Shootings by police in Houston

[seamusTX]

The Houston Chronicle has assembled a database of shootings by police:

http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/ ... index.html

It's interesting. My only comment is that threatening police officers can ruin your whole day.

- Jim

[Aric]

Here is one I found interesting.

It was a fatal shooting details are

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Vargas drove an SUV through a movie theater parking lot. An off-duty officer followed him because he thought Vargas drove suspiciously. He approached SUV with his gun out. The weapon, rested on the driver's side window, discharged when Vargas accelerated.
********

Let me see a non-uniformed man walks up to my car with a gun. I would definetaly accelerate, but it dosen't give any other details like maybe he talked to the guy told him he was a cop and the man tried to take off.

[Kaizen]

Here is one I found interesting.

It was a fatal shooting details are

********
Vargas drove an SUV through a movie theater parking lot. An off-duty officer followed him because he thought Vargas drove suspiciously. He approached SUV with his gun out. The weapon, rested on the driver's side window, discharged when Vargas accelerated.
********

Let me see a non-uniformed man walks up to my car with a gun. I would definetaly accelerate, but it dosen't give any other details like maybe he talked to the guy told him he was a cop and the man tried to take off.

It might be that the officer was in uniform. I know that uniformed HPD work security at a movie theatre near my apartment. I'm guessing that they would be still considered 'off-duty'.

[KBCraig]

It might be that the officer was in uniform. I know that uniformed HPD work security at a movie theatre near my apartment. I'm guessing that they would be still considered 'off-duty'.

I was going to reply the exact same thing.

Kevin

[Mithras61]

Here is one I found interesting.

It was a fatal shooting details are

********
Vargas drove an SUV through a movie theater parking lot. An off-duty officer followed him because he thought Vargas drove suspiciously. He approached SUV with his gun out. The weapon, rested on the driver's side window, discharged when Vargas accelerated.
********

Let me see a non-uniformed man walks up to my car with a gun. I would definetaly accelerate, but it dosen't give any other details like maybe he talked to the guy told him he was a cop and the man tried to take off.

Obviously the summary doesn't give all the details, but the Grand Jury declined to indict Officer Richard Butler in this incident. Also, even though HPD fired him over it, an arbitrator had him reinstated.

I cannot find all the details, but from what I can find through Google, it appears that it was an accident (possibly classifiable as ND, since the officer stuck his arm & weapon in through the driver's side window).

From what I was able to find, it seems likely to me that Vargas knew (or reasonbably should have known) that Butler was a LEO (or at least parking lot security). It also seems likely to me that Vargas was trying to get away because he was illegally driving his parents SUV, since he was only 15 at the time, didn't have an adult teacher with him, and wasn't at his home.

It appears to be a collusion of bad judgment on the part of both Vargas & Butler leading to an accidental shooting.

[John]

I recall this one from the news. I recall that the kid was driving erratically with blasting music. When the officer approached, the kid took off, and was later blocked by traffic. The officer chased him down and put the gun in the window and the kid took off again, hitting the officer's arm with the window. It was made clear in the news stories that the kid knew he was a police officer.

The officer must have had his finger on the trigger. I guess one question might be, was it an AD or an ND? People are taught to keep their finger away from the trigger unless they are firing, but also taught not to draw unless you are going to fire. I say his finger probably should not have been on the trigger unless he was in the process of firing, but then, I am not a police officer.

Anyway, this was a bad situation. Kid does something stupid and gets killed. As a father, and one who did stupid things as a kid, I hope my son never puts himself in such a situation. He'll be driving in a few years.

[Glockamolie]

People are taught to keep their finger away from the trigger unless they are firing, but also taught not to draw unless you are going to fire. I say his finger probably should not have been on the trigger unless he was in the process of firing, but then, I am not a police officer.

His finger was most likely on the trigger, and shouldn't have been.
As far as not drawing unless you're going to fire, that wouldn't apply as a police officer. Cops clear leather all the time, but rarely have to fire.