Victoria Sharp was the 18-year old inside the pickup which carried the leaders of the group which occupied the bird refuge.
She related a story (click here and here for two versions) where Mr. Finicum took off from an FBI stop after they started shooting at him and then crashed into a show bank. He got out of the truck with his hands up when towards the OSP and said, just shoot me then. And the they did.
I watched the whole video.(Click here for Daily Mail article with link to video)
I think she is right.
He gets out, has his hands up. He may have reached towards his jacket but I don't think it's that clear. Then they just opened up on him. Looks like the guy behind the truck took a couple more shots. Then, they start throwing grenades and shooting at the truck which is buried in a snow bank and people can't get out on the passenger side.
It is not really that unusual. People who are law-abiding patriotic citizens are always amazed when the cops open up on them. They just never think it will happen to them.
I don't think releasing the video really does anything but reinforce opposing viewpoints. The people who were calling them freedom fighters will have their opinions confirmed by the video. People who want to believe they are terrorists will focus on the reach for the gun.
What people will ignore is that this is pretty much standard police procedure.
Nice old guys who have been pushed to a certain point of frustration have been shot by cops before. Do a search for police shootings and you will find them.
The bottom line is that they did not dare shoot anyone in the arrest. I think this will raise hatred of the government significantly. We are a very divided society, whether this is by design or ineptness I don't know. What I observe is videos of cops shooting Mexicans, black people, white people, and everyone blaming each other. No one thinks to question training or higher up agendas. No one suggest that the common issue is the gubment is shooting people. Nobody thinks that when they make it a felony to protest the gubment that they will be so upset with the aforementioned gubment that they will in fact become victims of their own laws and that the real terrorists will be welcomed with open arms and a blind eye while they go to jail.
Kind of a bitter irony.
In a side note,
I see a relative posting on Facebook about the destruction of a great historic building in portland. It could be Amon Bundy protesting about the gubment taking ranchers land. Pretty funny as that particular relative has a pretty selective view of what he considers gubment over-reach.
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You're correct in your apparent assumption that most of our minds were made up before the video.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have been more poetic if he would have gone down shooting. But I was uncomfortable with the whole protest with guns. It worked at the ranch because it was a gubment invasion of public property.
DeleteTaking over the bird sanctuary didn't communicate well.
The armed confrontation did not win hearts and minds of those who don't own ground.
Very interesting article!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us.!
This is an enlightening read:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article/malheur-standoff-puts-science-in-the-crosshairs/?WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20160129
As far as them shooting at the car, I will have to see the photos of the damage to believe it. Better to wait for the evidence than believe what either side says.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the full length unedited vid on youtube and the video quality is pretty poor to make judgement in my opinion. I thought I could see puffs of snow, or glass coming off the pickup truck possibly indicating bullets hitting it. Every day, somewhere in the world, somebody dies for what they believe in.
ReplyDeleteI think his separating himself from the vehicle and shouting "just shoot me" was meant to be protective of the other three occupants.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it looks like he may have steered outward and deeper into the snow to avoid hitting the police officer who seems to be jumping in front of the vehicle as he tries to go around the roadblock. He might have gotten around and back on the road if he hadn't done that, but would have killed the officer.
So he saved the lives of 4 people, including a police officer. That's how I'd write the myth.
I'm going to work on that mythology. I really thought he ran into the snowbank to avoid the cop.
DeleteIt was a poorly executed protest lacking widespread support and delivered an inarticulate message. Carrying guns while protesting is stupid. If the guy wasn't carrying a single action .45 he wouldn't have been shot. The police knew he always carried it. At a point the guys with badges are simply doing a job they may or may not want to do. The common sense rule of engagement is that if (as a law officer) you think someone is going to use deadly force you can shoot. I would agree that the video will support both interpretations. There are a lot of good cops and fewer bad cops. The country is full of bad guys; that's who the cops deal with most of the time. It's a tough job.
ReplyDelete