Motorcyclist shot in back from traffic cop

[VEGASRIDER]

I take it that this cop doesn't ride motorcycles.

Talk about using poor judgement. Let the bashing begin...

Warning, video might be disturbing for some.

Ottawa Hills officer's trial begins, dash cam vid shown | 13abc.com

 

[Wavex]

Scary.......

 

[bushboarder]

WTF? I understand being a cop is a dangerous and stressful job, but this guy went Clint Eastwood way too soon. Hate to see this deemed a "justifiable" shooting.

 

[sublime0713]

Unbelievable. Whatever punishment that cop gets (3 year minimum) is justified. And if he's bashed on the forum it's well deserved.

 

[champion221elite]

Not looking very good for the officer involved. Except for turning around to look back towards the patrol car, I did not see the victim/suspect do anything to suggest he had a weapon.

 

[OneTrack]

Wow. I played the part where the shooting occurred about a dozen times. I can see no justification for the cop to have fired his pistol. There was no "split second decision" to be made. Yes, the rider's left hand remained on the grip and he turned to his right, placing his right hand on his hip.....but that's what motorcyclists do when they turn around when stopped....particularly if the bike's still in gear and your left hand is pulling in the clutch lever. I have always had the greatest respect for police, but that was a vicious, cruel assault; nothing more, nothing less.

 

[ELIZABETH]

^^^^what he said.
I can't believe what I see. I wonder if the gun went off accidentally. That is the only way I can see this happening.
all the best to the poor paralyzed victim.

 

[Motogiro]

I'm almost beyond words.....Bad bad bad shoot...

 

[McLovin]

In LA, I got pulled at night and I had cops reach for their guns behind their car doors and everything for me because i got off the bike..the reason i got off was because i was trying to get my doc's ready before the cop walked up to me..and my stuff was in my jeans pocket which was too tight at the sitting position..im lucky this **** didnt happen to me.


..but then again this guy was doing the right thing by sitting and doing nothing..cant blame him for not putting his hands up because i dont put my hands up for every time i get pulled over..this guy didnt get off the bike or anything and still got shot..

 

[Jez]

Thank god our cops don't carry guns. Or at least the few that do tend to properly trained in their use.

 

[AngelFZ]

I can see the defense arguing that the rider's hands were not visible, it "looks" like he was reaching towards his waist with the right hand, you can not see where the left hand is, ...
The guy ended up shot in the back for "no reason"!!!!

Indeed you do not know what your reaction will be under many different circumstances, it is not fair to judge unless you are on somebody's else shoes, but to get shot like that is very disturbing.

 

[lytehouse]

Looks like a case of "shoot first, ask questions later".
Good thing the guy survived, or it would be murder instead of assult.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

In LA, I got pulled at night and I had cops reach for their guns behind their car doors and everything for me because i got off the bike..the reason i got off was because i was trying to get my doc's ready before the cop walked up to me..and my stuff was in my jeans pocket which was too tight at the sitting position..im lucky this **** didnt happen to me.


..but then again this guy was doing the right thing by sitting and doing nothing..cant blame him for not putting his hands up because i dont put my hands up for every time i get pulled over..this guy didnt get off the bike or anything and still got shot..

I got pulled over recently, and I did the exact opposite of you. I understand it's great for you to have everything ready when the cop walks up but to prevent spooking the LEO by getting off your bike and start reaching into your pocket is a recipe for disaster.

What I did was as soon as I got pulled over:

1. Turned off the bike
2. Remained seated on my motorcycle with my hands visible, like on the handlebars.
3. All gear on, inlcuding helmet.
4. Wait until I receive further instructions.
5. I was asked for my driver's license so I told the LEO I will be reaching for them which was inside my pocket.

In this case, he didn't even ask for my registration. He just wanted my driver's license and insurance and then he let me go.

Not sure what the best protocal is on what to do when you get pulled over on a bike, but if there are any professionals out there who are on this forum who pull people over for a living, interesting what they would say on what's the best way on a bike.

 

[ADVdrming]

Disturbing indeed. I can only reason a heightened state on the officer's side bc obviously they were chasing the bikers. You can see after the guy took off too fast from the stop sign, the officer was in pursuit with the lights on. It looked like they were trying to run away, since they didn't pull over right away.

Having served as a juror on a case involving police officers before, it seems he followed procedure by calling backups, etc, up until the point where they stopped. At that point they should have tried to control the situation by voice commands (i.e. Ottawa police, put your hands in the air, etc). That's when it looks like he jumped the gun literally. And honestly, from the footage presented, I cannot figure out why he went in pursuit anyway - the guys didn't seem to speed, did full stops at the stop signs...

Disturbing.

 

[RJ2112]

Wow.

Hard to claim extenuating circumstances.... but I'd have to wonder what the guys on teh bikes had been doing prior to the LEO hitting his lights. How far over the line they had been in the minutes before this incident could (IMHO) explain a lot of what happened.

The second rider going all terrain, and circling back..... If it were me, I'd feel threatened by that. (Could of course just been that he was trashed and not in good control of his bike-- but that's no reduction in the threat to the officer.)

It's impressive, that the second LEO patrol car appeared so quickly. It's also indicative that these riders had been identified somewhere along the way as a 'situation'.

How stupid did they need to be, to blast off from a stop, right in front of a LEO? Not the action of someone in full control of their mental faculties..... I'm pretty sure, if a LEO pulled up behind me, I'd notice. And I would probably be tip toeing around him until they declared what they were going to do.

I personally feel like we're not getting the whole story here.

 

[04fizzer]

That's sickening and scary. What SHOULD he have done? From what I saw, he did nothing...

 

[fzme]

That guy didn't deserve to get shot, but the two of them were asking for trouble. Why be an idiot in front of a cop? He might shoot you!!

 

[Signal 50]

WTF? I understand being a cop is a dangerous and stressful job, but this guy went Clint Eastwood way too soon. Hate to see this deemed a "justifiable" shooting.

I'm not defending his actions, but the guy did reach his right arm back to where people typically carry a fire arm.

Nothing about this is going to turn out good. The best thing we can all do is to learn from it and adjust our actions accordingly in the future.

 

[ADVdrming]

The best thing we can all do is to learn from it and adjust our actions accordingly in the future.

I completely agree with you, these are always good lessons learned for all of us. My safety and life is not worth anything like this... :thumbup:

 

[jsw4178]

^^^^what he said.
I can't believe what I see. I wonder if the gun went off accidentally. That is the only way I can see this happening.
all the best to the poor paralyzed victim.

That was my first thought, or negligently by leaving his finger on the trigger.I am sure like always there is more to the story than shown to lead the officer to believe the subject was armed.