Do SoCal Cops Shoot First, Lie Later?

[FreakinDJ]

Do SoCal Cops Shoot First, Lie Later?

"In both cases, the key question was: 'Were the cops telling the truth?'" says Sayre, the onetime head of the local Hispanic Bar Association. "And in both cases, juries concluded the cops weren't being honest. The officers had been willing to lie under oath."

It wasn't long ago that police in Orange County enjoyed reputations for honesty, as virtuous heroes. However, in the past decade, we've seen cops rape women, molest boys, steal cocaine from evidence lockers, perpetrate domestic violence, falsify official reports, assault handcuffed suspects, lie on the witness stand, knowingly arrest innocent people, party with organized-crime figures, accept bribes and destroy evidence. Last month, a jury convicted an LAPD detective of committing a sadistic murder.

In May 2009, Rodriguez foolishly lost his temper and broke a Belmont Shore shop window near Legends Sports Bar. Confronted by the bar's bouncers, Rodriguez agreed to stay until cops arrived. Jonathan A. Steinhauser, a culinary host turned Long Beach cop, didn't believe Rodriguez adequately complied with his commands and struck him with a baton. The man put up his arms to protect himself and gained control of the weapon. The cop pulled out his Glock handgun and fired three bullets that incredibly put nine holes in Rodriguez.

Police can legally use deadly force to defend themselves from real threats. To justify the shooting, Steinhauser claimed Rodriguez approached him while holding the baton as though it were "a baseball bat," a stance the cop saw as a potential fatal threat. (Note regarding the Thomas killing: Steinhauser testified that cops strike a suspect's torso to gain compliance or the head to inflict lethal damage; Fullerton cops targeted Thomas' head.)

http://www.ocweekly.com/2012-04-05/news/moxley-confidential-federico-sayre-police-brutality-ernest-raymond-rodriguez-enrique-hernandez/

[gtar100]

1. The wrong people are being hired to be cops.

We don't need hotheads with control issues and tendencies towards violence to be police officers. Yet that's what we're getting in spades. Only top down reform will actually fix this problem.

[darkangel218]

2. Once i got pulled over when i was in my security patrol vehicle

At my old job. The idiot cop said " they were pulling everyone over " because it was 4 am and suspicious. Umm.. it was a security vehicle, how supicious could it have been? He even asked if the marked patrol vehicle was mine!

They're morons. Not all, but a good portion of them are complete idiots.

[MurrayDelph]

4. and too many of the ones

that went into the job for the right reasons are willing to go along with the misbehavior of their blue brothers.

[darkangel218]

5. They have to, if they want to keep their job.

[libodem]

3. That incident

Of that cop who turned on the others, (they shot up all those occupied vehicles looking for him) saying there was corruption, sure dropped off the radar. No one followed up to find out if the accusations were credible.

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. Does the Pope shit in the woods? n/t

[Iggo]

7. Are they cops?

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Silly question.