The coroner’s inquest jury on Tuesday found the Metro Police shooting death of Erik Scott justified. Anybody surprised?(LV Sun)
The coroner’s inquest jury on Tuesday found the Metro Police shooting death of Erik Scott justified. Anybody surprised?
Let's not be too picky here, there is a 0.5% rate of unjustified shootings, which I'm especially comfortable with given the infrequency of LVMPD shootings...
ReplyDeleteThe sight of that donut-stuffed dough-cop must have shocked the trim Scott into reaching into his pocket for a diet pill to give to the poor cop. A misunderstanding for sure.
ReplyDeleteAs for the inquest process, it is mainly designed to make sure uppity blacks who get rightfully shot can't pester the DA's office every time a cop defends himself. When some white kid gets popped, we should use, like, the courts or something like that.
Nobody who watched any of it should be surprised at the verdict - the only way you would think it was not justified is if you had your mind made up before it started.
ReplyDeletePrescription drug abuse is a huge problem right now. It turns out that someone who takes a nearly lethal dose of heavy-duty drugs might do something REALLY stupid (like point a gun at a cop rather than getting on the ground when ordered). Who knew?
On a different subject,Emmett Lally passed away. Rest In Peace, Emmett.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the media get hung up on idea that the inquest is "broken" because most of the shootings are ruled justified or excusable? In 99% of cases where a homeowner shoots someone who breaks in their house, that is considered "justifiable" also (without even bothering with the inquest) - does that need fixing also?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know who is counsel for Costco on this case?
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that it takes a white kid with the Mayor's son as a lawyer to bring the inquest problem to the forefront. Where was all of this outrage before?
ReplyDeleteAlso, after the ridiculous antics by the family and the lawyer, how did you think that the DA's office would respond?
Like the commenters on the RJ, I blaim Costco. Just because someone is high, tearing up merch, and refused to leave the store when asked by store security is no reason to call the cops!
ReplyDeleteWhen is the girlfriend going to be charged regarding the Rx pads?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Curly left the Three Stooges to join Metro.
ReplyDeleteUnfair and ridiculous process, but the correct result. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
ReplyDeleteThe Scott case got the publicity because he was white, educated and had family and friends who were willing to fight the system.
ReplyDeleteThe Trevon Cole case was the one that exposed the flaws inherent in the inquest system.
The Cole case also showed a side of Metro that should scare the hell out of all of us.
Far more than the tragic Scott killing, the outright murder of Trevon Cole should have united the community against Metro's growing number of renegades.
So the Scott family is suing Costco? Has the lawyer read the Bower case? Metro maybe. Costco? Uh, ALPS on line 1.
ReplyDelete9:04 here.I'm with you 9:09. The Cole case was far more troubling, particularly when you look at all of the fuck-ups that occurred prior to the shooting, when nobody was acting in the heat of the moment. But Cole was just a black guy in a bad neighborhood so who cares.
ReplyDelete9:09 AM - Bro, he was a down and out brutha. Who cares? It takes a crazy cracker to fix the system.
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, the importance of the adversary system was driven home to me when I read some of the ridiculous testimony on direct.
Are you kidding me? Any decent trial attorney would have had those Coscto schlepps choking on their lies.
This isn't Europe. The DA should have as little control over the process as possible. It's like a grand jury - "ladies and gentlemen, indict this ham sandwich for America!" Or, if it's an "inquest:" "ladies and gentlement, find this ham sandwich justifiable for America!"
So if I call the cops and they shoot someone I can be held liable?
ReplyDeleteSounds fair.
Good point 10:43. I bet Costco will throw some money at it to make it go away, but I hope they fight it.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing was a friggin' circus, led by the Ringmaster Judge who recently PLEAD GULITY TO BEATING HIS WIFE! He could not have gotten better FREE political coverage for $500k+, what a joke. Why is HIS criminal record not making the press and reminding the numbskull public of who they soon will be mindlessly re-electing?
ReplyDeleteCostco says it will ‘vigorously resist’ protests; family attorney responds.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/29/costco-statement-fatal-police-shooting-erik-scott/
“We have been advised that friends and family of Mr. Scott plan to protest in Summerlin this week, demanding that Costco terminate the employment of one or more of our employees who played a role in the events on that date,” the statement said. “Such actions can only be intended to inflame public sentiment in connection with planned litigation, and have no reasonable relationship to the cause of Mr. Scott's untimely death.”
