Disgusting! Police video documents fatal encounter between officer and woodcarver

[uppityperson]

This happened in Seattle this last summer. John Williams (shot bam bam bam bam!) was a local carver, hung out on the streets and was around a lot. He drank and was mostly deaf. There is a video link in this link and oh hell no is what I say. I have been suspicious of this since the incident but they just released this video and damn, this SURE should not have happened. You don't see the shooting, but you hear the cop as he gets out of the car and yells at Williams then shoots him.

Yes, he may be a "bad apple" but to hell with him. This is disgusting.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013705989_video18m.html

A police dashboard-camera video released Friday shows woodcarver John T. Williams and Officer Ian Birk during their fatal encounter on a Seattle street last summer. Audio on the same video captures the Seattle officer telling Williams to drop a knife he was carrying moments before five gunshots are heard.

The shooting was not caught on video because of the position of Birk's patrol car.

On the video, Williams can be seen walking in front of Birk's car. Williams is carrying a knife and a piece of wood. Birk, with handgun drawn, is then seen following Williams.

Once the two men are off-camera, Birk is heard yelling "Hey. Hey. Hey." He then orders Williams three times to "Put the knife down." Five gunshots ring out about four seconds after Birk's first command to drop the knife....

[uppityperson]

1. ASIDE from over reacting, the fucking knife he had was fucking legal.

Aw fuck him, seriously. "I was worried for my life"? WTF?

The knife was closed by the time the other cops got there. So, did it close itself when dropped (what with having a locking mechanism seems doubtful) or did he close it while turning around?

[LucySky]

2. The cop should have maintained a safe distance

from the man when ordering him to drop the knife.

The only justification possible for shooting the man would be if he raised his arm to throw the knife, which I highly doubt based upon his leisurely gait while crossing the street.

The knife had only a 3 inch blade, and was found in a closed position. It seems unlikely that a wood carver would be using a knife that would close upon dropping. It does seem likely that the man closed the knife before being shot.

Also, the man's family stated that he was hard of hearing.

I feel terrible that this man was killed, and I hope that hyper cop spends the rest of his days in jail.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

3. I really hope this homicidal cop is in prison now.

He didn't give that poor man a chance. Please tell me he's off the streets!

[Richard Steele]

12. You know damn well that he isn't, and never will be. nm

[uppityperson]

16. They took his gun and badge but I don't think he's in prison. So far the preliminary hearing

says shooting was "unjustified". I think releasing the cam video will help get him put away but wouldn't count on it. It is so much worse than what I thought, so much worse seeing how "agitated" :sarcasm: John Williams was and hearing how fucking fast he was shot.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. What radio program is heard in that video?

Beck? All wrong...wrong when I learned about it earlier, still wrong now.
RIP John Williams :(

[Hannah Bell]

10. per comments, a local sports show called "mitch in the morning" on kjr.

[reggie the dog]

5. this in a state where you can carry a loaded gun in your pocket

[reggie the dog]

6. he was just an indian, not like the cop would have killed a white person

Williams, 50, a member of Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nations in British Columbia, was struck by four bullets.


so a native american carving wood with a legal knive in a carry conceal state gets shot four times for cariving in public??? here in france people are allowed to carve and sell their wares in the street

[uppityperson]

17. But he has a "stern look" on his face while he was turning to see who was yelling.

I mean, REALLY, what choice did that poor officer have? :sarcasm: just in case

[MilesColtrane]

7. Geppetto, we hardly knew ye.

on edit: OINK!

[Hannah Bell]

8. omg, that's even worse than i'd gathered from the print reports.

horrible.

when this first happened there were a couple of people defending the police, painting a picture of a guy "menacing" with the knife, bystanders & police in imminent danger, etc.

the policeman just executed a half-deaf guy who was walking along minding his own business, no menacing, not even anyone near him, the policeman could have easily avoided any threat, not that there was one.

police execution.

at .52 seconds the carver comes onscreen. at 1.07 the cop is out of his car & says "hey, hey, hey put the knife down x 3" at 1.14 he shoots.

7 seconds from "hey" to the shot.

shocked.

where are those defenders now? do they still want to defend this crap?

the cops come, no medic. if you use right speaker only you can hear what they say without the sports progam on the police radio (why are police listening to sports as they patrol?)

they're getting ready to move the guy: "who's the designated shooter? we'll shoot him again if need be"

the woman who was walking by when it happened says "he didn't do anything!" the cop says "ma'am, he wouldn't drop the knife!"

no medic, 77 cops.

the cops keep asking the murderer if he's ok, tell one of the cops to stick by the murderer all day until he goes home. poor baby, so traumatic for him.

the murderer keeps saying "he had it open, i told him to drop it, he wouldn't drop it."

other cop: "good job"

[Hannah Bell]

9. a pack of lies in the news reports of the incident.

[uppityperson]

14. Here's another article about it, still picts. It is MUCH worse hearing and seeing than reading it

I've been upset about this since it happened but watching and hearing this made me cry and then get really pissed off. I know, I am uppity but fuck.

If I am quietly walking down the street with an apple in my hand, and take out my swiss army knife to cut it up, and Cop Birk sees me, walks up behind me yelling "hey hey drop the knife", if I turn to see if he is yelling at me.....he will shoot me? Yes, I also am hard of hearing though not as deaf as John Williams, but I sure would turn to see who was yelling.

He was shot 4 times in the right side of his body. He wasn't facing Birk. He had a "stern look" on his face? W.T.F?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013443640_policeshooting16m.html

(clip)
About four hours after the shooting, Birk "made a quite different statement," describing the 10-second encounter as an extended, threatening confrontation that forced him to shoot as a last resort, Ford said in his filing. The statement, also included in Ford's filing, is the first account of the officer's version of the shooting to be made public.

Birk — after consulting with a police-union representative and presumably a legal representative — wrote in a two-page written statement that Williams had been "brandishing the knife, holding it up in front of him in a very confrontational posture," according to the filing.

Birk, 27, who joined the Police Department in July 2008, wrote that Williams looked at him with his "jaw ... set and his expression ... stern," then "continued to look in my direction with a very serious expression" after being told to drop the knife, the documents say.

[uppityperson]

15. Did you notice how fast the other cops got there, including the 2 bicycle ones?

I didn't hear all that, couldn't hear through the radio on in the car. It is sick.

Link to when story first came out: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012764459_copshooting31m.html

The man stood up and advanced toward the officer, ignoring several "loud commands" to stop and drop the knife, Witt said.

Liars.

AGAIN, no, not all police are bad but Birk definetly needs to be gone. And Seattle Police need to figure out wtf they are doing. Last yr a nasty person shot a cop as he sat in his car and bombed others. He got caught by an officer in the right place at the right time who recognized him as was approaching the cop car HE sat in.

"Police brass tell patrol officers to watch their mouths"
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/431880_cop16.html

[eridani]

11. This is a disability issue too--as someone hard of hearing with the class privilege

--of being able to afford hearing aids, it makes me furious that cops and others refuse to understand that some people just can't fucking HEAR any kind of command.

[Kalun D]

13. Welcome to the Police State

Just move along, there's nothing to see here.