Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Police Shootings Update

There have two developments today regarding the latest Metro police shootings.
The first update is that a date has been set for the Costco killing. Erik Scott was killed at the Summerlin Costco on July 10, 2010. The inquest will be held on September 3 at 9:00.
It makes you wonder if they would have access tot he video tapes from Costco.
While I don't the cops will cover things up, it will be important to see what the inquest leaves out. The DA conducts the hearing in front of a judge or hearing master but it is the DA who presents the evidence. It will be interesting to see what will be brought up and what will be left out. Hopefully, they will have a live stream of the hearing or a link to view the hearing at a later time. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul/21/coroners-inquest-set-fatal-police-shooting-summerl/
The second update is in regards to the Trevon Cole killing who was killed during a drug raid.
The LVRJ reports that an affidavit was found with probable errors in it. The affidavit was used to secure a warrant to search Cole's apartment. From the LVRJ:
"as Vegas police say they thought Trevon Cole was a hard-core drug dealer with a long record of arrests in Texas and California when they broke down his apartment door and pointed a gun at his head last month.
They were wrong.

Cole, 21, was unarmed when he was killed by a single rifle round fired by Detective Bryan Yant, who a week before the raid swore under oath that Cole had a "lengthy criminal history of narcotics sales, trafficking and possession charges" in Houston and Los Angeles.
But Cole's record in his native California was limited to a conviction for misdemeanor unlawful taking of a vehicle. He probably never even visited Houston.
Investigators might have confused him with another Trevon Cole -- one with a different middle name who is seven years older, at least three inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter, records show. That Trevon Cole has several marijuana-related arrests in Houston, all misdemeanors." http://www.lvrj.com/news/affidavit-errors-raise-questions-98905769.html

It makes you wonder. If the cops got the wrong Trevon Cole, would they done the things any different? Would have they have busted him at home? Would they have done the raid at night? Would they have used the same amount of force?
It still does not explain why the shooting took place. Metro has been very silent and they still not explained what a "furtive" movement is.
At the inquest, which is scheduled for August 20th, there are not going to be any direct eyewitnesses, based on statements that have released to the press. So, there will not be a lot to go on.
I suspect that we will not much information from the inquest and the family will file a lawsuit and will get a big settlement to shut people up.
And we will never know what really happened.

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