"The company also said it would “vigorously resist” use of private property for such protests and would take trespassers to court if needed."
Abbatangelo reminds me of a Howdy Doody puppet (looks & size) that has burned out his vocal cords & brain on Everclear. His frequent mispronunciation of common words while reading the questions was an absolute embarrassment. I miss his Dad, he was one of the funniest attorneys that I have ever met.
ReplyDeletewhite black white black...BLAH BLAH BLAH. Quit playing the frickin RACE cad you morons! All the inquests get publicity lately regardless of the color of the subject who was shot. This inquest likely got to the correct result, but knowing all about the drug background of the victim has nothing to do with it...why, you say? I am glad you asked....because the COPS KNEW NOTHING BUT WHAT THEY WERE TOLD AND WHAT THEY SAW. That is ALL that went in to their decision to shoot and all that matters.
ReplyDeleteSharon Nelson is the attorney for Costco.
ReplyDeleteI and many others would vote for th judge KNOWING he beat his wife. I couldn't care less. Given her family of origin, she probably had it coming.
ReplyDelete@12:36 You are right, the drug thing doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteBut, the cops were called because he was stumbling around the store barely able to walk, openly showing that he had a gun, tearing apart merchandise and screaming at employees. When Costco asked him to leave, he could hardly walk and had to lean on his girlfriend. When the cops showed up he raised his gun at them.
The only question is whether he raised the gun in response to their orders to drop it and the cops misinterpreted that movement as aggressive.
@12:48....those facts are pertinent to the inquest. I do not dispute that. But they are only pertinent to the extent the cops knew about them. If the cop looks at the guy and sees something that indicates he needs to fire, then he can explain that. But the decision to shoot rests only on the amount of information they were told by dispatch combined with what they saw. At least for the purposes of inquest. All the other behavior in the store will go to whether Costoc over reacted or had a reason to react the way they did in a civil action.
ReplyDeleteOther than having deep pockets, how is Costco liable here? I'm not making an argument, I'm asking what the Goodman/Scott Family theory of liability is. They negligently kicked him out of the store and called the cops causing his death?
ReplyDeleteNow THIS is the shooting that showed a side of metro that should scare the hell out of all of us. I hope Evie Oquendo joins the Scott family in their suit, Costco can certainly afford it.
ReplyDelete@1:03
ReplyDeleteI would guess some sort of negligence in how they handled him in the store...that what they told the cops about his up to in the store was not in keeping with what he was actually doing and it served to cause the deadly chain of events. Of course, if it is not forseeable that blowing the details out of proportion would lead to the shooting, no harm no foul.
Best part of the inquest was watching Howard Brooks flounder on the witness stand. What a joke that guy is, he even made Mosher look smart.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even better is I'm guessing old Howard has never argued against the credibility of eyewitness testimony. Hypocrite.
"Best" is not the word I would choose, embarrassing seems more appropriate. Here is a supposed professional who has been blathering about the shooting for months on Facebook prior to testifying. I know this because a friend of mine works at the PDs office and is Facebook friends with him. Howard, you are a moron. I only wish I could post the self absorbed BS you've been putting on your Facebook page. I'm skeptical of Metro as well, but good God have some dignity.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is reasonably foreseeable that if you call the cops they will shoot to kill. I mean, they're averaging about a kill a day here in Vegas. So, in conclusion, don't call the cops unless you're willing to accept the fact that they are coming to kill.
ReplyDelete@2:57...I think if you are loss prevention/security, you know or should know that calling police to a scene can potentially result in a shooting. After all, they carry guns and that is part of why you call them. So, if bed wetting liberal anti gun Costco worker panicks at the site of something more than a garden hose, goes off half cocked and exagerates the actual behavior of said gun carrier, it is forseeable that it could snowball into the shooting that subsequently occured. Though the actual shooting may arguably be either justified or excusable, it is a great day for anti-gun enthusiasts everywhere.
ReplyDeleteListen you idiots.....You have about two seconds to decide if your going to shoot or not and believe me..a million thoughts go through your head at once. It is either...kill or be killed. Second guessing or being a cowboy cop like SGT. Henry Prendes will get you KILLED. Besides- no cop ever WANTS to shoot someone. Its way too much paperwork. If you think you can do a better job strip off your cheap suits that you like so much and strap on the gun belt, badge and deal with peoples problems all day. Until then- you can NEVER say how you would react in that situation because your pitiful lawyer asses wouldnt have the balls to do that job.
