Homeless man shot to death by police while "illegally camping" in the foothills of New Mexico

[Tick Dickler]

Death to all cops! fucking fuck im so enraged right now holy shit these stupid reatarded motherfuckers whathefuck. you have several guys with guns how is a guy with two tiny knives gonna attack you with all those guns pointed at him? why use real ammo when they have "beabag" ammo? fucking adrenaline boners. they seem to think this is some tacticool cod shit. how can a human being casually shoot at a dead guy and let a dog rip him apart while hes on the ground? http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/james-boyd/
FUCK THE POLICE!


edit: also how are you supposed to get down on the ground a second after being stunned by a flash grenade?

 

[TheWindAndRain]

I don't approve of the cops actions at all, but let me be the devil's advocate here and throw a little bit of context in:

[Boyd] could then be heard refusing to comply, saying "“I’m almost going to kill you right now. Don’t give me another directive." Boyd had a violent 20-year criminal history that included multiple incidents of violence against officers.

“...all the less than lethal devices were in fact deployed. It was when the canine officer was down directing the canine dog that the suspect pulled out the two knives and directed a threat to the canine officer who had no weapons drawn.”

Sounds like total bullshit and again I do not agree with lethal force being used here, but maybe that will shed some light on what happened from the other side's point of view.

 

[lry]

If it even goes to court it will be dismissed. This shit happens all to often in America now. The bad thing is for every video that gets released there are numerous incidents that never get reported. An elderly man was shot last week for grabbing his cane while exiting his vehicle. He was 70 years old.

The system is corrupt down to its lowest levels, local government and law enforcement in every county of every state. We need an EE to purge everything to start over.

 

[Kim Chee]

This is one of those instances where Law Enforcement is operating within the the law while performing their duties, using the provided training and coming up with terrible results. What they failed to use was good judgement. Surely, the lone man was armed (with a knife or knives?). A few things done differently, and this fella would be still up and about.

De-escalation?
Pepper spray?
Taser?

I didn't see any of those used.

Beanbag rounds? Only after the lead was sent downrange and he was bleeding out on the ground. Complete failure. I didn't see a single officer who was in imminent danger. I don't understand why they would be so SCARED of somebody camping in the hills.

Also, how did this get on the Internet? Typically the cops aren't so proud when they do this kind of stuff.

 

[Tick Dickler]

hackers? lol often people looking at it back at the hq put it out there because they have a bit humanit left. atleast thats what ive heard.

 

[TheWindAndRain]

i wouldn't be surprised if the officer was so proud of his kill that he uploaded it himself

 

[p0tt]

makes me sick... straight up murder. in 720p hd too... i've never seen anything like this. angry...

the police department released this because somehow in their twisted minds it's totally justified because the fucking canine cop didn't have his weapon drawn and was in danger. i know there were many alternatives and this man didn't need to die.

he picks up his backpack and seems to be complying with them, i dunno why he wouldn't put away his knives, but two little pocket knives are no threat to 5 pigs with weapons drawn on him. the flashbang goes off, his ears are probably ringing bad, he probably can't see shit either and he starts to turn away from them and it's hard to tell for sure, but it looks like he's getting down as he's turning away and boom he's shot.

when he's on the ground at 1:05 the psychos are yelling at him and you can hear him say "please don't hurt me anymore" "i can't move" probably paralyzed from being shot in the back. when they shoot beanbags and sic the dog on his lifeless body it's totally surreal. this poor guy is lying there dying and these cops are such pussies they're still worried about him hurting one of them with his little pocket knife as he's paralyzed and bleeding to death.

