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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan’s Family Says They Called 911 For Paramedics, But Police Showed Up And Shot Him Instead
A 911 call for medical assistance ended in the fatal shooting of Georgia resident Jack Lamar Roberson Friday. Roberson was acting erratically after possibly overdosing on his diabetes medication, leading his fiancé to call for paramedics and an ambulance. Instead, Robersons family charges that police showed up and killed the 43-year-old in front of his mother, fiancé, and 8-year-old daughter.
Waycross Police said they were responding to reports of a man trying to commit suicide and that he had become combative. Police Chief Tony Tanner said Roberson lunged at officers with weapons and refused to drop them.
Robersons fiancé, Alcia Herron, disputes the police story, comparing the scene to a silent movie.
He didnt have nothing in his hands at any time or period at all before they came, any time while they were here, anything. They just came in and shot him, Herron told First Coast News. He didnt say nothing, the police didnt say nothing, anything, it was like a silent movie. You couldnt hear anything, all you could hear were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he just fell down.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/08/2748561/police-kill-man-after-ambulance-call/
gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)this message brought to you by: the daily isolated incident.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)aroach
(212 posts)I learned a long time ago not to ever call the police but now it seems that you shouldn't call an ambulance either. This isn't the first story I've read like this. I guess there's no one left to call in an emergency.
Mosby
(16,401 posts)I work in retail and have called 911 numerous times for customers having health related problems.
Every time the cops got there first.
RandiFan1290
(6,260 posts)Every 911 call comes with a complimentary visit by the police to look around your house.
sammytko
(2,480 posts)every time we had to call 911 for my mother the police showed up. They are there in case they have to direct traffic etc. And they can usually get there faster and can provide some assistance before the emts arrive.
Sadly this incident went the other way.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)sammytko
(2,480 posts)sammytko
(2,480 posts)Have a great day.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)We listen, due to work, to scanners regularly.
This is what triggers a police presence.
A combative patient. Which was the case here. In some cases EMS is ordered to stand back until police can ensure crew safety. It is something that comes from experience.
When my dad fell and broke his hip, there were zero cops present.
I forgot to add, as a Paramedic in Tijuana, I wished there were cops a few times. Nothing more fun than have a relative come at you with a gun or a long kitchen knife.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Two paramedics showed up with three cops.
While the two paramedics and one cop were in one room, the other two cops were wandering around the house.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)I'm sure they would take that as a sign that you had something to hide from cops, but they shouldn't be in there in the first place.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)That would eliminate the he said/she said stuff.
There was a show on TV for a while called "Police POV", or something like that. It was a cop reality show, like Fox's "Cops", but instead of having a camera guy and a sound guy follow around an officer in a cruiser, the cops wore a camera with sound on a headband, and you could actually see things from the p.o.v. of the cop, rather than the crew chasing him or her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_POV
Considering the memory capacity nowadays, I fail to see why small cop-mounted camera can't be standard issue, with a microSD card in it, to record the entire shift an officer is on.
After his or her shift, the card is removed and the video moved to a data-archive system.
If there's any questions that need to be resolved by either the prosecution or the defense, the relevant segment of the video can be provided.
It can't be HDTV (a Blu-Ray disk holds about 2 hours of HDTV on 25 gig capacity, with basic compression), but I don't see why some kind of standard-definition camera can't be used to get maybe 10 hours of total capacity. MicroSD cards, and regular SD cards, have very high capacities nowadays.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)will be combative. Either wait it out, they will go unconscious (and is dangerous as hell), or manage to get some sugar into them. You will be amazed how fast they become rational and normal, rarely with recollection of the event.
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)The freakin family was right in front of him !!! There were no weapons around the guy!!!
This is lynching by cops PERIOD
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Illinois Police Kill 95-Year-Old With Taser Shocks and Bean Bag Roundshttp://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread961943/pg1
He must have "lunged" at them or something.
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)uponit7771
(90,370 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Ugh. What the fuck is wrong with some cops!? Are the having a 'roids rage episode? I don't get it. It is like their brain drains into their gun.
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)...skills they're dead in the water.
Human nature to go to the simplest thing first...
Cops should be trained WITHOUT a gun first then trained with one
Rex
(65,616 posts)style training like the Army! Do they not train cops in unarmed combat anymore? I agree completely, the 'shoot first ask questions later' doesn't work in our modern society.
Cops need to be brought up to speed, even if that means psychology classes and how to deal with emergency treatment (maybe some EMS courses).
For ONCE I would love to read about a cop giving someone CPR and bringing them back to life...instead of 'shoot to kill' articles.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)[font size =6]Kill! Kill! Kill![/font]
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)What, are they supposed to just stand there and let him kill them?
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)The cops story doesn't even sound HALF WAY plausible!!
....and they said NOTHING... NOTHING to him just came in the door!!!
markpkessinger
(8,409 posts). . . And I have several family members who are as well. Some of them do indeed own guns. I'm not defending the police in any way here, but it is NOT implausible that the man had weapons.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Not a single cop there had a tazer gun?
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)But at least it is not a lead dead bullet! I agree with you upthread, just ONCE can this not be a black man? Cops are so out of control in some areas of the country!
