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Title: Angry, Upset Cop Kills Shocked, Unarmed Man Face Down on the Ground Over Expired Inspection Stickers; Naturally, Acquitted of All Charges
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2015/11/06/ ... t-cop-kills-shocked-unarmed-ma
Published: Nov 6, 2015
Author: Brian Doherty
Post Date: 2015-11-09 09:54:59 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 2213
Comments: 25
Ed Krayewski blogged about this shooting when it happened earlier this year. Officer Lisa Mearkle of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, was hunting David Kassick through the Pennsylvania snow as if he were a frightened deer. Why was this paladin of public safety doing this? Because she saw Kassick had an expired inspection and emission test stickers on his car. When she tried to pull him over for it he kept driving, eventually to his sister's house, then got out of the car and continued to try to move toward safety for himself and not quietly let her apprehend him. She tased him, he was writhing on the ground, she screamed at him loud and long about showing his hands and not moving and then she shot him twice in the back, killing him. He had no weapon and pointed nothing at her. She was acquitted this week on charges of third-degree murder and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Associated Press insists in its report that "Kassick's hands repeatedly disappeared underneath his body as Mearkle screamed at him to keep them where she could see them and then fired the fatal shots." Upon charging her, District Attorney Ed Marisco believed the video supported an indictment: "At the time Officer Mearkle fires both rounds from her pistol, the video clearly depicts Kassick lying on the snow covered lawn with his face toward the ground," according to the arrest affidavit. "Furthermore, at the time the rounds are fired nothing can be seen in either of Kassick's hands, nor does he point or direct anything toward Officer Mearkle." You can watch the video yourself at this site. I don't find the AP's version unambiguously correct, if only because the video did not always show Kassick's body. Certainly he was at times trying to show his hands, though also going through the understandably felt need to just seek something like comfort as his body reacted to electric shock**. There was at least one point where for a half-second one hand was clearly not visible to Mearkle, and then it was again, with no weapon in it Mearkle didn't seem to be moving to where her visual angle on the downed victim would satisfy her desire to be exactly sure where his hands were at all times. I guess reasonable people could differ on whether there was any reason at all to think Kassick could have been any threat at all, but it is abundantly clear from Mearkle's voice and behavior that she was by no means at that point a reasonable person. She had been hunting a human like an animal through his family's property and shocking him for no reason any sane person could see as reasonable. I guess when you consider it your job to do that to people (she presumably at this point had the vehicle driving with its fatal expired emission and inspection sticker's license plate and could pursue the vital to public safety task of ticketing him through other more peaceful means), you might on occasion get a bit high strung and worry that, hmm, maybe this guy I just chased and tasered and is writhing on the ground because I'm hunting him with weapons drawn and screaming at him like a bloody insane banshee might try to hurt me. Even though I can see no evidence of this, I should just kill him. Surely a jury will think that makes sense. And because she's a cop, they did. Mearkle even complained on the stand that her even being charged was politically motivated. **CORRECTION: The post originally misused the term "electrocute" three times to describe what happened to Kassick. That term properly means to kill with electricity, not merely to shock.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 21.
#8. To: Deckard (#0)
The video at no time shows the cop under any sort of threat. I think she got away with manslaughter. Running away from a cop isn't punishable by death.
No it isn't. According to the headline, he was killed because he had expired inspection stickers.
Running away from a cop isn't punishable by death, but expired inspection stickers is? This case boils down to one thing the cops have over their sheeple. They are willing to KILL over a suspended license, seat belt violation, expired smog inspection, Americans who think they are Patriots are not even willing to bear arms if the State takes their child away because the child was allowed to "play free range".
When you find that story, be sure to post it.
Someone died over an expired smog sticker.... It is absolutely easy to see that the police kill at least once a month for traffic violations. They just say "resisting arrest" and that gives them the right. Watch the show "Cops" and you'll see how blatant they are in their tactics, it is no wonder people try and run from them. "You mind if we search your car?" If the people answer yes I do, they get cuffed and made to wait for a warrant. "Do you know you have a tail light out"? Then they escalate a situation to a drug bust. Just being caught driving without insurance can cost thousands, or your life if you try and get away. Sorry, but in a time when bankers steal trillions, but lack of insurance nabs you a fine around 10% of many peoples yearly wages, I no longer respect the law.
Not at all. He died because he got out of bed. Right? Pffft! Numbnuts died because he fled the police, resisted arrest, and failed to show his hands. "Do you know you have a tail light out"? Then they escalate a situation to a drug bust." That happened to me. But it wasn't escalated to a drug bust. I don't do drugs. I just got a warning for the light. "Just being caught driving without insurance can cost thousands" Which is one reason I have insurance (the other is that it's required by law). Who would be so stupid to drive without insurance? "Sorry, but in a time when bankers steal trillions, but lack of insurance nabs you a fine around 10% of many peoples yearly wages" So suspend all traffic laws until we arrest all the bankers?
What happened to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"? Does the cop get to remove that right because he fled? I thought this type of punishment was meant for the jury to decide... There is a serious disconnect when someone says the man deserves to die because he tried "flee the police". That is simply NOT justification to kill. I am sure Judge Dredd would disagree, but we are not living in totalitarian mega-buildings with cop/judge/jury all-in-one running around carrying out sentences. Yet. Keep cheering it on, Mr. White, and your wish might come true.
Alive and well in the good ol' US of A. "Does the cop get to remove that right because he fled?" Because he fled, resisted arrest, and failed to show his hands. As I said. "There is a serious disconnect when someone says the man deserves to die because he tried "flee the police". You're the one saying that, not me. I never said he deserved to die. I said he "died because he fled the police, resisted arrest, and failed to show his hands".
#23. To: misterwhite (#21)
I will concede that you did not write the word [deserves]. I was trying to point out the concepts you seem to fail to understand. ............................................. Can you run by me the causal relationship of a person dying being a direct result of "fleeing and failing to show hands"? I would be interested in knowing. If there is a direct correlation, I will make sure that my son never plays hide-and-seek because the same could happen to him... /sarc The argument I propose is that there is no level of due process when a non-combatant is executed because the police office detects danger. It is as if they did not sign up for a dangerous job. Hell, if that was the case, why didn't they let me shoot anyone I please while I was in Iraq? It is kind of sad when the U.S. military can run on a tighter set of "rules of engagement" that the ordinary "peace officer". "Running from the police" is not a capital crime. "Not showing hands" is not a capital crime. Those two combined is still do not constitute a capital crime. Perhaps crimes committed in conjunction with those two might warrant some need for increased force for arrest, but committed due to minor offenses is nowhere near worthy of the level of force the man received. Only morons would think that is OK to shoot someone because you "can't see their hands". Unfortunately, we have a vast contingent of morons who also happen to be registered voters, and that is also the list they use to draft jury members.
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#10. To: Don (#8)
"Running away from a cop isn't punishable by death."
#13. To: misterwhite (#10)
#16. To: jeremiad (#13)
"They are willing to KILL over a suspended license, seat belt violation, expired smog inspection ..."
#17. To: misterwhite (#16)
#18. To: jeremiad (#17)
"Someone died over an expired smog sticker...."
#20. To: misterwhite (#18)
Pffft! Numbnuts died because he fled the police, resisted arrest, and failed to show his hands.
#21. To: TheFireBert (#20)
"What happened to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"?
Replies to Comment # 21. I said he "died because he fled the police, resisted arrest, and failed to show his hands".
"What happened to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"?
Alive and well in the good ol' US of A.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 21.
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