ReplyDelete@3:28 You are obviously compensating for your inadequacies, both between your ears and between your legs. Cops are the biggest drama queens on earth. Quit watching so much TV, your job isn't as dangerous as a convenience store clerk or a taxi driver, and you deal with far less problems than our lawyer asses. Ask your wife about my big balls, little boy.
ReplyDelete3:28 is a troll fishing for cop haters. Probably wants to see how many vitriolic posts he can generate. The cliche "tough guy" talk is the give a way.
ReplyDelete3:28 Prendez was like 5 dead cops ago. Your MO is showing troll.
ReplyDeleteIm not sure why all the cop haters...hey its the cops that keep me and most attorneys in business! Keep arresting, ticketing, beating and shooting! money money money.
ReplyDeleteHey 12:46: I wish your mom would have "deserved it" from your dad while pregnant with you--then we would have been saved from your asinine comment!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the cops. I can't imagine how to decide whether or not take someone's life...especially in the split second they have to choose.
ReplyDeleteBut Costco should be left alone. Just another plaintiff lawyer sniffing out a settlement (that he will get).
3:27. You're not alone in presuming there is an anti gun bias at work with the folks at Costco, but quite frankly I just don't see it. I have never understood that angle on this story, and I am a card member of the GOA (NRA are sellouts). Lots of private property owners don't want us there with our guns, their prerogative.
ReplyDeleteThis story is about a guy who was completely wasted and had a gun.
I can't help but wonder if Mosher would have been able to think things through and assess the situation better if he wasn't out of breath from walking from his cop car.
ReplyDeleteTry running a sprint and then doing something that requires mental concentration and physical coordination. It's just harder when you're out of breath.
Don't they take physicals anymore or is that too discriminatory?
@ 12:36, your logic is flawed. Although it is true that all that matters is what the cops know/saw....if the cops saw an irritated man waving a gun around, then it goes to explain/possibly provide support for the cops version of what happened
ReplyDeleteI hold Howard Brooks in a very high respect. I think he is an excellent appeals attorney and to be truthful, I'm a little shocked to hear anyone spew bad things about him.
ReplyDelete5:08 I am sure Howard is a wonderful appeals attorney.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as someone who also does defense work I can't understand a man that doesn't buy his own hype. As defense attorneys we preach about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. I am sure Howard is no exception and has presented the same arguments and cited the same experts regarding eye witnesses that we all have. Yet, he gets on the stand clearly convinced of his own infallibility. Buffoon.
And no, I don't know Howard personally. He was simply the only fellow attorney to testify thus far and was an embarrassment the way Mosher is probably an embarrassment to his fellow cops.
ReplyDeleteWhat gives with all the GRATUITOUS comments about Howard Brooks? Seriously. This is so GRATUITOUS. This is about as GRATUITOUS as it gets. GRATUITOUS.
ReplyDeleteirrelevant, inapt, gratuitous... outrageous.
ReplyDeleteHoward. You sir are a son of a bitch. I hate you. Burn in hell.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. Who's Howard?
ReplyDeleteHoward's a tool. The people that work with him know it. 5:08, 6:47,and 7:01 are all Howard's mother posting for him. Get back in the Kitchen Mrs Brooks and fix me and Howie some meatloaf.
ReplyDeleteHow did Goodman end up with this case? Aren't there more experienced civil rights attorneys?
ReplyDeleteHe had his police scanner on and rushed to the scene as soon shots were fired.
ReplyDeletenyuk nyuk nyuk
ReplyDeleteI'm not howard's mother but I am good friends with people who work on appeals team and from what I have heard, he is a dedicated attorney. I agree that eye witness testimony is faulty at best and that perhaps he made a classic eyewitness error of believing that his account of what happened couldn't be anything less than accurate....but as far as his ability as an appeals attorney, he is excellent
ReplyDeleteLighten up, nobody said he was a bad attorney.
ReplyDeleteHoward deserves to catch some shit after he pumped up the melodrama on his Facebook page(I'm friends with him on Facebook), and then got his head stuck in his own butt on the stand.
actually some people did say that, but i digress. either way I can't wait until the federal hearing....want to see how much the court limits the cross examination on the cops. personally i see the fed cosco case as just a line up to secure testimony against the cops
ReplyDeleteSo, where is Moe and Larry?
