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posted by janrinok on Tuesday April 03 2018, @11:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the protect-and-serve dept.

Unarmed Man in His Backyard Shot From Behind 7 Times By Cops

The World Socialist Web Site reports

On Friday [March 30], the results of an independent autopsy requested by Stephon Clark's family were released to the public, confirming that police shot the unarmed 22-year-old African-American man seven times in the back and side amid a volley of gunfire in his grandparents' backyard.

The incident began when two police officers responding to a report of someone breaking car windows confronted Clark on March 18. Body camera footage shows that, without identifying themselves, police demanded Clark put his hands up and chased him into his grandparents' backyard. At that point, one of the officers yelled "Gun!" and the two fired 20 shots at Clark, who was holding his cell phone in one hand.

The officers, identified as Terrence Mercadel and Jared Robinet, stood pointing their guns at Clark's corpse for several minutes until backup arrived, then handcuffed his body and made a perfunctory attempt to resuscitate Clark before pronouncing him dead. The officers then turned off their microphones for several minutes, presumably to get their stories straight off the record.

Autopsy results released by a private medical examiner hired by the family's attorney show that [the bullets of] Mercadel and Robinet [hit] Clark a total of eight times. Dr. Bennet Omalu's analysis found that Clark was shot four times in the lower back, twice in the neck, once under an armpit, and once in the front of his thigh.

"You could reasonably conclude that he received seven gunshot wounds from his back", Dr. Omalu told a press conference Friday adding that any one of those would have been fatal on its own. The doctor described extensive damage to Clark's body from the torrent of bullets, which resulted in a collapsed lung and a shattered vertebra.

Dr. Omalu also told reporters that Clark did not die immediately from his injuries but lived another three to 10 minutes after he was shot. He noted that, while it is impossible to say whether Clark would have survived had he received medical attention sooner, "every minute you wait decreases probability of survival." According to video released by the Sacramento Police Department, six minutes elapsed between the firing of the final bullet and the time CPR was administered to Clark's dead body.

The results further discredit the police narrative that Mercadel and Robinet believed Clark posed a danger to their safety and was moving in a menacing manner toward the officers when they gunned him down. In a statement, Clark family attorney Benjamin Crump wrote: "These findings from the independent autopsy contradict the police narrative that we've been told. This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances."

Body Cam Video of Alton Sterling Killing Released; Officer Sacked

CBC reports

The videos, released Friday as Baton Rouge's police chief announced the firing of the white officer who shot Sterling six times, came days after the state attorney general declined to bring criminal charges against the two officers involved in the incident.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 03 2018, @08:45PM (6 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday April 03 2018, @08:45PM (#662158) Journal

    I *am* dissent here, idiot. This place is becoming an alt-right cesspool. Besides which, there's principled dissent, and then there's...that idiocy, which is the equivalent of floating a Baby Ruth bar in the pool for shiggles. It's really low signal-to-noise ratio. Your post is even lower, by the way.

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    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @09:05PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @09:05PM (#662171)

    Besides which, there's principled dissent, and then there's

    Azuma, screaming at the rightists

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 03 2018, @09:57PM (4 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday April 03 2018, @09:57PM (#662195) Journal

      Well, no one listened when I was quiet and demure and nice, so "screaming" (v: whenever a woman makes a sound above a whisper) it is. If you can't take the heat, leave the kitchen. Besides which, dangerous, poisonous bullshit deserves "screaming at" at the very least.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @10:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @10:16PM (#662208)

        Stop being trolled, just a single message to call out the dipshit and then be done with it.

      • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday April 04 2018, @06:23AM (2 children)

        by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday April 04 2018, @06:23AM (#662376) Journal

        Don't make the mistake of labeling and generalizing everyone or all things. I for one disagree many times with your opinions but I also appreciate the time and logic you put into expressing them. We all need to be exposed to differing opinions and chains of thought. I refuse to allow myself to classify anyone as all 'left or right' because at the core we are all unique and living in an echo chamber is bad for anyone...

        The free and unfettered exchange of ideas and opinions is a requirement for any sort of 'democracy' to survive let alone thrive.

        --
        For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 04 2018, @07:51PM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday April 04 2018, @07:51PM (#662610) Journal

          You are correct, but don't fall into the trap of assuming that every single opinion is of equal value. Opinions are valuable in proportion to how well they mesh with observable reality, and very often (especially on the "right"), the "opinions" put forth are engineered propaganda, not something the supposed opinion-holder actually comprehends in its entirety.

          This is why I never call for outright censorship *and* why I go all guns blazing on something that's stupid and dangerous. If sunlight is the best disinfectant, consider me a walking solar flare dispenser.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday April 04 2018, @08:09PM

            by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday April 04 2018, @08:09PM (#662618) Journal

            My mother is also that girl she warned me about. Keep on blazing sunshine :)

            --
            For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge