DA clears antsy officers for shooting at a surfer
Remember last year when Christopher Dorner terrorized cops in the Southern California? Well, it seems that a couple of officers mistook pale white David Perdue for African-American Dorner and popped off a couple of shots at him. Well, the district attorney decided that the case won’t be prosecuted;
David Perdue is the surfer who was on his way to catch some morning waves last Feb. 7 when he was stopped by Torrance police on the lookout for Christopher Dorner.
After he was cleared by the first set of officers, a second set of officers drove up the street, rammed Perdue’s vehicle and began shooting at his head. He was not hit.
“It was only the poor marksmanship of Torrance officer Brian McGee that led to Mr. Perdue being alive today,” said Perdue’s attorney Robert Sheahen.
In the report, the district attorney found that because McGee and his partner, Erin Sooper, were “anxious” and in a state of “panic,” their attempt to kill Mr. Perdue was justified, Sheahen said, adding that investigators never contacted Perdue nor his wife for their accounts about what happened.
Torrance officers also shot at and injured two Hispanic women in the same neighborhood. Neither Perdue nor the Hispanic women were driving a vehicle matching the description of Dorner’s vehicle. Not to mention the fact that none were the same skin color, either. It looks to me like the cops were out to shoot people who weren’t Dorner to scare him into surrendering. Or something.
I’m sure that you’ll all be relieved to know that in Southern California, anxious and panicking police officers are protected by the gatekeepers of the justice system. If you can even call it a justice system anymore.
Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.
Category: "Teh Stoopid"
Wow, Just wow! Thank God the officers didn’t spend more time on the range. Looks like a BIG lawsuit in the making.
At first I thought that you were making this shit up. Then I read the article. Among other things, it says this:
“At the time officers stopped Perdue, Dorner had already killed two people, and officers throughout the area were protecting people he named as targets.”
So that rammed into Perdue’s truck and shot at him — “… protecting people he named as targets.”
I do not think that word [protecting] means what you think it means.
Ugh, SoCal seems to be a bit of a Mecca for bad cops. Normally, there’s probably like a ninety-ten ratio. Down there, it seems more like seventy five-twenty five (note; most are great, I actually know some LAPD officers who are some of the greatest people I count as friends; it’s just that there seems to be a disproportionately large number of shitbirds). The Pasadena PD have a terrible reputation (among other things, TAH covered the bullying of a Navy Cross recipient who went to work for them, and my Dad’s best friend lives there and has stories that would make your hair curl). The LAPD don’t have a real good rep either, going back at least to the days of Rodney King, and they bungled Dorner in all kinds of ways, too. But all of my experiences with them personally have definitely put the fear of God in me to be extra special good in their lovely city. So, I guess there’s that.
To the LEOs who are either regulars or lurkers…
This ain’t protecting your brothers in blue. What this sort of thing is doing is eroding the faith and confidence in y’all within that part of our society that generally defaults to having your backs.
To the DA and his fellow travelers. Same as above, but with the added bit about eroding faith in the rule of law.
Y’all know how it works in the real world. Cull your own herd of those unfit, or it will be done for you. Or to spite you. You know full well that letting this shit go on only hurts all of you in the end.
just like those two cop’s who beat that homeless man to death and were just acquitted in Kalifornia.
Wow. Even my ROE in OIF 3 wasn’t this loose.
Don’t they have a grand jury system in that crazed state? It is customary, at least elsewhere, for the prsoecutor not to make the call on possible criminal wrongdoing by police.
Well, I wouldn’t want to work with either of those clowns. Wrong race. Wrong make of vehicle. Wrong model of vehicle. And, evidently, they shot at only what they could see of him, his head,for which the victim and his family is quite grateful.
@ 4,,Amen
@6 That’s the first thing that comes to mind for me whenever there is an excessive force/bad judgement situation involving police in the US. Our ROE in OIF/OEF has been a hell of a lot stricter than that used by police. Soldiers and even officers have been court martialed for less.
@5, yes, that one was a real surprise. http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/us/california-homeless-beating-verdict/ I definitely do not want to be in the LEO’s involved or any of the juror’s shoes on Judgement Day.
@4, I would also recommend to those LEO’s that visit TAH to read this book. http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Men-Reserve-Battalion-Solution/dp/0060995068 It simply proves that ordinary men can/will become the monsters that they commit their lives and career’s fighting.
Jack Webb is spinning in his grave
The Blue Wall encloses around these rogues. AT A MINIMUM, these cops should have been suspended and retrained. Or fired. Or prosecuted. Yet another example of a different standard for “law enforcement” officers. I sure hope Mr. Perdue is suing the city of Torrance and the “anxious” and panicky officers who tried to kill him.
This is as sick as the Fullerton cops Victory Girls posted about yesterday.
@4 – Grimmy, concur 100%.
Way to go Mr Public Prosecutor, for adding to the public trust in the already battered judicial system. (/sarc off)
I’m gald to see that Mr Perdue and his lawyer are going ahead with their private lawsuit against these douches. I hope those responsible, individuals and organization, are nailed to the wall like Christ on the cross, for every penny they own, down to their skivvies. Too bad the taxpayers will have to pick up the tab for these “thin blue line” being scared of their own thin blue shadow.
Gee, I thought Chicago cops were bad. But they’re just corrupt, and it isn’t all of them, but the few who give them a bad name.
This makes Chicago pale by comparison.
Is there anything dumber than a fu@#^*+ cop?
@7-2/17th, One thing you’ll learn almost immediately if you live in California and follow the news is that the Blue Wall of Silence’s strongest bastions are in California. It’s a problem that goes back decades. With all of our urban areas (and gun control laws disarming the citizenry), California’s politicians have been trying to top each other in “tougher than thouness” on crime to try to fix the resulting problem. This has, among other things, created a massive and over-budgeted prison system where the guards, backed by one of the most powerful public sector unions in the country, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, retire in their early fifties while earning 100% of their final year’s salaries, plus free healthcare. It’s also sent so many criminals to jail that our largest-in-the-country prison system is operating at 150% capacity, and is several years in violation of a SCOTUS order to cut back on numbers of inmates. On the streets, it’s a huge problem, too. California lets its police operate with very, very little non-department oversight in many places. The PD’s relationship with their leadership can be like the Turkish military sometimes. You wouldn’t believe the stuff people get away with. Look at Rodney King and the homeless man beating. And yes, our prosecutions of police officers are fully in the hands of prosecutors except in extreme cases, and due to union rules, harsh punishment is incredibly rare.
I lived in Torrance for 2 years 2004-2006. I always wondered why there was no graffiti and other signs of gang activity.
“In the report, the district attorney found that because McGee and his partner, Erin Sooper, were “anxious” and in a state of “panic,” their attempt to kill Mr. Perdue was justified”
So now “agitated” and “In a state of panic” can go on the board with “I thought he had a gun” as a reason to fill the air full of holes. Notice I didn’t say “shoot you dead” as the Torrance P.D. (confession, I used to live in Torrance. It’s not what it once was.)seems to be unable to actually hit anything.
Seems the universal mantra is defense “the policeman was in fear for his life” – regardless of whether that fear was justified. After a while,. it seems every cop is a chickenshot afraid of his own shadow and prepared to unleash lethal force if he sees a mouse. I know that isn;t right… but it’s the impression they give.