ReplyDeleteI lived in Denver, where the population is more than Las Vegas and all of the police shootings there were less than Las Vegas. We have cowboy cops here looking to make their "bones".
ReplyDeleteHeres some interesting RELIABLE news. Clark County District Attorney David Roger met with Paris Hilton and her attorney at the attorney's house. Paris was in tears. When her attorney tried to contact her, she said "Tell him to fuck off."
ReplyDelete@ 2:37: wow, "realable"....I question that. Also, who cares--if you knew anything about the statutes amd how these charges are routinely plead out, you would know that she got a worse deal than the average Joe.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the costoco shooting goes:
1. how on earth is coscto vicariously liable for negligence of it's employees calling 9-1-1? There is nothing negligent about calling 911. THat's ridiculous. A man walking around a store, kicking things and acting crazy (gee, maybe it was all the morphine and xanex in his system) who was carrying TWO concealed weapons?!?!
2. WHo the hell needs to take TWO concealed weapons to Costoco? What, afraid that the 1000s of rolls of toilet paper might attach you?
3. If you are going to carry 2 concealed weapons to a grocery store, acting all wacked out, and the cops come, you read into your holster to take out the gun after being told to get on the ground and put your hand over your head, I don't care if your intent was to simply hand over the gun--you're going to get shot. Cops put their life on the line every day and when someone refuses directions at gun point and instead pulls a gun out gesturing towards a cop, you cannot expect the cop not to fire to protect himself.
This was a sad case of someone who was clearly wacked out on drugs and not able to listen to what the cops were telling him to do. That being said, you can't blame the cops for ptoeting themselves.
And as far as firing 7 shots, 3 cops, 2-3 shots each when you think someone is about to fire at you is not unreasonable.
@6:27
ReplyDeleteYou apparently did not watch the inquisition. One of the cops behind Scott unloaded and the other one shot once. If they are so afraid they might get shot, then they need to look for another line of work, perhaps a convenience store clerk on the night shift.
As for Costco.... They did what they should have done. If any of their customers got shot by Scott all the families would have sued because Costco KNEW about this mans behavior and about his gun and didn't call the cops. Costco did the right thing to protect their customers and employees and Scotts family and their asshole attorney of course is just after the big bucks wherever they can get it. I hope Costco doesn't back down and pay. they did what they should have done!
ReplyDeleteBtw - if a cop tells you to lay down , next time lay down with your hands up and their is no confusion.
Costco is liable for the same reason Teva Pharm was liable in the Endo trial. Scott's death was a "reasonably foreseeable" outcome of the actions of the Costco employees, whether that's what they intended or not.
ReplyDeleteSHERIFF AND DA
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the Coroners Inquests, it's about instructions to the jury regarding "INTENT", and it is a mockery of justice. Make no mistake about it, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer is DAVID ROGER our District Attorney. David is as corrupt as they come. Crime is not down as his commercial states, and the only reason he can state that he wins cases he prosecutes is because he is the king of plea deals. David rarely litigates, unless it is politically advantageous to him, i.e. O.J. Simpson. And then there is all the deals made to those who have contributed generously to his campaign(s), i.e. Paris Hilton, Strip clubs, convicted felons, i.e. Galardi and Rizzolo, and the attorneys who represent them. Follow the money. Ask yourself if David Roger felt O.J. Simpson was important enough for him to litigate personally, why not the recent Eric Scott inquest. David was HIDING, and allowing the Sheriff to dodge those bullets. Now we have a new cover-up in play with the traffic accident involving a metro cop. Metro deliberately misrepresents the truth to the press, stating the teen hit the police cruiser. Not true. Why lie? No sirens or lights? Speeding? The driver came to a complete stop. Was the cop texting? The big question now is why did David Roger not insist that the highway patrol investigate an accident involving Metro. No, our D.A. sends Metro to investigate Metro, and they lie, in hopes no one will notice. Like Mann? Both Gillespie and Roger need to go.
Gillespie states, "Our volume of work is not decreasing. Our calls for service are up. Overall crime is down, but our jail population is increasing," Gillespie said. "We're not seeing a reduction in work demand, and that definitely will be part of the conversation as we move forward."
TRANSLATION: DA David Roger's campaign is based on his representation that crime is down. I need to cover for him and still make my case.