Ex-Minneapolis police officer sentenced to 12.5 years for fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: ABC News

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was sentenced on Friday to 12 and a half years behind bars for the fatal 2017 shooting of Australian bride-to-be Justine Ruszczyk Damond.

The July 15, 2017, shooting occurred after Ruszczyk Damond called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in an alley behind her home.

When police arrived, Ruszczyk Damond approached the driver's side of the squad car, and Noor, who was in the passenger's seat, shot her through the open window on the driver's side, prosecutors said.

In April Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter. He was found not guilty second-degree murder.

Speaking in court before the sentence was read, Noor said that he had felt "fear" as he pulled the trigger. But when he saw Ruszczyk Damond on the ground, "I knew in an instant that I was wrong."

"I caused this tragedy and it is my burden," he said. "I wish though that I could relieve that burden others feel from the loss that I caused. I cannot and that is a troubling reality for me. I will think about Ms. Ruszczyk and her family forever. The only thing I can do is try to live my life in a good way going forward."

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/minneapolis-police-officer-sentenced-fatal-shooting-justine-ruszczyk/story?id=63547748

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A terribly sad episode.

[dalton99a]

1. Good. What his attorneys proposed:

The attorneys asked for no prison time, instead requiring Noor to turn himself in to the Hennepin County workhouse for one week on the anniversary of Damond's death in July, and one more week on her birthday in April.

"This sentence honors the memory of Ms. Ruszczyk and allows Mr. Noor to continue to serve the city," the attorneys wrote.

[OnlinePoker]

2. "I knew in an instant that I was wrong"

But wasn't wrong enough to plead guilty from the start and avoid a trial.

[unblock]

3. Are you suggesting he should have pleaded guilty to the charge his was found not guilty of?

[OnlinePoker]

5. He was tried on 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter charges

That was what he was found guilty of. Originally, there was a 2nd degree murder charge, but that was dropped before the trial started.

[unblock]

11. The article says he was found not guilty of 2nd degree murder

[oldsoftie]

14. Well, he's going to jail for 12 yrs, so he was found guilty oof at least ONE of the charges.

[unblock]

17. Yes, it does sound like a reasonable outcome

Especially given that many outcomes in such stories aren't so reasonable.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. This incident didn't do the MPD much good, either.

Now it seems like everybody, not just the black community, is scared of the cops. I live within about a mile and a half of where this shooting took place and within the same police precinct. One night a few weeks ago there was what appeared to be a house fire a couple of blocks from my house, and because of all the sirens and commotion, a bunch of neighbors went outside to see what was going on. Near the corner, a police car was parked in the middle of the street to block traffic. We all wanted to know what was happening, but nobody wanted to approach the police car! Somebody said that cop probably knows what's going on, and everybody was like, I'm not going over there. The Minneapolis cops have had community relations and attitude problems for years, and I have no doubt that one cause of this shooting was the way they are trained. It's all very sad.

[MineralMan]

6. The defense was pushing for no prison time.

Apparently, the judge had a different idea. That incident was a very egregious thing, based on "Warrior" training that makes LEOs fearful in all encounters with the public. That was the training Noor received.

That poor woman's death was not an accident. Noor was trained to shoot first, and then ask questions. A nice woman is dead because of that. At this time, such training will no longer be offered in Minneapolis, nor in St. Paul. We don't need "Warrior Cops." We need thinking cops.

So, Noor is going to spend some years in prison. I hope some lesson has been learned.

[cstanleytech]

7. "We don't need "Warrior Cops." We need thinking cops." Just about every police force could

use those.
I think the other blunder a number of police departments are making is focusing on recruiting military veterans who's prior training was not focused on how to handle things like a domestic dispute.
Instead they should actually look at recruiting people from colleges with degrees in things like psychology for example and train them in how to defuse things without having to rely on a gun to back them up except in truly extreme situations.

[MineralMan]

8. Well, becoming a cop is not the goal of many people who would

actually be good at being a cop. Noor was not a military veteran, I don't think. He was recruited in part as a diversity issue. His joining the MPD was seen as a good thing by the Somali community here, which has had its problems with the MPD.

It's not a sought-after job, really, among thoughtful people, I think. So, it attracts people who like the idea of authority in many, many cases. Naturally, they're exactly the wrong people for the job, but needs must.

Police forces have morphed into quasi-military organizations, for sure, and that's not beneficial, either.

Frankly, I have no suggestions for how to change the trends in law enforcement. None at all.

[cstanleytech]

10. Well if they increased the wages enough for those with the proper education and

temperament for dealing with people they might have an easier time recruiting good quality people.

[The Mouth]

12. Exactly what I've always argued

Anything less than a Master's in Psychology is insufficient when entrusting someone with not just a weapon but the authority to use it first and ask questions later.

We need cops. We need cops of every background, particularly those backgrounds that reflect the community. But as great as diversity is for so many reasons, we should *NEVER* lower our standards (this guy already had one incident on his record IIRC) in the quest for it.

My people, the Irish, used the police as one route to assimilation and respect, but white or not, there was suspicion and blowback the first few decades, and the same issues of some people being cops who just shouldn't have been.

[oldsoftie]

15. But it seems that the worst ones are those who DIDNT serve. But still want that power

And some of the bad ones i've seen are ones who tried, but failed, to join. The washouts. Frustrated gung-ho men and women.
Its estimated that fewer than a third of cops are former military. But then you also have to look at what job they had in the military. A large part of the military is support positions, which wont give you the same training as combat troops.

[midnightsunone]

9. Yep

Moral of the story : Don't shoot white women...

[sarisataka]

16. For posterity

13. The Damn Cop Should Have Been LYNCHED

The murder got off because money was paid to get the murder off. Everything presented in court indicates the jack ass was trained and paid to be a murder. This is only one murder in prison and more cop murders need JUSTICE to balance the scales of justice.

Edit> my bad, I misread am/pm. A post calling for lynching a black man (and more murder of police officers? ) has stood for over 12 hours.

[Jedi Guy]

18. He posts something similar on just about every thread about a police-involved shooting.

The suggestion of lynching is a new, and offensive, twist, though. With comments like this, it's not hard to understand why so many perceive the left to be anti-cop.

[sarisataka]

20. What is more sad

Is that the post is still there. I cannot believe it hasn't been alerted, so a jury must not have agreed to a hide. The reason I stopped alerting was juries giving a pass to similarly offensive posts.

Were I to go into GD and post an OP calling for a lynching of a convicted murderer it would be hidden in a minute, and rightly so. Yet because the criminal in this case was a cop it appears to be acceptable.

[Jedi Guy]

21. I'd say I'm surprised, but that wouldn't be true. N/T

[Jedi Guy]

19. Do you have any idea how extreme and ludicrous your comment really is?

You're suggesting that a black Muslim man should be lynched. That by itself is way over the top. Then you're making wild assertions about payoffs and cops being trained and paid to murder people, with nothing to back up those wild assertions.

Your entire post is just really extra in all the wrong ways, but it seems to be a trend with you on any thread about the police. Are you bitter over a bunch of speeding tickets or something?