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Clearly he needed to be dead. Yeah it was kinda rhetorical, since I know cops are crazy and out of control in certain areas.
RandiFan1290
(6,260 posts)Of course he is white and lives in PGA National....
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/palm-beach-gardens-man-high-on-cocaine-shot-guns-o/nbHjf/
Gardens police were called to his home on Admirals Court in reference to shots fired around 2 p.m. Saturday. Police saw household items, clothing and golf clubs on the pavement in front of Sievers home, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Police also heard multiple gunshots coming from the upstairs of the home. They could see Sievers in the upstairs bedroom holding a handgun. Police also saw Sievers throw items out of a window.
The SWAT team entered the home an,d after deploying a Taser at Sievers, took the man into custody.
Rex
(65,616 posts)I don't see why they don't try that FIRST in every instance like this.
uponit7771
(90,370 posts)... dead?!?!?
He must be....
Republican...
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)My local police department doesn't carry them. I also don't know what the circumstances were, so I have no idea if shooting him was necessary or not. And guess what? Neither do you or any other of the armchair cop haters here. What I AM seeing right in the article is that the guy lunged at the police with weapons. There was a reason the police were called to this incident, and who knows how that happened. They hardly showed up because they felt like it. Obviously, there was something going on that was dangerous and someone thought that police were needed. And they were seeing as how he reacted by lunging at them with weapons. Regardless of what the reason was for his going off his nut and behaving in a threatening way the REALITY is that that's what he did. It's not my place to second guess if how the police responded was necessary or not without knowing all the facts of the circumstances. Sorry, but I don't expect police to be mind readers or have all the time in the world to make split second decisions, but I do expect them to do whatever they feel they have to do with no other option in order to preserve their own life or the life of others.
Seems to me that all the people here that get off on shitting on the police need to shut their holier than thou yaps and become a police officer so they can finally understand what the police have to deal with on a day to day basis. Fat chance that's going to happen though. Haven't the guts to put your life on the line every day for shit pay. So much easier and so much more fun to just hate on them for every single thing they do or don't do from the safety of their armchairs. It's sickening bigoted behavior that has been allowed to run amok on DU since I've been here. There's nothing liberal nor progressive about broad brush bigoted blind hatred. I'm sick to death of this constant bashing of the police for no reason than the job they have. They're bashed here even more than bankers and pretty damn close to as often as Repubs.
Rex
(65,616 posts)nt.
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)DU has always been an epidemic of unreasoned universal cop hatred, and it's VERY in-your-face. But you knew that.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)It could have something to do with the unending litany of police brutality, police thuggery, and questionable police killings with which we are confronted. I agree that saying stuff like "all cops are pigs" is stupid and unfair, but it seems undeniable that we have a serious problem with the way police go about their job in this country.
Will you join me in calling for a national commission on law enforcement standards and practices?
cui bono
(19,926 posts)There was more than one cop against one unarmed man.
Rex
(65,616 posts)so obviously blowing away a man seeking medical attention is a much better idea.
Mosby
(16,401 posts)why couldn't they have tried non-lethal means?
TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)Were non-lethal means possible?
So easy to make these big decisions from the safety of your armchair and when you have no idea what the immediate circumstances were, isn't it?
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)He didnt have nothing in his hands at any time or period at all before they came, any time while they were here, anything. They just came in and shot him, Herron told First Coast News. He didnt say nothing, the police didnt say nothing, anything, it was like a silent movie. You couldnt hear anything, all you could hear were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he just fell down.
Robersons mother, Diane, lamented, I saw my son go down with his hands up in the air, Lord Jesus, he had nothing in his in hands, we dont even own a decent kitchen knife and they shot my baby down.
Granted, they are not disinterested observers, but then neither are the killer cops.
Iggo
(47,586 posts)TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)Why wouldn't I? That's what the article said. I wasn't there, so I have no idea if it was necessary to shoot the guy or not, and neither were you. If it turns out that shooting him was unnecessary, than yep, I'll be pissed about that. What, I'm supposed to get the cop hate on just because so many other people here do? Sorry, not gonna happen. I don't stupidly hate all cops just because they're cops, nor am I stupidly going to assume the guy was shot for no reason without any evidence of that.
You can disagree with what I believe or not, but you don't have any right to tell me it's not what I believe. Yep, I have this notion that cops are just as individualistic as the rest of the human race and behave just as individualistically in every circumstance depending on what that circumstance is. Such a rarity for DU, I know.
Iggo
(47,586 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Iggo
(47,586 posts)They're the best!
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)even for stuff that doesn't require them.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)The bad ones outnumber the good ones these days, and until the "good" ones start stepping forward and cut the "blue shield" crap, there are no good cops.
ecstatic
(32,781 posts)But I feel the same way a lot of times. My 4 y.o. nephew called 911 the other day and when a cop showed up, we were all confused, but we figured out it was my nephew. If at the moment the cop arrived, one of us had made a sudden dash to our cars or something, it could have resulted in a "tragedy." The cop came in and chatted with my family members, watched the game, then left with a plate of food. The cop was a newbie, not fully corrupted yet... although he's quickly getting there. I could be wrong, but I don't think chatting and watching the game at strangers' homes while on duty is proper protocol.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)We need a national commission on law enforcement standards and practices.