Saturday, August 21, 2010

Update On Police Shooting Inquest

From the Las Vegas Sun's take (after saw a comment from a Sun writer, you have to wonder if what the reported wrote is true) on the coroner's inquest regarding the police officer involved shooting Trevon Cole: "Detective Bryan Yant testified today that he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot 21-year-old Trevon Bertwane Cole in June while serving a search warrant at his east Las Vegas apartment.
“I thought he was taking a shooting stance, like a two-handed shooting stance,” Yant said.
Yant said he kicked open the bathroom door and saw Cole over the toilet. Cole then turned toward him and brought his hands together, the detective said.
“His movement alone was enough to make me fear for my life,” regardless of whether Cole had a firearm, Yant said. “He could have had a pen in his hand, I don’t know. I know his movements and his actions.”....But Yant insisted during testimony today that Cole did turn his body.
“He turned towards me, rotated his body,” he said.
Yant also dismissed the suggestion that he accidently fired his weapon while kicking down the door.
“I didn’t accidentally discharge,” he said

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug/21/inquest-jury-day-2/
There was no mention of the broken flashlight. I also tend not to believe Yant's statements. The size of the bathroom in these types of apartments are small and the doors usually swing in, like this one. I just don't see how Cole could have swung around and went into a two hand shooting position, especially if Yant was that close. In additional, Cole died of a concussion injury, meaning the gun had to pressed against Cole's head or very close to it.
Maybe this is what Yant believed when he was in this situation. No one was there that saw the shooting. But to me, this explanation just doesn't make sense.
There was talk earlier about the search warrant not being proper. This is a false argument by the family of Cole. Yes, there were mistakes on the warrant, but the bottom line is that Cole was caught on tape selling pot, which is illegal in Nevada. You can have medicinal pot, but not recreational pot.
Another issue that was brought up is that this raid was in conjunction with a reality show. The show, which was not identified, but was it shown that it was a Langley production- the makers of COPs. I would hope that this ride along had anything to do with the shooting.
The other very strange thing that was testified to was this from the Sun: Laurent asked Harney if he had instructed a patrol officer stationed outside the apartment, Blane Trip, not to report the shooting over police dispatch radio.
Trip on Friday testified he had been instructed to call dispatch and request medical assistance. A recording of Trip’s conversation over the radio was played in court and he is heard telling the dispatcher that the sergeant would call in on his cell phone with more information.

Why did no one call dispatch over the radio asking for medical assistance and report the shooting. Where they hiding something and why delay medical aid? Were they hiding the information so the news media or supervisors would be slow to respond? Another thing not mentioned, is that when there are SWAT incidents, they have medical personnel at the scene. Did they have medical personnel at the scene?
So, later this evening, the case will go to a jury and we will see how they see it. My guess is that the jury will find fault but not criminal fault.

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