Video shows Utah police fatally shooting man from behind as he fled

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Video shows Utah police fatally shooting man from behind as he fled

Police face no charges amid accusations of racial profiling and ‘brutal execution’ in case of Patrick Harmon, 50, who was pulled over for cycling without a light

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Thursday 5 October 2017 21.01 BST

Police in Utah fatally shot a man from behind while he was running away from officers, according to newly released footage, which has sparked accusations of racial profiling and a “brutal execution”.

Prosecutors in Salt Lake City have said officers were justified in killing Patrick Harmon, 50, who was pulled over for riding a bicycle without a light and who attempted to flee when police tried to arrest him. Police are not facing charges despite the fact that the body-camera footage captured officer Clinton Fox shouting “I’ll fucking shoot you!” from a distance before he fired three bullets into Harmon, who was running in the opposite direction.

“They just murdered him flat out,” Alisha Shaw, Harmon’s niece, told the Guardian on Thursday after watching the footage. “They are lying. There is no way they were threatened by anything. He was only trying to get away.”

Civil rights activists said the killing of Harmon was the latest example of police brutality and a prejudiced criminal justice system in the US, where officers kill black men at disproportionately high rates. Data has shown that across the country, black citizens and people of color are stopped by police and targeted for low-level offenses at higher rates than white residents, and some reports have suggested that police stop and cite black cyclists for minor infractions with much greater frequency than others.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/05/patrick-harmon-utah-police-shooting

[Stuart G]

1. k and r.. Those 4 paragraphs tell the whole story..very sad and horrific.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. No point in even reporting these anymore, not gonna stop.

Black people simply arent safe in America.

White guy guilty of no light who flees will not be shot, guaranteed.

Even if it turned out this guy was the Hillside Strangler, matters not, cops did not know that at the time.

[gtar100]

3. And just why is Clinton Fox a policeman? Surely not because of his desire to protect people.

What an utter fuck-up. This is just plain sick. And any other cop who tries to defend him or justify his actions is in the wrong line of business.

There is a serious problem with hiring the wrong people to "protect" our civil societies. As if being willing to treat other human beings with disdain were a requirement. That is exactly the wrong kind of person to be carrying a gun and having authority to arrest and jail people. We need to be looking up the chain for the real cause for allowing the worst kind of people to be given such responsibility. We need higher standards, that's for sure.

[uponit7771]

4. THERE'S NO KNIFE IN THE VIDEO ON FACE BOOK (LINK INSIDE) !!!

This is fucked up, there's no knife in the guys hand ... the officer when going to arrest Harmon didn't pull shit out of his hand

These bastards got murder on their souls

https://www.facebook.com/slcweekly/videos/10154992723421547/

[brush]

5. Cop with nothing better to do hassles a black man on a bike and ends up killing him...

with shots to the back. And of course it's found to be justified.

This is exactly what Colin Kaepernick is protesting.

[ProfessorPlum]

6. holy shit. Sickening. K&R for exposure

horrible.

[Calculating]

7. Utah police are quite fond of shooting running black men in the back

Happened a few years ago in another notable incident. I think the cops have a "respect muh authoritah" issue, and when they see the perp turn and run they just lose it.

[oneshooter]

8. And you say that only the Police should have a semi auto rifle? With a 30 rd. mag? n/t

[Dave Starsky]

9. OGMAFB.

That's right, we should all go heeled with fully automatic assault weapons on the ready at all times to let the cops know not to fuck with us.

[oneshooter]

10. Where did I say, or imply that? n/t