911 caller is charged with murder for lying in help call:

[speeder]

I can't link the story w/o paying for the LA Times online but it's here:

Los Angeles Times - California, national and world news - latimes.com

Basically, a guy calls 911 to report that his backpack has just been stolen out of his car by two young black males. (One was the lookout, the other took the bag). He knows that police response time goes from "when we get around to it", to "right *%^&ing now!" depending on the answer to the question of whether the perp had a weapon.

He lies and says that they both had guns. They had no guns. The police respond immediately and see one of the guys nearby and shoot him dead when he "reaches for his waistband". WTF anyone would reach for their waistband when there is nothing there and the police are pointing guns at them and screaming, I'll never know.

So there is that. The police of course found no weapons because there never were any. After extensive interviews, the caller admitted that he lied about the gun part. He is now being charged with murder because telling the cops that the guy had a gun "sets the platform for the mindset of the responding officers", according to the police chief.

This was in Pasadena, CA., last weekend. Crazy.

[speeder]

Here's an actual link to the story, sorry about that:

The Associated Press: 911 caller arrested in deadly police shooting

[krystar]

well that's just stupid. once u start a lie, u gotta carry it thru.

and besides u dont' say "they had a gun" unless u can back that lie up. you say "it looked like a gun they were pointing at me"


i had a kid try to mug me with a pellet pistol. i plain as sight described it to the officer, black and silver. kid still got charged like it was a real gun.

[stomachmonkey]

Seems reasonable.

[Zeke]

Involuntary manslaughter. Someone is dead, but no one was murdered.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pasadena-shooting-20120329,0,116227.story

[Christien]

Interesting conundrum. I'd say the caller definitely bears some degree of responsibility, at least on a moral level, if not a legal one. I'm not sure about taking it all the way to murder, though. Possibly manslaughter.

But it does raise the issue of what someone has to do to actually get the police to respond to a situation. Personally, I've had the typical experiences of there never being a cop around when you need one, and there always being one there when you don't - i.e. they're all over the place to issue speeding tickets, but wouldn't lift a finger when our car was stolen.

Maybe stuff like this happening may convince the police to get back to actual police work.

[speeder]

Sorry...not murder. Manslaughter.

[rnln]

should the police need to verify before he pulled the trigger? Polices should prepare that there might be weapon involved in any case anyway. Mistakenly shot the guy, that is the police's mistaken.

[Teutonics]

Originally Posted by speeder

...WTF anyone would reach for their waistband when there is nothing there and the police are pointing guns at them and screaming, I'll never know.

His way too baggy pants were probably falling down...

[Gretch]

justice prevailed, at last half way.........

[Vipergrün]

Yeah, any excuse not to blame a cop for something.

If someone tells me the light turned green and I gun it and run over someone because I didn't actually check for myself if the light was green, who's to blame?

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Vipergrün

Yeah, any excuse not to blame a cop for something.

If someone tells me the light turned green and I gun it and run over someone because I didn't actually check for myself if the light was green, who's to blame?

The manufacturer of the light. Deepest pockets...

[pegasus9]

thefts in Pasadena will probably go down a bit for awhile following this story.

[Tobra]

I can see charging him with making a false report, but manslaughter is more than a little ridiculous. Saw no comment in article about repercussions to the officer who actually did the shooting. The article implies that if the officer had not been told it was an armed robbery thing the cop would not have defended himself if the kid reached into his pants. That strains credulity.

From the article:
"The shooting occurred in a neighborhood where tensions between African American residents and police have surfaced. McDade was African American. Police did not reveal the race of the officers."

So since the guy that got shot was black, and the guy who made the call is apparently not, that makes it a racially motivated hate crime, right? Nah, just kidding. This is a Pasadena police chief covering for his guys. Lucky they had someone to blame.

[RWebb]

next time - say, "I'm pretty sure I saw a gun"

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Christien

But it does raise the issue of what someone has to do to actually get the police to respond to a situation.

Exactly, that should be a consideration.

A few years ago the cops would not come out to my house unless the I said the trouble makers across the street were black. They were doing a survey or something and would actually ask.

[Oh Haha]

Gee, it seems to me that if the gentlemen HADN'T ripped off the bag in the first place one wouldn't be dead.

[Zeke]

Who are you calling a "gentleman?" Oh, you mean the dirtbag thief?

[nota]

our cops are way way tooo quick to shoot

the charge is complete BS
who ever made it should be charged
with abuse of power
and fired for excessive piggishness

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Christien

But it does raise the issue of what someone has to do to actually get the police to respond to a situation.

There was a TV news report last summer about the county north of me. The sheriff department is so understaffed the don't respond to property crime reports on weekends, as they have all they can do to respond to personal injury reports. Why any sheriff would stand in front of a TV camera and announce that weekends are open season for burglars is beyond my comprehension.
The reason they are so short staffed would PARF this thread so I won't go into it.