Police issue. read this if you gotta soul Options

[XS4lv1Truch0x]

this happened right around the block where i used 2 live

aka the hood


LONG BEACH, Calif. — East 67th Street is part of a tight-knit community where everyone seems to know everyone, neighbors look after each other's children and birthdays are often celebrated together.

It was a few yards from one such communal party Saturday that police shot and killed Roketi Mosesue, 46, an unarmed mentally ill man, leaving residents of this diverse cul-de-sac shocked and angry.

On Monday, several gave accounts differing sharply from the police version.

"He didn't try to aggressively do nothing," said neighbor Cranston Howard, 39, who was cooking burgers at the party a few houses down the street from where Mosesue was shot. "He was face down when they shot him."

Police say Mosesue was killed as he lay on a sidewalk after two officers, responding to calls about a man behaving violently and erratically, confronted him on the street.

Mosesue charged at the officers, who tried to control him with batons. When Mosesue tried to grab a baton from one officer, they used a Taser but the stun gun had no effect, Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said. Mosesue then allegedly punched one officer in the face and both fell to the ground.

The other officer, fearing for his partner's safety and his own, shot Mosesue multiple times in the upper torso, Pratt said. He was pronounced dead soon after.

A dozen or so residents and family members, many with tears in their eyes and still reeling from the shooting, congregated around a makeshift memorial Monday. Candles flickered on a patch of dried blood and flowers were placed alongside.

Several people from this mainly Samoan and black neighborhood said they saw the shooting. Mosesue's cousin Lorena Levi, 17, said she saw three police officers beating him with a baton and he put his hands up to protect himself from the blows. He did not try to grab the baton.

"He said, 'What did I do, OK, OK,'" Levi said. "He had no shirt on, you could hear the baton slapping against his skin."

Levi and several others said Mosesue was mentally ill. Mosesue was diagnosed about two years ago with terminal lung cancer and schizophrenia, his nephew, La-auli To-omalatai, 37, told the Los Angeles Times.

Billy Moses, the son of Mosesue's girlfriend, told KNBC-TV news he called police after Mosesue made threats.

"If I would have known that was going to happen, I never would have even lifted the phone," Moses said. "It was one of those caught-up-in-the-moment things."

Some residents recalled Mosesue would talk to himself but was friendly and would often play with kids on the block.

"If he was a threat do you think we would have let him play with our kids?" neighbor Tashuna Paige, 38, said.

Ana Taliu, 19, Mosesue's niece, said two officers struck him with batons and a third shot him several times. Other witnesses said they saw officers kick Mosesue in the head as he lay on the floor and that he was not struggling when he was shot.

"The cop's hand was shaking," said neighbor Chrystal Pagota, 23, one of those whose birthday was being celebrated. "He said, 'I can't believe I shot him.'"

Several witnesses said no police officers fell to the ground with Mosesue and both were standing over him when he was shot between three and six times in the back.

Patricia Mathis, 48, said her son's girlfriend took pictures of the incident with her cell phone camera but police grabbed it and smashed it.

Police said only two officers were involved in the shooting. Both took scheduled days off Monday and were expected to return to regular duty Wednesday. The officers were not identified.

Pratt said she could not respond to many of the allegations as the investigation was ongoing, but said more information would be released Tuesday.

After the altercation, the officers were confronted by a hostile crowd of about 40 people until additional units arrived, police said. Neighbor Cranston Howard countered the crowd was not hostile and only gathered to investigate the sound of the gunfire.

He said he was arrested for obstruction and an officer hit him with a flashlight, causing a cut that required several bruises. The police department did not immediately respond to the allegation.

According to some neighbors, Mosesue lay dead on the sidewalk for almost an hour before anyone tended to him. Tomicka Rollerson, 30, a certified nurse assistant, said she offered medical assistance but an officer pointed a gun at her and told her to "Back up."

A preliminary investigation found Mosesue died from multiple gunshot wounds, Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said, though it was not clear if the bullets struck him from the front or from behind.

