[kushie18]

May 3, 2024. A Florida sheriff’s deputy announced himself as law enforcement just before fatally shooting a U.S. Air Force airman inside his apartment in the state’s Panhandle, according to body camera video shown to reporters Thursday.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden presented the video hours after the family of Senior Airman Roger Fortson and their attorneys held a news conference in which they disputed that the deputy acted in self-defense. Aden rejected assertions made by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson's family, that the deputy had gone to the wrong apartment, covered the door's peephole and did not announce himself.

The video shows the deputy arriving at a Fort Walton Beach apartment building on May 3 and speaking to a woman outside who described hearing an argument. The deputy then went up an elevator and walked down an outdoor hallway.

The video shows the deputy banging on the door and stepping aside, seemingly out of view of the door. Twice he shouted: “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!”

Fortson opened the door and could be seen holding what appeared to be handgun pointed down toward the floor. The deputy shouted, “Step back!” and fired off shots. He then shouted, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!”

Allegedly the police entered the wrong home but are not commenting on that

[HIGHTECHDUDE]

The deputy was justified in shooting this guy. His family and attorney have completely lied about the incident to the media. He was an idiot to answer the door with a gun when he obviously knew the police were there. He deserved to get shot.

[kushie18]

Yes he will be justified like they always are. Reminds me of Ryan Whitaker who also answered the door with a gun. and yet they were also still justified in killing him. Just a settlement of $3million was given.

[monkuar]

that draw was incredible. wonder how hard john from active self protection is cumming from this video

[HIGHTECHDUDE]

Originally Posted by kushie18 ↗

Yes he will be justified like they always are. Reminds me of Ryan Whitaker who also answered the door with a gun. and yet they were also still justified in killing him. Just a settlement of $3million was given.

I'll share a little secret — all law enforcement agencies (except Fed's) will provide a settlement to the family (usually $2M-4M based on age & precedent) of any person killed in an OIS, regardless of the circumstances. They do this because it is actually cheaper than legally defending a claim in court, even if the agency prevails. Risk managers build it into the budget and consider it as part of the cost of doing business. If the cops genuinely fuck up (in all fairness, not as often as you seem to believe), besides the criminal consequences, wrongful death suits will generally rise to $50M+ depending on political demographics.

In the Whitaker case, the family probably could have obtained a slightly larger verdict at trial, even though the cop did nothing wrong. Why? Because the cops knocked and announced only once late at night (11pm) while loud game console music was playing in the background. It's not unreasonable for someone to come to the door armed, presuming that they couldn't hear the cops single announcement.

Whitaker also apparently dropped his gun as if he might surrender. Although the cop was still legally justified in shooting (as determined by the D.A.), he could have used better tactics. Officer Cooke received a suspension costing him several months wages and was sent for additional tactical training before returning to the job.

Even though the current Fortson case may appear exactly the same, the legal elements and tactics are nothing like the Whitaker case. Here again the shooting is legally justified, and now after viewing the bodycam video the family will be encouraged by their attorney (Crump) to settle out of court because the chances of a larger judgement is unlikely, even if they play the race card with the backing of the NAACP as they currently have stated. They'll get several million as usual, and their attorney will take most of it.

The lesson to take away from these incidents is, go ahead and arm yourself, but use some fucking common sense and never open the door until you can ID who's there. If you know it's a cop, put the gun away. If you're not sure, call 911. If you want to make your family rich, open the door wide with a gun in your hand and kiss your ass g'bye.

[cusco]

I distinctly heard the witness say 1402. The cop went to 1401.

Wtf

[cusco]

Er my bad, maybe I misheard it!

[mothmon]

Well, so much for the family claiming the cop went to the wrong address. There are Do's and there are Don't's when answering the door after police have been pounding on it multiple times, loudly identifying themselves at least TWICE as the poe-leece. This guy- well, this guy did a Don't... biiiiiiig DON'T.

[mothmon]

Still, I think a cop when he sees a suspect holding (but not pointing) a gun when answering a call should assume the stance, then scream as loud as he can, "DROP THE FUCKING WEAPON!" Then if the suspect continues to hold the weapon- well, then getting mag-dumped is all on them. I do think cops tend to be a little too quick on the draw.

[kushie18]

Originally Posted by HIGHTECHDUDE ↗

I'll share a little secret — all law enforcement agencies (except Fed's) will provide a settlement to the family (usually $2M-4M based on age & precedent) of any person killed in an OIS, regardless of the circumstances.

Interesting.. I didn't know this Thanks

And for Whitaker he surrendered and obliged with the officers commands to drop the gun, yet his partner still killed him, Whitaker had about 3 seconds to respond before shooting. In this case, the officer gave no commands and immediately fired.

Oh yeah and dude is still a idiot, just seconds before he opens the door the officer says "Sherrif's office". I'm not saying he is wrong for killing him, I am just pointing out the differences. Still, a officer should tell him to drop the gun and if he raises it any bit then But I guess it depends on how the deputy is feeling