Unarmed man wearing swimsuit & resisting arrest shot & killed by sheriff in small MN town

[lindisfarne]

An unmarked Dodge Durango tailed best friends Tyler Heilman and Kris Hoehn as they pulled into an apartment complex Monday afternoon after a day of swimming in the Minnesota River, the SUV having shadowed them through the streets of Kasota.

The Durango pulled up behind their car, blocking it in its parking space, and a man in a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans stepped out.

Minutes later, Heilman, 24, was bleeding on the ground, shot twice in the chest by the man who confronted him, Todd Waldron, a 10-year veteran of the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office.

...

Authorities said Waldron fired what they believe were four shots after scuffling with Heilman during an arrest attempt. The sheriff's deputy had followed Heilman, whose history included arrests for burglary and assault, for close to 20 minutes after noticing him speeding, driving erratically on several streets and driving up a "steep embankment," said Andy Skoogman, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
...
"We didn't know who he was," said Hoehn, 24, adding that the man didn't identify himself as a law officer.
...

Edit: Link:
http://www.startribune.com/local/51320642.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU
well worth reading for details.

[MercutioATC]

1. Linkie?

[lindisfarne]

2. Sorry, now in OP.n/t

[MercutioATC]

16. Absolutely a bad shooting.

Unless a completely different series of events is released, I don't see how this could be defensible.


(and I'm usually willing to give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt...especially here at DU)

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Plain clothesed sheriff...serious investigation needed... not one of those pretend

investigation where it is a foregone conclusion that the deputy 'acted properly'.

[NickB79]

4. Perhaps he was struggling in an attempt to take the officer's gun?

Many officers die from having their gun taken and used against them.

I'll wait until more details emerge before passing judgment though.

[Webster Green]

5. Yeah, sure.

More likely the cop was a typical fucking pig. :mad:

[paulsby]

11. feel the bigotry

it's so refreshing

[Webster Green]

18. Oh please.

How many of these incidents do you need to hear about to assume that the cop was probably an asshole type thug of the first degree? :eyes:

Yeah, I hate fucking cops! I realize that there are a few decent ones out there, but they will need to change occupations if they want to feel my love.

[kenfrequed]

20. Bigotry

That is probably the most curious word used as a label to denounce another persons distrust of law enforcement as I have ever heard. As a protester that has gotten gassed, beaten, and threatened for my beliefs by overzealous and power mad law enforcement people I think yoru use of this is the height of irony.

[lies and propaganda]

22. as refrehing as the constant abuse of their powers

but i guess you just read the daily abusive cops stories just to come in and cry for them.

[Flaneur]

6. How many officers die from having their gun taken from them?

Got any numbers for that?

[paulsby]

12. i know that the stats i was given during

training as a firearms instructor were that approximately 80% of the time a guy gets your gun from you (i'm a cop) he will shoot you with it. doesn';t mean you will die. most cops who are shot, live. but if somebody IS trying to get your gun, that's more than probable cause to believe they will shoot you with it, IF they get it.

one of my coworkers was disarmed by a naked unarmed man high on crack. the guy chased the cop down and stood over him and emptied the gun into the cop's head.

the point is this. if somebody is trying to disarm me, they are most likely trying to kill me.

[SmileyRose]

13. Well

if some man gets out of an SUV and starts making demands, grabbing at me and pulls a gun - my goal is to kill his ass before he kills mine. That's a whole other thing than a police car pulling up and a man CLEARLY dressed as a police officer getting out, telling me he pulled in because I was dirt dogging all over town and asking me for my license.

There is no comparison between a police office getting his gun grabbed and this. Absolutely none.

[paulsby]

14. i didn't say there was a comparison

i was responding to a specific point. i don't know enough case facts of this incident to have an opinion. thus, i don't

[lapfog_1]

9. Go to the link, read the story of what two eyewitnesses

recounted.

The cop never identified himself as a cop.

When the two were wrestling, the victim saw the cops badge on his belt, jumped off the cop (who he had pinned to the ground), and put his hands in the air. The cop jumped up, pulled his gun and shot him. The victim's dying words were "What the hell?"

[cboy4]

7. Who do these plainclothes cops think they are? No uniform, no marked

vehicle and they don't expect situations like this to end in tragedy?!

Outrageous. Over a fucking driving infraction. :puke:

[rrneck]

8. Too early to tell for sure

but it's looking like a bad shoot.

There was time to call in backup.

[lapfog_1]

10. Or he could have simply identified himself as a police officer. - nt/

[rrneck]

19. Yep. nt

[depakid]

15. And the officer will be acquitted by a grand jury

The thin blue line will strike again.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Maybe not

According to reports here, local residents are furious, even though the guy who was shot was kind of a ne'er-do-well.

[conspirator]

21. Things like this justify the right for civilians to bear arms nt