Two NJ police officers shot dead a suspect that threatened them by... stepping out of his car with his hands raised in surrender.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/17fb...rges-against-police-fatal-new-jersey-shooting
A grand jury decided... drumroll.... NOT to indict. As long as killers of innocents are not prosecuted and convicted, more innocents will die at the hands of government agents.
Full video of the encounter (below). Cop on drivers side squeezes one off too, after flinching/ducking as partner starts shooting the passenger (who appears to have arms raised in surrender?)
Crossfire?... Partner egging on /intensifying his partner's uneasiness?
Granted the dead dude should have raised/shown empty hands while in vehicle and not have been "Reaching! He's reaching!" but if he was indeed reaching, wouldn't that have been the moment for the shooting to start, and not as the guy is getting out with (apparently) "hands up"?
Thing about these dashcam/bodycam videos? It strongly reaffirms my thankfulness to the man above that I didn't follow family's advice and take the exam when I was young. Cops in family and close family friends in power. I'd have probably gotten "on", somewhere, be it city/state/MDC/Capitol (pre-combine)/whatever...
Yet I'm sitting here, 30 years later, having coffee and watching video after video of encounters like this one, dreading that I have to go to work today at a job I really don't enjoy doing, yet thankful that I didn't end up in a job that I REALLY wouldn't feel like doing. Like having to make a split second, life or death decision, maybe in the dark, maybe in the "hood", with my "partner"... who I may or may not even trust, may or may not like, or even know ("You're riding with Smith tonight".."OK, Lieutenant. Now which one is Smith?"), and ten minutes into our meet and greet shift together, my "partner" is screaming that some dude is "reaching!!".
Gotta stop typing now. Gotta head to work - at that job I hate just a little bit less this morning than I did before seeing yet another dashcam reel of a split second encounter in the 'hood..
http://youtu.be/Q0gxbCg5_jk