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Deputies shoot unarmed black Florida man in his front yard, 17 shell casings found

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D

Dead Man

Member
http://www.pnj.com/article/20130728/NEWS11/307280027/Deputies-shoot-at-man-in-his-yard

Lying in a hospital bed the night after he was shot by Escambia County sheriff’s deputies in his own front yard, Roy Middleton only had one question: Why?

Middleton, 60, of the 200 block of Shadow Lawn Lane in Warrington, was shot in the leg about 2:42 a.m. Saturday while trying to retrieve a cigarette from his mother’s car in the driveway of their home.

A neighbor saw someone reaching into the car and called 911. While he was looking into the vehicle, deputies arrived in response to the burglary call.

Middleton said he was bent over in the car searching the interior for a loose cigarette when he heard a voice order him to, “Get your hands where I can see them.”

He said he initially thought it was a neighbor joking with him, but when he turned his head he saw deputies standing halfway down his driveway.

He said he backed out of the vehicle with his hands raised, but when he turned to face the deputies, they immediately opened fire.

“It was like a firing squad,” he said. “Bullets were flying everywhere.”

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the incident Saturday.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, as is standard in deputy-involved shootings. The deputies, who have not been publicly identified, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

In Baptist Hospital and groggy on Saturday, Middleton said he would be in recovery for several weeks. His wounds are not life-threatening.

“I’m just glad they didn’t hit me here or here,” he said, pointing toward his head and chest. “My mother’s car is full of bullet holes though. My wife had to go and get a rental.”

The neighborhood where Middleton lives was quiet Saturday afternoon, and there was no evidence the shooting had even occurred. However, neighbors said only a few hours earlier the area had been congested with law enforcement vehicles and yellow crime scene tape.

Several neighbors said they heard the commotion, but weren’t entirely sure why events unfolded the way they did. A teenage girl who said she witnessed a portion of the incident said she never saw Middleton provoke the deputies.

“He wasn’t belligerent or anything,“ she said.

Middleton, too, said he doesn’t understand how or why the incident escalated so quickly. He also said deputies never offered him an explanation or an apology.

“Even if they thought the car was stolen, all they had to do was run the license plate,” he said. “They would have seen that that car belonged there.”
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Update: http://www.pnj.com/article/20130729/NEWS11/130729006/Mother-of-man-shot-in-his-front-yard-speaks-out

Deputies Jeremiah Meeks and Matthew White responded to a 911 call on Saturday of a possible burglary and found Roy Middleton, 60, rummaging through a car in the 200 block of Shadow Lawn Lane in Warrington, Morgan said. Middleton was searching for a loose cigarette in his mother’s car.

Morgan said the deputies reported that, after they'd made multiple commands to Middleton to show his hands, he eventually lunged out of the car and spun toward them, causing them to "fear for their safety."

"As much as we are trained and as much as officers -- which have Type A personalities -- like to say we are in control, we are not," Morgan said at the conference.
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Uh huh.
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
From the article I don't have enough evidence to get too worked up about it, but it certainly does seem shady.

Feels like to do not have the complete story.
 
F

FZZ

Banned
A teenage girl who said she witnessed a portion of the incident said she never saw Middleton provoke the deputies.

“He wasn’t belligerent or anything,“ she said.
Click to expand...

I've never in my life heard a teenager use "belligerent" in a sentence.

Also the cops should get punished, but they won't.
 
K

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
How do you lunge out of a car with your back facing someone, and then turn around threatening-ly? I'm picturing that gopher gif.

Even then, he literally did exactly what they told him to do - if their argument is "he did what we told him to do, but it surprised us so we shot him"... Well... they need to fuck right off.
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
I can't even feign shock anymore. I think what's even more sad is as soon as I read the title I assumed they shot a black guy who did nothing wrong.
 
A

akira28

Member
neorej said:
All they need in their defense is 'we felt threatened.'

It's Floridas get-out-jail-free-card.
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forget florida, the thin blue lie is made up of "perceived threats" to an officer's safety. Like not going to the same highschool or going to a different church.
 
