11-13-2013, 10:23 AM
(11-12-2013, 07:31 PM)sally Wrote: Fuck those stupid piece of shit cops, they should be arrested. How exactly are you fearing for your life when you shoot some kid 8 times in the back? The kid wasn't running towards them with the toy gun, they went trigger happy on him from behind.
Bothers me that Gelhaus claims not to remember whether he identified himself as "police" when he yelled at Lopez to drop the gun. There were witnesses and a deputy-in-training at and near the scene, so he can't claim that he did if he didn't.
If you're a kid in a rough area and someone rolls up behind you and yells at you, I think you're gonna start turning around to see WTF is up before you do anything else. That's what Lopez was doing when he was shot to death.
Gelhaus wasn't forced to react in seconds to a life-or-death situation and he wasn't alone. He and his partner saw Lopez walking in a parking lot and decided to approach him.
The deputies had time to think, assess and plan ahead of time before approaching. Did Gelhaus just assume Lopez was a gang-banger? Could well be. I don't think he planned on killing a kid that day, but if he killed Lopez because he made a bunch of wrong assumptions and acted on them recklessly, he's liable and should be held accountable in my book. "Ooops, sorry, it was an accident", doesn't cut it. Neither does blaming the kid for carrying a toy or turning towards someone who was yelling at him.