Also, in Ohio you can be a private police officer, giving you powers such as arresting powers. Not saying the training is the same, but I know a lot of damned good officers at UC.

 

I have no doubt there are plenty of great officers at UC.

I think he has to be convicted on something, however not having a clue of Ohio law I don't know what options are there. I think him drawing his gun created a situation that resulted in DuBoses' death.

 

I agree on "something." Deters filed a lesser charge of manslaughter as a backup plan.

Yours is one of the first thought processes that I could see as legit. I could understand a struggle and him grabbing the officers hand at which point he grabbed for his gun and it went off. Not gonna lie that had never really crossed my mind. But I could understand how it could happen. Dang.

Can you think of any reason Tensing would have drawn his gun in that situation? I know it's asking you to take a guess but if you were in that situation is there anything that happen in the video that would make you pull your gun?

I agree on "something." Deters filed a lesser charge of manslaughter as a backup plan.

 

Do you know how Ohio's murder and manslaughter statutes are written?

Do you know how Ohio's murder and manslaughter statutes are written?

 

I do not. I know Deters said something about Ohio not having a "degree" distinction in regards to murder.

Tensing was fired. He has now filed a grievance to get his job back.

Tensing was fired. He has now filed a grievance to get his job back.

 

Wait, what? This dude still thinks he should be a cop?

Tensing was fired. He has now filed a grievance to get his job back.

 

He's kidding... Right?

Can you think of any reason Tensing would have drawn his gun in that situation? I know it's asking you to take a guess but if you were in that situation is there anything that happen in the video that would make you pull your gun?

 

To me this is the heart of the situation and a great question to ask. Nobody knows what was in the heart of the officer, but my gut feel is that he simply had no regard for the safety of DuBose, he could care less what happened to him. He lacked any feeling this was a person who had a mother, a person who had children, who despite his mistakes was somebody God loved.

 

This situation presented no reason to have his gun drawn but for the appearance that the officer just did not care whether it resulted in the death of DuBose or not. We can argue all we want about everything else, but when the prosecutor makes his summation it will focus on the fact that the officer had no regard for the life of this victim. Being a police officer requires the ability to continue respecting life in very dangerous situations surrounded by people who do bad things. It is a hard job, but this situation was not dangerous and he did not show any decency of valuing the life of DuBose when that gun was drawn.

 

False. A person could ignore commands all day long and it not become a dangerous situation.

 

That's not true.

 

If you are a police officer and someone has their hands in their pockets...how nervous you going to be when they refuse to take their hands out? You going to pull your gun?

 

There are plenty of cases where refusing commands makes a situation dangerous.

 

I think the victim refusing commands definitely escalated things in this case. Still doesn't excuse the shooting, but I don't think you can ignore it because he's the victim.

That's not true.

 

If you are a police officer and someone has their hands in their pockets...how nervous you going to be when they refuse to take their hands out? You going to pull your gun?

 

There are plenty of cases where refusing commands makes a situation dangerous.

 

I think the victim refusing commands definitely escalated things in this case. Still doesn't excuse the shooting, but I don't think you can ignore it because he's the victim.

 

I definitely agree there are situations that doing so can be dangerous. This wasn't one of those. He refused his questions/commands about a drivers license. That's not dangerous.

That's not true.

 

If you are a police officer and someone has their hands in their pockets...how nervous you going to be when they refuse to take their hands out? You going to pull your gun?

 

There are plenty of cases where refusing commands makes a situation dangerous.

 

I think the victim refusing commands definitely escalated things in this case. Still doesn't excuse the shooting, but I don't think you can ignore it because he's the victim.

 

It absolutely can still be true. There are many situations that wouldn't turn dangerous from not following commands.

 

I'll give you the hands in the pockets. Still don't think it automatically warrants pulling a weapon, but you would definitely be very cautious.

 

DuBose's hands weren't in his pockets. In fact it doesn't seem there was ever a time Tensing couldn't see his hands.

Also, the command to get out of the car.

 

The point being made is that the shot was fired before the car took off. It moved what? Maybe a foot? The officer was not being dragged as he claimed and as his defense is claiming.

 

Serious question, sort of related to this thread.

 

If an officer is tangled in a car and the driver starts to drive off...

 

How long does the officer have to be dragged before most would consider his life in danger?

 

I asked G that and he said it's not common.

 

My guess is it happens, if a driver refuses to exit the vehicle when told. At some point the have to come out. Reaching in when he started the car was a bad idea, though imo, and I don't think he actually told him to get out in this case.