people aren't getting the clue: if you play with a toy gun and put yourself at risk, the cops will treat it as a legit firearm. Think Boo Boo, think.
