Monday, February 06, 2006

So... What about the Cover-Up?

Last week, Rob was watching the morning news on CNN and he saw a video of an L.A. Sheriff's deputy shoot one of our young veterans THREE times in the back.
Rob was outraged, and he called me at work.
When I got home that evening, I searched for any reference to the story, but they apparently covered it up with another traffic/beating story.
I finally found a little excerpt about it, but they said that the video has been confiscated until an investigation is completed.
The Deputy had the soldier, who was a passenger in the vehicle, get out and get on the ground. The soldier was an experienced MP, and he did exactly as asked. The deputy asked him to get up, the soldier repeated:"I'm getting up now", and as he slowly moved his arms around to get up, the deputy shot him three times in the back.
WHAT!!!???
Yep. The video was clear as a bell, the dialog was clear as a bell.
The soldier is ok. He is in the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
I think they pulled the video so as not to incite any riots. This is just the excuse that the anti-war protesters need, to stir up public sentiment.
So, "They" pulled the video, then substituted another traffic-stop-gone-bad news story to distract us.
I am very upset about this, and I have been waiting and searching for word of this travesty to appear on the news again.
Here is the report: Wednesday February 1,2006
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A videotape shows a sheriff's deputy shooting an unarmed Iraq war veteran who appears to be following orders to get up off the ground, and now the FBI is investigating for possible civil rights violations.
Elio Carrion, an Air Force policeman who spent six months deployed in Iraq, was to have rejoined his unit Tuesday. Instead, he was hospitalized in good condition.
The incident began Sunday night, officials said, when Carrion was a passenger in a blue Corvette that was speeding about 100 mph near the Chino Hills, California, area, east of Los Angeles.
The driver, whom authorities didn't identify, failed to pull the car over after police signaled to do so, leading to a five-minute chase that ended abruptly when the vehicle crashed into a brick wall, said Cindy Beavers, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
What happened next was captured on video shot by amateur photographer Jose Luis Valdez, who told The Associated Press that he recorded the incident after the car crashed in front of his home. KTLA-TV aired the videotape early Tuesday, then distributed it later in the day.
In the tape, an unarmed Carrion appears to be on the ground as a deputy sheriff stands above him with his gun drawn.
"Get up!" the deputy shouts. "OK," Carrion says.
"Get up!" the deputy shouts again. "I'm going to get up," Carrion says, and he begins to rise.
The deputy fires three shots, reportedly striking Carrion in the chest, leg and shoulder.
Moaning while on the ground, Carrion attempts to explain to the deputy he's an Iraq war veteran. "I mean you no harm," he says. "Shut the [expletive] up!" the deputy shouts. "Shut the [expletive] up!"
The deputy shouts that he has "one down," then again tells Carrion to "shut the [expletive] up."
"You don't get up!" the deputy says.
Then the tape contains the voice of a neighbor who appears to have watched the incident. "You told him to get up!" the voice says.
Beavers, the sheriff's spokesman, declined to release the name of the deputy involved in the shooting but said he was put on leave. She said Sheriff Gary Penrod had invited the FBI to join the investigation.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller and U.S. attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek confirmed the the agency's involvement on behalf of the Justice Department.
They said the FBI would look into possible civil rights violations. Media reports prompted the probe, Mrozek said.
Beavers said the sheriff's department would review the video forensically "to clear up any questions about dialogue."
"We think it is unfair to make any sort of judgment against any of the parties involved," she said.
The driver of the car, she said, was arrested on charges of felony evading.

Now, Aren't you a little suspicious about this?
MsAmber

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser... Hey Amber, thanks for the link to Call Me Snake (my humble blog). You should find a link to yours from there as well!

Nicole said...

These stories get me so infuriated that I almost can't even stand to hear about them!

That's why I feel compelled to isolate myself from anything remotely close to the evening news. Because watching an installment seems to confirm the fact that, as a people, we're not evolving...we're DEvolving.

Just UGH!!!

Flubberwinkle said...

...They said the FBI would look into possible civil rights violations.
POSSIBLE? YA THINK? The deputy shouts "Get up" TWICE and then shoots Carrion when he responds to the order????
This is one trigger happy deputy. I'm guessing he's also white.

Bob Hoeppner said...

I'm sure being a deputy is a stressful job. But if it's too much for someone, they shouldn't be doing it. I don't know the races involved, or what was in the deputy's heart and mind, but he seems out of his element. Even a deputy can have a bad day, but not as bad as this, it seems to me, and keep his job.

Of course, it can be hard, in these types of situations, to remember we have a presumption of innocence for all involved. Hopefully the investigation will be thorough, and whatever legal decisions made will be fair.

MsAmber said...

The Deputy was white and his daddy-o is a cop too.
The two men in the car were hispanic.
The man who taped the incident has been harassed. He was pulled over three times in one day, and they thoroughly searched his vehicle all three times.
Then, they claim he has warrants out from Miami Florida for involvement in a shooting, which, he claims the only trouble he go into in Miami was a D.U.I.
So He's being extradited to Florida.
Smells funny to me.
MsAmber