We have yet another police execution video which shows us the level of brutality that one human being can commit upon another human being. This time we are shown cell phone video of a Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy or deputies I should say, killing an obviously unarmed man, while attempting to handcuff him. Of course the wrongful death report which was filed clears the officers in this travesty of justice. After spending almost 10 years in police work, I love having the opportunity to review these shooting videos and give my take. So here it is.
What we have here is an obviously resisting subject. When two officers are trying to handcuff you, whether you understand or agree with their decision, you let them handcuff you. This is not an unusual situation for officers. An average officer will have a resistant subject once or twice a month, depending on the area you work in, but that is a safe average. I love to refer to the Use of Force Matrix, the one tool which officers everywhere should know and utilize in every force encounter. The Use of Force Matrix dictates what level of force an officer may apply to differing levels of resistant subjects. In this case, the subject, otherwise known as Noel Aguilar, was demonstrating active physical resistance. Police are trying to control his actions and take him into custody. He is fighting their attempts but not attempting to physically hurt them. The maximum force authorized in this situation is use of secondary weapons like baton, Taser, OC spray or simply open hand techniques.
This situation goes wrong when the first cowboy cop pulls his gun. What does this tell you? It tells you that this officer is specifically untrained in basic police use of force. This also implies a law suit for failure of the Sheriff’s Office to properly train deputies is warranted. This situation goes horribly wrong when officer number 1 pulls his gun. This was not at any time a deadly force situation. The officer on the left side of the video recognizes this and pulls his baton and delivers several strikes to Aguilar. Officer on the right then shoots his gun striking the officer on the left. He then screams he has been shot. What does the shooting officer do? Absolutely nothing. He never announces he pulled his gun. He never announced that he shot, and this led the other other officer to believe that Aguilar has a gun. This is a fundamental breakdown of communication that has resulted in a man’s death. The officer who is shot continues to attempt to take Aguilar into custody demanding he give up the gun. Aguilar yells that he has no gun. The officer who has been shot has no idea that it is his partner that shot him.
NOEL AGUILAR Wrongful Death Report
The shooting officer fires once again, failing to notify his injured partner that he has fired a second shot. The injured officer, believing that Aguilar has a hidden firearm, shoots several shots into his body killing him. The video is horrifying. The only thing more horrifying is the blatant breakdown in communication and subsequent hand wringing of the local district attorney. The video clearly contradicts the story provided in the wrongful death report. Many times in use of force situations, police have to back track and revise their memory so it fits legal articulation. A technique I like to call creative articulation. A horrific incident like this can be wrapped nice and neat with a bow on it, if police use the correct wording of any given incident. My conclusion is that one officer screwed up big time, failed to communicate it to his partner, and his partner who was already shot, killed the man who he thought was actively trying to kill him.
The worst part of this case and cases like it, is that if a simple ex-beat cop like myself can dissect the bullshit from this video, so can the district attorneys who reviewed it. This demonstrates a pattern of cover-up by people who do in fact know better. Legal standards for police use of force and fatal shootings exist, and they are just. It is time we hold police and district attorneys to the standards of which they have already have set for themselves.
Sheriffs Caught EXECUTING UNARMED Man Then Planting Gun On Him
This is why cops disgust me… They are really taking this “power” thing too far.