This is from Apr 5
The police shooting of Diante Yarber, a 26-year-old man who died after officers fired a barrage of bullets at his car in a crowded parking lot, is raising more questions about race and police use of lethal force.
Yarber was inside a car in a Walmart parking lot in Barstow, California, on April 5 when law enforcement officers arrived, according to a press release. They were responding to a call about a “suspicious vehicle” and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Yarber reportedly “reversed the vehicle and struck one of the patrol cars.” The release also stated that Yarber accelerated toward the officers and struck a second vehicle before officers opened fire on the car.
In a bystander’s recorded video, blurry footage shows the car being shot at as other people in the parking lot try to take cover. Witnesses have said that they heard as many as 30 shots. Afterward, Yarber was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other passengers, a man and a woman, were injured. A third man in the car was uninjured, according to the department press release.
“They saw a car full of people sitting in front of a Walmart, and they decided that was suspicious,” Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Yarber’s family, told the Guardian. “They just began pouring bullets … It’s irresponsible. It’s dangerous. It’s mind-boggling, the use of force.”
The officers believed that Yarber was a suspect in a recent stolen vehicle incident, according to the press release, but Yarber’s aunt told the Guardian that the vehicle officers fired at beed to a family member and was never reported stolen.
Dale Galipo, a lawyer representing Marian Tafoya, the woman injured in the vehicle, says that while police argue that the incident was an assault on an officer, the investigation has found that Yarber was unarmed and that officers were not in the path of the vehicle when they fired. Galipo notes that police training suggests that officers not fire at moving vehicles.
The shooting has angered community members, who question why officers fired on the car, killing the father of three. There have been local protests, but outside of the press release law enforcement has released few details about the incident. The officers have been placed on paid leave while the shooting is being investigated.
The Diante Yarber shooting raises questions about police use of force
The only way to stop this type of abuse of police officers against the people is for them to be charged with 2nd degree murder, go to court and do time if found guilty. Putting a killer cop on paid leave is actuallly encouraging more killer cops to continue with this abuse. BTW, was the victim black?
District attorneys won't press charges. His name was Diante Yarber....
Police officers are regarded as military and thus you hear them calling us civilians. The police are civilian but uniformed, not military or even paramilitary.
Police are not within the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The military are not civilians.. Where am I going with this?
If you have been done wrong by the police you can sue them as individuals (citizens) as they are not under the Uniform Code.Yes, it will be hard but they can come out guilty under a wrongful death lawsuit.
Unfortunately police are given military equipment so they get all buffed up, feeling immense power over civilians, but they forget they are civilian too. They only wear an uniform.
Posted by SkepticusJust following orders huh? What's JUST about that? So WHO IS MOST MORALLY CULPABLE DO YOU BELIEVE?