A full autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va., which aims to improve treatment for the mentally ill, said police shootings involving mentally ill happen often.

"There are many too many of these incidences," Torrey said. "And the really sad thing is most of them are preventable if the person was being treated."

[cnelson]

I would like to know what happens when its all said and done. try to keep it updated if at all possible. thanks.

[XS4lv1Truch0x]

well they are going 2 have some kind of press conference today

ill keep this updated... it pissed me off cause the police in long beach are really corrupt like that.

[jesterwr217]

i do not appreciate the title of this thread and you need to change it
not all police are corrupt and people need to understand this
i in no way agree with this situation and if its true i think they should be dealt with accordingly but i have many friends who are police officers including my dad so next time you say screw an entire group of people think about it you could be talking bad about people that dont even deserve it

This post has been edited by jesterwr217: May 20, 2008 - 11:27 AM

[forkee]

you have to realize that the cops in lb go through a lot of sh!t. i dont think its because their corrupt or anything like that. you want corrupt cops, go to mexico. its just that some are inexperienced and jumpy. their lives are in more danger in long beach than say, irvine. i was born and partly raised in long beach and i often go back to visit my grandparents there. its so ghetto, lol. my grandpa got robbed while he was gardening.

i do agree that they could have handled the situation better. they really need extensive training when it comes to situations that are moderately dangerous. most of the time i think they either have it easy or have it rough, so they arent used to things in the middle.

unless i was actually part of the cops who responded to the call, i can't judge their actions just by what secondhand reports say. then when you listen to the news report on what secondhand witnesses say, you're getting into thirdhand reports.

what im wondering is if they had any onboard video cameras on the cruisers. if they did, and it showed that they carried out protocol, then it would easily vindicate them, but if they are holding it back or saying its "missing" or "got erased", then the police dept will definitely have to own up in court. they are being sued by the johnny cochran firm so this could get interesting.

[D-Man]

haven't we already had this argument?

now if anyone dont like/trust police it's me... BUT; alot of these guys (after a few days) have valid points...

The last thread i believe ended with a comprimise that everyone'd shut-up about their opinions, and stop pissing off the police

Lets do the same now before this one explodes and one of our mod's has to come regulate on this thread...

[/thread]

[manphibian]

Ok, i deleted the other thread and re-opened this one as long as it stays sensible. Title edited.

[cnelson]

I agree there are some good police. they keep us safe and but themsleves in harms way. however there are some police that think they have the power to do anything because they have a badge. There has to be a line somewhere, thats all.

[Defgeph]

Mentally Ill Homeless Man Kills Pregnant New Orleans Cop

On Monday, January 28, 2008, police officer Nicola Cotton was patrolling New Orleans’ 6th district when she stopped a man who matched the description of a rape suspect. When she tried to handcuff him, the man, who was twice her size, attacked her, beating her with her own baton and then grabbing her service weapon and shooting her until there were no more bullets left in the gun. Cotton died at age 24. She was eight weeks pregnant.

Her killer was Bernel Johnson. He was not the rapist that authorities were looking for, although he shared the same name with the suspect. Johnson was homeless and mentally ill.



Why don't you cry for this poor woman and her unborn child.

[Havok1997GT]

Mentally Ill Homeless Man Kills Pregnant New Orleans Cop

On Monday, January 28, 2008, police officer Nicola Cotton was patrolling New Orleans' 6th district when she stopped a man who matched the description of a rape suspect. When she tried to handcuff him, the man, who was twice her size, attacked her, beating her with her own baton and then grabbing her service weapon and shooting her until there were no more bullets left in the gun. Cotton died at age 24. She was eight weeks pregnant.

Her killer was Bernel Johnson. He was not the rapist that authorities were looking for, although he shared the same name with the suspect. Johnson was homeless and mentally ill.



Why don't you cry for this poor woman and her unborn child.

