Now ye're talking - to a US police officer Part II

Bryant's death is a tragedy regardless of the circumstances.

I've watched the open source video's in public domain, and while I'm reluctant to draw conclusions from just the few I've seen as I wasn't there and there is always more information than what is readily available.

Based on what I saw, I don't know the officer could have done much different. He was presented with a crowd, the usual shouting, a disturbance more or less in front of him and then Bryant has a go with someone with a knife.

Despite what is perceived in the movies/TV, a knife is a deadly weapon and the police are authorized under law to use deadly force to counter deadly force regardless of who it is directed at. Looking at the angles & distances from the video, it looks to me at best borderline for a tazer, so I don't know what else he could have done.

There is a lot of media attention on as the victim is black and the officer is white. Sadly, its getting swept up in the George Floyd/Brianna Taylor shootings media frenzy and it's shifting the focus from any kind of objectivity. Based on what I saw, I don't know what else he could have done to prevent her from stabbing someone.

Sad.

Well I didn't see the show, so I can only speculate. it is not impossible the officer didn't have Probable Cause to go further and investigate if the driver was intoxicated or not. merely having drink in the car is not a crime outside (in TX) of carrying an open container in the vehicle.

We have a zero tolerance for DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), and as in all things, first I need Probable Cause (PC) to pull you over, which is generally a traffic violation. Then I need PC to determine if I can administer the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) which is the walk, turn, etc. If I smell alcohol on your breath, you have slurred speech, bloody or glassy eyes, then I can administer the test. If I can't clearly articulate that, I'm on shaky legal ground. Telling me you had a drink is not grounds, without PC for further investigation.

If you fail the SFST, then I have grounds for arrest, you'll be taken downtown, I'll get a warrant, medics draw your blood (we have nurses & paramedics working in the jail), breathalyze you and administer another SFST on video. (roadside one was taped too of course). All this is to show a jury you were in fact intoxicated.

In TX its an automatic license suspension for 120 days, and fighting this will cost you about $10-15K in court & lawyer fees, car towed, etc. After personal injury lawyers, this is the second biggest cohort of attorneys in the legal profession (i.e. DWI specialists).

Honestly its a huge problem, we have specialist units who this is all they do, and we surge over the holidays but the scale of the problem is enormous. I think our laws could be stronger myself. It's 100% preventable, especially with Uber & Lyft sort of thing.

To administer the SFST the officer has to attend a week long course with a refresher every two years. The class includes an "alcohol lab" where you bring a mate who gets to drink so you can practice the test. Naturally a designated driver is required :-)


Texas law is as follows:

First offense
Up to a $2,000 fine. Up to 180 days in jail upon conviction with three mandatory days. Loss of driver license up to a year.

Second offense
Up to a $4,000 fine. One month to a year in jail upon conviction. Loss of driver license up to two years.

Third offense
A $10,000 fine. Two to 10 years in prison. Loss of driver license up to two years.

These fines do not include a state fine of $3,000, $4,500, or $6,000 assessed upon sentencing.

Drunk driving with a child passenger

You will be charged with child endangerment if you're driving drunk with children under 15. You will be additionally fined up to $10,000.
You could be put in jail for up to two years. You will lose driver's license for another 180 days.

We had a murder the last shift I worked. We get a call for "shots fired", head over to the address (lights & sirens). 13 year old called to say her mum was shot outside. Get there, victim is outside on the drive in couple of rounds to the chest, 32 yo female. Partner starts first aid, which becomes CPR. I'm looking for the suspect, he's nowhere to be found. Finally get from a family member it's her ex-boyfriend, get a name , description & type of car.

EMS & fire show up to take over the medical part, sadly its a pronouncement on scene, no transport. We are setting up a perimeter, have K-9 and the helicopter searching for the suspect. We get his phone number and start tracking it, looks like he's miles away in the southern part of the city. NOTE: tracking cell phones is not exact, more of a general area sort of thing, so the heli is looking for the car by type & location.

At this point it's a crime scene. SGT calls in Crime Scene & the on call detectives. I get to start sealing off the area, partner is corralling up witnesses, separating people so we can start getting statements, identification and so on. Victim Services arrive to take care of the hysterical family, trying to console them and help them understand the victim is dead and we now have a job to do. Its never pretty, victim covered in a sheet on the drive in, crime scene tape, can't go into their house, noise, activity, cops everywhere, lights, etc. Crime Scene show up (been about an hour at this point), thankfully we can turn the scene over to them and the detectives who arrived about the same time.

Once life saving measures have stopped, everyone backs away from the crime scene, and we secure it until the detectives get there. Anyone who enters is logged in & out, they wear the bunny suits, the lot (to preserve evidence). Now they can pop the tent over the victim, and make things a little less obvious. Takes them about 90 minutes to do their thing, pictures, evidence, found a few shell casings, then the ME can remove the body for the autopsy.

We're a few hours into in at this point (we keep water & snacks in our cars), probably spoken to 8 people, all of whom have to be identified, get their statements, take notes. We've canvassed for video, identified what might be available for the detectives later.

As we're winding down, meet up with SGT, LT & Detectives to go over details, then we release the scene. I spend the next two hours writing a report, getting all the details entered, ensuring the crime scene logs are good, got everyone's name & badge number, drop all the paperwork off. Was supposed to get off at midnight, finally stumbled home at 0530.

While I was typing my life away, the heli & patrol had tracked the car to a house. SWAT gets called in, they sit on the house for a while as they determine who else may be in there and is the suspect even in here. He could have just parked the car there and legged it. Through intelligence they find out it's his brothers house, and as best they can determine, no family in there. They call him, negotiator talks to him for a bit, he agrees to come out quietly. He gets nicked, SWAT clears the house, then secures it. One of the detectives writes a search warrant, gets that approved by the duty judge, they go back in, find a gun in the back garden.

Suspect is booked in, taken to interview room, waives his Miranda rights, and agrees to talk. Detectives talk with him for two hours, he confesses to killing his ex girlfriend because he was jealous of her seeing some other bloke. Detectives write the paperwork, he's formally charged in front of the judge, no bail, off he goes to contemplate 25 years in prison, he's 24. He'll leave the pen an old man. The victim had a 13 and 8 year old kid, so their life is scarred too.

They still have to do the autopsy, process evidence, build a case, re-interview witnesses, get a warrant and search his car, process his clothing for residue, process him for residue (that happens right away in the jail). In about 6 months the DA will review the case, make a decision about a trial. Then, probably about 18 months from now, it'll go to trial.

And so it goes. It had been a quiet shift, two burglary calls, a car-jacking and a domestic which another unit took the report on. Life in the big city, eh?