 

[Tick Dickler]

makes me sick... straight up murder. in 720p hd too... i've never seen anything like this. angry...

the police department released this because somehow in their twisted minds it's totally justified because the fucking canine cop didn't have his weapon drawn and was in danger. i know there were many alternatives and this man didn't need to die.

he picks up his backpack and seems to be complying with them, i dunno why he wouldn't put away his knives, but two little pocket knives are no threat to 5 pigs with weapons drawn on him. the flashbang goes off, his ears are probably ringing bad, he probably can't see shit either and he starts to turn away from them and it's hard to tell for sure, but it looks like he's getting down as he's turning away and boom he's shot.

when he's on the ground at 1:05 the psychos are yelling at him and you can hear him say "please don't hurt me anymore" "i can't move" probably paralyzed from being shot in the back. when they shoot beanbags and sic the dog on his lifeless body it's totally surreal. this poor guy is lying there dying and these cops are such pussies they're still worried about him hurting one of them with his little pocket knife as he's paralyzed and bleeding to death.

what i dont understand is why they couldnt just grab him while he was flashed.

 

[Kim Chee]

what i dont understand is why they couldnt just grab him while he was flashed.

They were small, but they weren't cartoon knives.

 

[NBDDreamer]

The police chose to escalate rather than de escalate the situation, and after they gained compliance. The cops I've heard talking about this think it was a bad shooting.

Will it be prosecuted? Of course not. Cops get away with whatever they want... 'Merica.

 

[DonnyDerelict]

I'd have a pretty hard time putting a pocket knife down if somebody was threatening to sic a big ass German shepherd on me, too... Assuming that's what had happened before this was shot. I have a really really hard time believing that he was going to do anything with the knives but defend himself from the dog.

 

[Tude]

Saw this earlier on the conspiracy sites I'm on - they're pretty pissed about it. Terrible thing to happen.

 

[Kim Chee]

Despite all that has happened recently, it is probably a great time to be on the street right now in Albuquerque. The City has done such a poor job of managing its Police Department that the FBI is there trying to help them sort out their affairs.

Officials Urge Calm as Protests Take a Turn in Albuquerque

By FERNANDA SANTOSMARCH 31, 2014

The police in Albuquerque on Sunday. Later that night, officers lobbed tear gas at protesters.CreditMark Holm for The New York Times

“They shoot first and ask questions later,” Christian St. John, 42, a salesman at a furniture store here.
The Lede: Video of Police Shooting Prompts Protests in AlbuquerqueMARCH 31, 2014

• Hundreds have taken to the streets in protest here in recent days over the shootings of Mr. Boyd and other people who most likely had mental illnesses, episodes that have weakened the public’s confidence in the Albuquerque Police Department and underlined the challenges faced by police officers when dealing with people with mental illness. In all, 23 civilians have been fatally shot by the police, and 14 others have been wounded since 2010, a series of events that has prompted a broader federal investigation into the department’s use of force.
  
  The victims have been of various backgrounds. The first, Kenneth Ellis III, 25, was an Iraq war veteran struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, shot while holding a gun to his head in January 2010 at a gas station parking lot, where he had been pulled over by the police over suspicions of driving a stolen vehicle. One of the most recent, Mr. Boyd, was killed after pulling out a pair of knives during a lengthy argument with the police over his illegal camping on a mountainside.
  
  A video of Mr. Boyd’s shooting, captured by an officer’s helmet camera and released by the Albuquerque Police, fueled the latest protests, most dramatically a march on Sunday that devolved from a peaceful demonstration into fiery street confrontations after protesters blocked Interstate 25, which cuts through the heart of the city. Officers in riot gear released tear gas at a crowd of people gathered by the sprawling University of New Mexico campus, some of whom wore the stylized face mask that has become the symbol of the computer hacking collective Anonymous, which claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that disabled the Albuquerque Police website Sunday.
  
  In an interview on Monday, the city’s mayor, Richard J. Berry, said, “I saw the department act with professionalism and restraint throughout the day.”
  
  The shootings — an unusually high number for a department serving a city the size of Albuquerque, with more than 550,000 residents — have raised questions about whether inadequate training may have played a role, Patsy Romero, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in New Mexico, said in an interview. The killings also highlight the increasing use by the police of military-style weapons to fight street crime, which some experts have argued are fundamentally changing the nature of urban police work. In Mr. Boyd’s shooting, on March 16, officers tossed a flash grenade, discharged a stun gun and fired six shots from an assault rifle at him, apparently as he turned away.
  
