California Deputies Shoot Man Recording Them with Phone | Hacker News Reader

California Deputies Shoot Man Recording Them with Phone

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45 pointscryoshon25 comments

Yeah, a cellphone being held with the lens facing a person looks just like a gun from the eyes of the person being video-recorded. This is flatly ridiculous, but probably accepted by the police supervisors and district attorney when the claim comes from the cops. If I shot someone holding a telephone, claiming that it was a gun, I'd be indicted for malicious wounding or murder along with using the firearm to commit that crime.

I wonder what it's like to be able to live life without worrying about being liable to all the laws that govern behavior of society, and what it would be like to have a bunch of buddies at work, who are responsible for enforcing these laws, but who would do whatever they had to do to defend me if a worthless civilian challenged my behavior.

A window can obscure what's on the other side. Glare, reflections, lighting conditions, trees.

And sometimes people stretch out their arms to record video, just like you'd hold a handgun.

Now mix that with a tense situation and potential for life and death and I can understand they took the shot "by accident". Mistakes happen.

A person holding a cellphone looks nothing like a person holding a gun, especially to someone trained to spot people holding guns.

They're not magically trained with super eyesight after training. They're human, just like you.

Hold your cellphone up like you're recording, in portrait. See where your fingers are? Now imagine that behind a reflective window with flashing lights and you have a split second to decide if it's a weapon. If you're wrong, you die.

Try this, sit in the driving seat of a vehicle, hold your cellphone up and ask a friend to stand 20 feet away and with the sunlight at their back, look through the front glass and see if it looks like a weapon.

So it's ok to shoot people based on guesses? Did the cops even have any reason to believe there would be another shooter?

They already had the suspect in custody.

Why would they be fearing attacks from unrelated people enough to shoot first and ask questions later?

To free the suspect? Random gang activity? It's kinda hard to stop and think in situations like this when you think someone is going to shoot.

Either way the victim just paid for his kids education. I hope he sues and hits the jackpot.

Cops should be facing significantly harsher sentencing for incidents like this than private citizens, they're trained and definitely know what they're doing.

The current policy of not prosecuting police officers for mindlessly slaughtering people is rather absurd.

Wow the cops shot another innocent, unarmed civilian? Don't see that happening every day... It's just not safe to violate peoples rights anymore. Might get photographed or something. Dangerous world we live in.

Why do we know the name of the victim, and not the shooters?

Likely because the victim talked to the press and volunteered his name, which the others didn't and until proven guilty will not have to.

There is no right to stay out of the news.

Sure there is. It's very easy to avoid getting on the news.

For those of us who do not have the option to get on the news: what should one do to stay off of it? Let's assume that you believe you're about to be on the news for something you don't want to be.

LOL they will never even be charged. The only justice the victim will get is when he sues them in civil court.

At this point, I think they're afraid of having anti-cop lynch mobs-- based off of the terrified cop behavior that led to this incident in the first place.

The cops who shot this man have every reason to try to hide, but the the press and municipal government are not doing their job. The press, especially, is leaving most of this story completely unexamined.

"Man shoots video; police shoot back bullets"

and police apologies later, and continue on their merry way.

Seems like US Police forces found a new way to prevent being recorded on duty.

So there's an armed standoff next door, and this guy decided it's a good idea to open his garage door and point something at the cops from their peripheral vision? And we're supposed to feel sorry for him?

Yes. To both questions

Yeah, recording the police is a right that has been supported in court a million times.

The cops are also supposed to be disciplined about shooting people, but whatever, that's out the window already.

It's not the recording that's the issue ...

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