D

Dead Man

Member
W

whitehawk

Banned
Wafflecakes said:
From the article I don't have enough evidence to get too worked up about it, but it certainly does seem shady.

Feels like to do not have the complete story.
Click to expand...
If the man wasn't found with a weapon, then it was unjustified. Guns shouldn't be used to stop robbers (and this guy wasn't even a thief).
 
K

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
Fnord said:
Updated story:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130729/NEWS11/130729006/Mother-of-man-shot-in-his-front-yard-speaks-out

No surprise that the deputies' story differs from the guy that was shot. Who knows which is accurate (if either are completely).

I'm baffled, however, that the cops fired off 17 rounds and only managed to hit the guy once in the leg (fortunate, but bizarre).
Click to expand...

The story isn't even that different. Except they've somehow qualified that his method of following instructions (lunging backwards out of a car and turning around with raised hands) surprised them into shooting him like a billion times.
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
linsivvi said:
Without even clicking on the link one can safety tell the race of the victim.

G/A/F opportunity missed though.
Click to expand...

It is always Florida.


I really wonder about the volatility that is added to a situation by having a cop ready to use a firearm. It begins to sound like a crazy scenario where people who want to use lethal force to defend themselves are putting themselves in situations that will make them feel panicky.
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
whitehawk said:
If the man wasn't found with a weapon, then it was unjustified. Guns shouldn't be used to stop robbers (and this guy wasn't even a thief).
Click to expand...

Eh. I was more referring to whether they really felt threatened or not.

I almost wish cops carried shoulder cams so we could see what they see, like with cop cars. Would make discerning abuses AND convicting real criminals easier.
 
Fnord

Fnord

Member
Kinitari said:
The story isn't even that different. Except they've somehow qualified that his method of following instructions (lunging backwards out of a car and turning around with raised hands) surprised them into shooting him like a billion times.
Click to expand...

I didn't see this bit in the original story:

When he backed out of the vehicle, he had his car keys in his hand with a metal flashlight attached, he told his mother.
Click to expand...

Could have just missed it, though.
 
A

akira28

Member
linsivvi said:
Without even clicking on the link one can safety tell the race of the victim.

G/A/F opportunity missed though.
Click to expand...
I knew I was giving them too much damn credit.

I thought maybe it was just a poor old white dude. You know. YOU KNOW his neighbor was not right.
 
D

Derwind

Member
evilromero said:
How long does it take to get a cigarette out of the car though? That's what I'm curious about.
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Depends on where in the car it was and also depends on if the person knew exactly where it was placed last.

It horrible when someone falls in the side of the seat, its a nightmare to get it out.
 
B

Big Baybee

Member
Lmao @ he lunged at me. Why even bother? Not like they were going to get actually punished for being irresponsible with their firearms anyway.
 
Z

Zee-Row

Banned
flawda-gunshine-state.jpg
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
Not enough to charge them, but they should all be fired simply because they missed 16/17 times when firing on an unarmed man. That is pretty sad.

Though the guy is lucky that they happened to be incompetent.
 
A

Alexander Arkright

Neo Member
Reminds me of when a couple of Port St. Lucie "officers" beat up a 14 year old girl in her front yard when she was taking out the trash at night.
Something's really not right when we need to fear our "protectors" more than those they're supposed to be protecting us from.
 
A

Amalthea

Banned
I think a lot of people with heavy insecurities become cops to feel like a big man with a badge and a gun but once they see a black person they want to wet their pants instantly because deep in their racist, little coward hearts they still see Afro-Americans as freed brutes who could break their poor white chicken-necks with their bare hands. So they just pull the trigger. Their fellow pigs and teabaggers will help them anyway.

It really makes me angry.
 
L

linsivvi

Member
Amalthea said:
I think a lot of people with heavy insecurities become cops to feel like a big man with a badge and a gun but once they see a black person they want to wet their pants instantly because deep in their racist, little coward hearts they still see Afro-Americans as freed brutes who could break their poor white chicken-necks with their bare hands. So they just pull the trigger. Their fellow pigs and teabaggers will help them anyway.

It really makes me angry.
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh8pzfm5QF8
 
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