  In a news conference on Monday, Albuquerque’s police chief, Gorden Eden, who took over the post in February, said he continued to have faith in his officers but announced that the department was nonetheless reviewing how it recruited and trained them. One of the officers who fired at Mr. Boyd, Keith Sandy, left his last job as a state police trooper under a cloud, having been accused of working a second job while on the clock.
  
  Chief Eden described the demonstration on Sunday as a peaceful protest that turned into “lawless acts by a very angry mob.”
  
  Officers used tear gas twice that night — outside the University of New Mexico campus and near the Interstate — seeking to disperse the crowd after they spotted a man brandishing an AK-47, Chief Eden said.
  
  Several times, he defended his officers’ response, saying they showed “remarkable restraint,” and adding, “They were spit on, rocks were thrown.”
  
  The F.B.I.’s review of the shooting of Mr. Boyd is the first known criminal investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department by the federal authorities, but it comes on the heels of a civil use-of-force inquiry initiated by the Justice Department in 2012. The state’s attorney general, Gary K. King, is also investigating Mr. Boyd’s shooting, as well as the fatal shooting of Alfred Redwine, whom the police shot after he opened fire on them outside a housing complex last week.
  
  “They shoot first and ask questions later,” Christian St. John, 42, a salesman at a furniture store here, said as he walked along the southeastern edge of downtown, echoing an overwhelming sentiment in this city, which is that the police are not to be trusted.
  
  The city dispatched a crew of workers Monday morning to clean up graffiti sprayed during the protest, including on the walls of a police substation on the university campus. As they did it, cracked eggs glistened in the midmorning sun by the substation’s door.

 

[Kim Chee]

http://krqe.com/doj-apd/


DOJ Report

Report: DOJ Investigative Findings on APD

Findings

• APD Engages in a Pattern or Practice of Unconstitutional Use of Deadly Force.
  • Albuquerque police officers shot and killed civilians who did not pose an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death to the officers or others.
  • Albuquerque police officers used deadly force on individuals in crisis who posed no threat to anyone but themselves.
  • Albuquerque police officers' own recklessness sometimes led to their use of deadly force.
• APD Engages in a Pattern or Practice of Unconstitutional Use of Less Lethal Force.
  • Albuquerque police officers used force against individuals who were passively resisting and posed a minimal threat.
  • Albuquerque police officers used excessive force against individuals with mental illness, against individuals with impaired faculties, and against individuals who require medical treatment.
• Systemic Deficiencies Cause or Contribute to the Use of Excessive Force.
  • The Department's Inadequate Internal Accountability Measures Contribute to the Pattern or Practice of Excessive Force.
    • Supervisory reviews do not address excessive uses of force.
    • Force incidents are not properly documented.
    • Shooting investigations are inadequate.
    • Internal review mechanisms are not implemented.
  • The Department's Training Deficiencies Contribute to the Pattern or Practice of Unreasonable Use of Force.
  • The Department's Deficient Policies Contribute to the Pattern or Practice of Unreasonable Use of Force.
  • Under-Use of the Crisis Intervention Team Contributes to the Pattern or Practice of Unconstitutional Force.
  • The Department's Ineffective Use oflts Tactical Deployments Contributes to the Use of Excessive Force.
  • The Department's Aggressive Organizational Culture Contributes to Excessive Force Incidents.
  • The Department's Limited External Oversight Contributes to the Pattern or Practice of Unconstitutional Uses of Force.
  • Inadequate Community Policing Contributes to the Department's Pattern or Practice of Unconstitutional Force.

 

[Kim Chee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30783324
US police charged in homeless death

Footage of the shooting posted online after a public records request led to rallies in the south-western city
Two police officers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will face charges for killing a homeless camper, their lawyers say.

Former detective Keith Sandy and officer Dominique Perez will face a murder charge in the death of James Boyd, 38.

Their lawyers argued the two will be cleared of wrongdoing.

The fatal shooting in March last year sparked city protests, some violent, and came amid a federal investigation into the police department's practices.

A year-long US investigation found Albuquerque police had inappropriately killed suspects and used more force on those with mental illnesses.

