Protesters In Bay Area, Across State Denounce Police Killing Of Andy Lopez

[FreakinDJ]

Source: CBS SF

SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) — Hundreds of protesters gathered in Santa Rosa and in cities throughout the Bay Area and the state Saturday to protest the police killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in Sonoma County last month as well as what they say is an epidemic of police brutality.

The protests in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento Los Angeles and elsewhere were part of a “National Day of Action for Andy Lopez” organized by the Answer Coalition and the California Statewide Coalition Against Police Brutality.

Andy was walking and holding a toy AK-47 rifle in rural Sonoma County the afternoon of Oct. 22 when county sheriff’s deputies on patrol in the area spotted him and yelled for him to drop the weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.

When the boy turned toward the deputies, Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, shot him seven times, according to authorities.



Read more: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/11/09/protesters-in-bay-area-across-state-denounce-police-killing-of-andy-lopez/

[WinkyDink]

1. Police now operate with a "We're scared for our lives" mentality.

[rhett o rick]

8. They kill first and ask questions later, maybe. They are allowed to kill with impunity.

What a perfect job for a psychopath. Most are not, but what a perfect job for psychopaths.

[WinkyDink]

11. Well, if pedos go where the kids are, maybe psychos go where the guns are!

[bonniebgood]

2. Parents let this be a warning. Don't buy your child toy guns, Anywhere, Anymore, we

CAN BAN TOY GUNS. leave them on the shelves. I am sure this kid did not think the Officers were
talking to him, he turned around an looked as any 'reasonable person' would have. I raised 5 sons I had personal objection
to toy guns going bang bang at me. Not even water guns. They would go out and make guns from tree branches and I would
destroy them. Around 10-12 they had no interest anymore. I see too many children with real looking guns in the neighborhood.
All i can wonder is what in the hell these parents must be thinking. My two cents.

[heaven05]

3. valuable two cents

The cop will be getting workman's comp after all this is over, probably for the rest of HIS LIFE. No he doesn't deserve anything like that.

[sulphurdunn]

4. Good point, but

that's not enough. An unarmed man was shot 16 times in Chicago recently. The last three rounds were put in his back while he was on the ground. The inquiry determined that the shooting was justified because the cop had reason to believe the victims cell phone was a gun. The cop had been drinking and it was his third shooting incident in 6 months. You might want to make sure the kids aren't carrying anything when they walk through the neighborhood and they have their hands up.

[WinstonSmith4740]

5. I have been saying this for years.

I have never understood why parents would let their children think of a gun as a toy. Even though I'm not crazy about real guns either, I live in a rural community, a lot of people hunt, and they start their kids young. But these kids are raised around real guns...they know what they're for, and how to respect them. These kids don't accidentally kill their friends or siblings because they were "playing" with the gun and didn't know it was loaded.

[FreakinDJ]

6. Just try and stop kids from playing with these guns

Perhaps the greatest sign of a child's love is emulating their parents

Now take a look at our society's love affair with Rambo, the Terminator, Dirty Harry, "Support the Troops" and especially Seal Team 6 because they shot Osama Bin Laudin through the eye in real time video

Even the Cop who shot the kid was praised for being an Iraq War Vet

[WinstonSmith4740]

7. I know what you're saying.

We worship guns in this country. I'm surprised the Randians haven't figured out a way to superimpose a gun over the dollar sign as our country's symbol. My sister never let her boys have toy guns. But she also said if she handed those kids two pieces of wood, they'd figure out a way to turn them into a "gun". I just don't think we should let kids think of guns as a "toy"...something you can point at someone and not hurt them with. We've all read the accounts of kids shooting family and friends because in that little 5 year old brain, you point this at your friend, pull the trigger, and your friend falls. Then he gets up, and this time he gets to be the sheriff and you're the bad guy...but he doesn't get up, and is bleeding.

[FreakinDJ]

10. Kid with a Toy Gun or 2nd Amendment Protester with a real Gun - This cop would have shot him

Too many Eye witness accounts all saying the same thing - "That kid didn't have a chance to do nothing"

The Cop made up his mind to shoot whoever before he exited the car

[FreakinDJ]

13. Round about way of "Blaming the Victim"

almost like saying "He was asking for it" or she was asking to be Raped by the clothes she wore

[AnotherMcIntosh]

9. If there was a fair way to provide oversight of the shooters, instead of routinely giving them paid

time off before saying that shooters did nothing wrong, there would not be public protests in Santa Rosa and other cities in California.

Sonoma County needs an independent civilian review board. The other cities in California, and elsewhere, do so as well.

[FreakinDJ]

12. I beleive the Whole Country needs Citizen Oversight of OI shootings

The personnel files are kept secret
The Shooting Investigations are kept secret
Cops investigating Other Cops

Just way too many avenues of corruption, backscratching and plain old "Cover Up" available

As the law stands today all they have to do is NOT investigate and merely node yes to the officer's testimony and they have done nothing illegal what so ever in the cover up of an illegal homicide

[blkmusclmachine]

14. Stand Your Ground, huh?!?!

Poor kid. Guilty of breathing while hispanic/latino.