There are a lot of things that could have happened to keep this women alive though. She could have called for back up, and should have seeing as he was way bigger then her and she was all alone. The difference is this guy was ill and depending on how ill might not have any idea what he did. The cops that are in question in this thread are sane, capable thinkers how it seems shot an innocent man. Neither are any less sad, just different.

[Defgeph]

responding to calls about a man behaving violently and erratically, confronted him on the street.

Mosesue charged at the officers,

When Mosesue tried to grab a baton from one officer, they used a Taser but the stun gun had no effect

Doesn't sound to innocent to me.

If a crazy man was charging at anyone of us after failure to comply with police officers, you better believe anyone of use would have used our service baton to protected our own life first. You can't expect to resist arrest and not get hurt, you can't expect to try and injure a cop and not get shot at.

Cooperate with the officer, plain and simple.

[cnelson]

The man is mentally ill! Jesus, and there were four cops vs. one man. There is no reason that they could not restrain him. Unless he is superman. A baton and a taser are understandable. But to kill him? That is absolutely unnecessary. Unless he had some sort of weapon and they were in real danger for their lives. I also doubt that the taser didn't affect him. Those things are almost as bad as guns.

We do not know the long term effects of them. Also cops use them like its pepper spray. I just feel like, there are some good cops, and bad ones who do not make the best choices at times. Granted I have never gone through something like that, although unless i thought my life was absolutely in danger I would not shoot.

[Havok1997GT]

The man is mentally ill! Jesus, and there were four cops vs. one man. There is no reason that they could not restrain him. Unless he is superman. A baton and a taser are understandable. But to kill him? That is absolutely unnecessary. Unless he had some sort of weapon and they were in real danger for their lives. I also doubt that the taser didn't affect him. Those things are almost as bad as guns.

We do not know the long term effects of them. Also cops use them like its pepper spray. I just feel like, there are some good cops, and bad ones who do not make the best choices at times. Granted I have never gone through something like that, although unless i thought my life was absolutely in danger I would not shoot.

I have an issue with someone that is legally able to carry and use a gun making rash choices like that. I think people defend cops because they are cops and because of what their job requires of them. Well, when those Army troopers were torchering those POWs everyone went after the troopers. Their jobs are harder then police, but it still didnt give them the right to do what they did. 4 to1 means you can restrain, not shot. Unless the guy had a gun or something that endangered the 4 cops that where trying to hold him down, there is no excuse. I even understand hitting him with the batons, if he was mentally ill, there are a lot of cases where the ill can ignore pain all together and come at you with no feeling or worry of getting hurt. But to kill? with 4 to 1? No way.


Just because we fear, doesnt mean we should act. If people stopped and thought about what was going on instead of reacting to the first emotion that come to them, things would be a lot better in this world. And an old man might still be alive.

[gluefish]

I wonder how long the guy would have lived with his terminal lung cancer if he hadn't been killed.
I wonder if his case will end up being settled or found in his favor.
I wonder how much more his relatives will make from this than if he had died of lung cancer, probably within months anyway.
Just sayin'.

Personally I hope his case wins, if the police can't authenticate their story. Everyone needs to be accountable, especially the authorities.

[j0e_p3t]

i'm kind of having a hard time believing the info from that article. the confessions from the "witnesses" aren't consistent. some say 2 cops beat him, others say 3. one of you guys said 4 vs 1. and someone said he was shot 3 to 6 times? either the neighbors can't count or some of them over-exaggerated a lil. if they can hear the baton slapping his skin, you'd think they'd be able to hear the amount of gunshots. and its not like it was a cold blooded murder. apparently the shooter's hands were shaky and was in disbelief after doing what he did. possibly a rookie. but yeah, not all cops are good cops. just like not all doctors are good doctors or not all cashiers are good cashiers and what-not. but being a cop isn't easy and i hate it when people say cops suck and blah blah blah. they make your community safer, plain and simple. it seems like we take all the good stuff they do for granted and put them down right when they make a mistake like other human beings. if you don't like your local cops, then why don't you try being a cop and see how you like it.