Police Murder Man With Toy Gun in Wal-Mart.

[BlindTiresias]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/26/video-shows-police-shot-ohio-man-on-sight-as-he-leaned-on-toy-gun-in-walmart-attorney-says/

"Surveillance video shows an Ohio man talking on a cell phone, leaning on a toy gun, and facing away from officers moments before police shot and killed him in a Walmart store, according to an attorney for the man’s family.

John Crawford III died Aug. 5 after police were called to Walmart in Beavercreek, near Dayton, by another shopper who reported a man carrying what appeared to be an AR-15 rifle.

The 22-year-old Crawford was instead carrying an unpackaged MK-177 (.177 caliber) BB/pellet rifle he picked up in the store’s toy department.

Police claim Crawford ignored their commands to drop the weapon, and the former Marine who called in the report and witnessed the shooting said Crawford “looked like he was going to go violently.”

But attorney Michael Wright said surveillance video from the incident, which Ohio’s attorney general allowed him to watch with Crawford’s family, contradicted those accounts.

“John was doing nothing wrong in Walmart, nothing more, nothing less than shopping,” Wright said.

The attorney said surveillance video showed Crawford facing away from officers, talking on the phone, and leaning on the pellet gun like a cane when he was “shot on sight” in a “militaristic” response by police."

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Just throwing more evidence for America's out of control police departments on the pile.

[WinkyDink]

1. Well, he could've protected himself if he'd have had a REAL gun!

*sarcasm*

[FreakinDJ]

2. of the 2 Cops were returned to duty after falsifing reports

[EX500rider]

3. It's not really a "toy gun"

Last edited Wed Aug 27, 2014, 09:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Sold in sporting goods in sealed boxes, not in toys.

Looks like this: (that in fact is a picture of the pellet gun in question)

[BlindTiresias]

4. Its a BB gun

Its a toy.

he was also leaning against it while talking on a cell-phone when he was murdered. No excuse for that.

[EX500rider]

6. Firing pellets at 548 mph is not a toy, that's why it's not sold in the toy section..

....but in sporting goods.
If he was shot while not holding it it would be wrong, Walmart will have video, the truth will come out one way or another.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. If it's a Walmart like the three in my area

the sporting goods section is located contiguous to the toys. I see footballs and exercise machines sold next to kids' bikes.

[EX500rider]

11. Yes they generally they go sports, bikes then toys.

But the pellet guns are still neither toys nor sold in toys.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. The point is you can take about five or six steps and get from

pellet guns to toys. It's virtually in the same part of the giant enclosure without walls or clear departments that is Walmart. The police should have realized the gun was not out of place in a customer's hands in that part of the store and neither should whoever it was in the store who made the call to 911. And a pellet gun isn't a real gun either. Walmart also sells the Daisy Red Ryder bb gun, the same one in A Christmas Story that the little kid bugged his parents about. I guess a black man who picks one up could shoot someone's eye out. And if he visits the cutlery section and examines the steak knives, he could throw one at someone's face. If all he did was examine the pellet gun though, it's hard to justify calling 911. I would guess everyone buying such a gun will take it out of its box to look at it, considering that if you ever go to Walmart and look at the shelves, almost all the boxes of any product have been opened by customers to examine the contents.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Daisy-Red-Ryder-BB-Gun/15730097

[EX500rider]

13. Depends what part of the story turn out to be true.

In the 911 call to dispatchers the caller says he saw Crawford waiving the gun around and pointing it at children.


http://www.abc22now.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/wkef_vid_21623.shtml

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. And that's supposedly the big issue

Al Sharpton today had on his show the father of the slain man and his attorney who supposedly looked at the surveillance tape which allegedly showed nothing even remotely threatening. And Sharpton then had two attorneys on his show, one a former prosecutor who couldn't believe the DA would release the 911 tape that shows the victim in a bad light, with statements such as the one you describe but who refused to release the surveillance tape that supposedly didn't show that scenario at all.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS, BUT I THINK ALL REASONABLE PEOPLE SEEKING JUSTICE WILL CONDEMN THE SELECTIVE RELEASE OF EVIDENCE THAT CAN ONLY SERVE TO POISON THE ATMOSPHERE AND WRONGFULLY INFLUENCE THE POTENTIAL JURY POOL.

Either release it all or none at all.

[BlindTiresias]

9. What the hell?

He was supposedly shot while leaning on it, how is it warranted to kill him just by holding it in a non threatening manner?

[EX500rider]

10. If that turns out to be true then it was wrong..

...but I won't take a lawyers word for it just yet.

Still some unexplained parts to the story.
If you go to the store to buy a pellet gun, you pick one still in the box and either go check out or put it in your cart and continue to shop. Walking around with a pellet gun that looks like a real gun is a receipt for disaster as this story amply proves.
And if you freak people out with it enough where they call the cops and continue to walk around with it until the cops show up and then still don't drop it like a hot rock bad things can happen. (and did)
I'll wait till the video is released to decide though, seems unlikely cops would shoot somebody while they were on the phone and leaning on the gun but if so then that was clearly very wrong.

[BlindTiresias]

15. Cops shoot unarmed people all the time

And especially if they are black.

[lunasun]

5. Shopping while Black his only "crime"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

7. That's outrageous - I saw that on Al Sharpton's show

The police department was excoriated for releasing information showing the victim in a bad light (the 911 call in which he's described as walking around Walmart with a real gun) but refused to release the surveillance footage that allegedly shows him talking to his wife on a cell phone and not paying attention, NOT pointing the gun at anyone, but instead pointing it at the ground, and standing in the toy department near similar guns on sale. Allegedly, the video footage also shows the cops killing him, after which they order him to drop the gun on the floor.