Protests against the city's police department happened before nationwide protests over the shooting deaths of unarmed black men and women by police in various US cities.

The Albuquerque police department has had more than three dozen police shootings since 2010.

The justice department ordered the city to reduce the use of deadly force in April, but another woman suspected of stealing a lorry was shot and killed weeks later.

Between 2010 and 2014, 25 people were killed by Albuquerque police officers
Boyd was killed in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains on the east side of Albuquerque following a stand-off.

Protests against Boyd's killing occurred after a video emerged of police shooting Boyd.

It was filmed by the police using cameras and posted online following a public information request.

Lawyers for Mr Sandy and Mr Perez were confident their clients had done nothing wrong.

"To the contrary, he followed his training and probably saved his fellow officer's life," said Sam Bregman, Mr Sandy's lawyer.

Luis Robles, Mr Perez's lawyer, said he was "confident that the facts will vindicate Officer Perez's actions in this case".

City officials recently signed an agreement with the justice department that requires police to provide better training for officers and dismantle troubled police units.

BBC © 2015

 

[lone wolf]

i know this is an old thread but i just became aware of it. the entire situation was over as he was complying and heading down the mountain without weapons in hand. at that very moment an officer fired a flash-bang grenade and released the K-9. Boyd then felt threatened and pulled his weapons. he even turns with his hands up to laydown on the ground a brief second before they opened fired.

the officer that fired the flash grenade is the reason it escalated to his death.

 

[Kim Chee]

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture...ily-of-homeless-man-killed-by-police-20150711

Albuquerque Pays $5 Million to Family of Homeless Man Killed by Police
City agrees to settlement with family of James Boyd, the homeless man killed by police in New Mexico city while in the process of surrendering

By Daniel Kreps July 11, 2015

Albuquerque residents protest against police brutality in the city following the March 2015 death of James Boyd AP
The city of Albuquerque will pay $5 million to the family of James Boyd, a homeless man who was shot and killed by police in the New Mexico city in March 2014. Two police officers were charged with second-degree murder in the incident, which was captured on an officer's helmet camera. Video from the shooting showed Boyd, who was schizophrenic, in the process of surrendering after a long standoff when police opened fired on him. The officers charged in Boyd's death both face 15 years in prison; they have denied any wrongdoing, The Guardian reports.

Sidebar


When Cops Break Bad: Inside a Police Force Gone Wild »
Boyd's death was at the center of Rolling Stone's feature "When Cops Break Bad: Inside a Police Force Gone Wild," which documented how the Albuquerque police force had killed 28 people over a five-year period, a per-capita kill rate that was nearly double that of the Chicago police and eight times that of the NYPD. In the case of Boyd, the homeless man was illegally camping at the foot of the Sandia Mountains when police confronted him over the offense, a petty misdemeanor.

However, Boyd, who was schizophrenic, refused to cooperate with police and eventually brandished two small knives, resulting in a long standoff with over 40 police officers. When Boyd began to surrender after three hours, one officer threw a flash grenade at him, while another fired a Taser at Boyd and yet another released a police dog. When Boyd once again reached for his knives, police opened fire.

After Boyd was already incapacitated, an officer fired three more beanbag shotgun rounds at Boyd, and another police dog was unleashed on him. Police eventually handcuffed Boyd and he was finally transported to the hospital; he was pronounced dead at 2:55 a.m. after having his right arm amputated and portions of his lung and intestines removed during surgery to save his life.

While the Albuquerque police chief initially held a press conference saying that Boyd's death was justified, the footage from the helmet camera told another story. The Boyd family later sued Albuquerque in March 2015, and Boyd's death sparked protests in the city over the rash of police shootings.

“The family sought justice to ensure that what happened to Mr. Boyd never happens to anyone else, and they believe the city is taking necessary steps to ensure officers are provided adequate training, supervision and support and that Mr. Boyd’s death changes policing for the better in Albuquerque," Boyd family lawyer Shannon Kennedy said in a statement.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture...s-man-killed-by-police-20150711#ixzz3rE0s6AMy