LA police fire 90 rounds at fleeing, unarmed teen

[Playinghardball]

Los Angeles teen was killed by a hail of police gunfire on Wednesday night after eight officers fired 90 rounds in total as he appeared to point an object at them, according to The Associated Press.

Police confronted 19-year-old Abdul Arian following a car chase that was caught on video, during which he allegedly called 911 and warned that he had a weapon and would hurt officers if they pointed firearms at him. After he was gunned down, officers discovered that he was unarmed.

Arian also allegedly published a number of disturbing messages on his Facebook page, and “checked in” via global position systems to the highway where the police chase began, writing simply, “Home sweet home.” The pursuit began shortly thereafter when he refused to pull over after officers noticed him driving erratically.

Those messages, his phone call to 911, and his behavior during the pursuit led police to believe that Arian may have intended to commit suicide by cop, but the teen’s family isn’t so sure.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/13/la-police-officers-fire-90-rounds-at-fleeing-unarmed-teen/

[Cali_Democrat]

1. Hmmmm...."he appeared to point an object at them"

Usually the unarmed suspects that are gunned down in a hail of bullets are "reaching for their waistband" or something like that. See the McDade shooting in Pasadena.

I guess that excuse was getting old. The coppers have to go with something else.

90 rounds? Are you fucking kidding me?

[tularetom]

2. He was running from them, they were firing while chasing him

I saw this chase on TV and it looked like he would stop every so often to fire back at them or so it appeared.

90 rounds sounds like a lot but how many actually hit him? The shots were fired at fairly long range and under less than optimum conditions.

I would tend to be more critical of the LAPD for endangering the lives of motorists and other citizens by firing 90 rounds on a busy freeway. They're fortunate nobody else was hit.

[Angry Dragon]

3. They need to spend a lot more time on the shooting range

[intaglio]

4. There was an earlier thread about this

and IIRC the kid rang through to 911 and threatened to kill the police.

Personally I think it has aspects of "suicide by cop"