Title: Oops! Graphic Video Released Showing Cop Kill Elderly Librarian During a Police Demo Source:
Free Thought Project URL Source:http://thefreethoughtproject.com/vi ... librarian/#f0adPq76o2gU4WPS.99 Published:Apr 21, 2017 Author:Claire Post Date:2017-04-23 14:01:41 by Deckard Keywords:None Views:1906 Comments:7
Punta Gorda, FL — She only intended to support police — whose collective, national reputation has been sullied by countless questionable killings — so, Mary Knowlton attended the Citizens Academy to try and understand the dangers of policing firsthand.
Instead, the 73-year-old retired librarian discovered too late why the pervasive fear of law enforcement in the United States is not only perfectly justified, it’s sound advice — Punta Gorda Police Officer Lee Coel fatally shot Knowlton during a demonstration for which she volunteered — because the inexcusably inept cop had loaded live instead of blank rounds in his firearm.
Coel and Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis have both been charged over the August 9, 2016, shooting — the former has pled not guilty to felony first-degree manslaughter, the latter, with second-degree misdemeanor culpable negligence.
Now, local network WINK has obtained video of the tragic shooting — which shows moments of confusion and shock in the aftermath of Coel’s demonstration gone horrifically awry.
Designed to be a training scenario for dozens of civilians attending the Academy’s session, Coel sported a face mask and hooded sweatshirt to give the appearance of a thug — Knowlton ironically volunteered to play the role of victim.
Emerging from the crowd of 35 civilian pupils, Knowlton takes her position as instructed for Coel’s demonstration. When Knowlton raises the blue simulation gun, loaded with “soap bullets,” the officer fires — and she immediately crumples to the ground.
Moments tick by without any movement from the crowd of shocked onlookers, Coel, nor any of the other officers present for the supposedly safe “shoot, don’t shoot” demonstration — until Coel abruptly grasps something amiss and rushes to Knowlton, additional officers quickly follow.
Gary Knowlton, the victim’s husband — and most of the civilian attendees, according to a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — thought his wife had simply acted the part of the thug’s shooting victim.
“I was maybe 10 feet away from her and watched this patrolman who was the bad guy aim right at her and shoot,” the widow explained, according to the FDLE report, which was released in March. “She went down and we thought that was part of the show.”
As video continues, a swarm of Punta Gorda police attend to Knowlton and summon paramedics to the scene.
“He turned her over and she looked horrible, blood all over the place, and I thought, ‘Oh my God,’” Knowlton continued. “There was maybe five people who were trying to help her, pushing her stomach and stuff like that.”
FDLE investigated and found Coel did not intend to shoot or kill Knowlton — but several seemingly pertinent details revealed in a report still raise numerous suspicions as to how the now-terminated officer came to have live rounds of ammunition in his weapon — and how he managed to retain a position on the force, at all.
Punta Gorda police Lt. Katie Heck said in the FDLE report she “probably” gave Coel a box of lethal ammunition, instead of the “similar in shape and size” blank rounds as would be needed for the exercise — though neither round resembled those found in his service weapon — likely because the cop used his personal .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver.
Prior to killing Knowlton, Coel received sharp rebuke from a local attorney for allowing his K-9 partner to brutalize a man — for riding his bicycle without appropriate lights.
Whatever the reason live rounds pierced the elderly librarian’s flesh, the irony in this tragedy is not lost on the innumerable scores of friends and relatives, whose loved ones have been killed by the same police the State expects its citizens to trust.
Knowlton believed in police — albeit, more likely the specter of Mr. Protect-and-Serve, Officer Friendly — but paid the ultimate price in the unlikeliest of circumstances, while seeking to prove acerbic criticism of law enforcement officers wrong.
“My mom was a saint,” Knowlton’s son, Steven, toldCBS This Morning in a statement shortly after her untimely death. “Such a tremendous loss of a wonderful human being and the best mom a kid could ever hope for.”
A cop that should have been fired long ago, according to a Florida attorney who is suing the Punta Gorda Police Department over the dog mauling incident.
“I’ve been saying for months that this guy was going to kill somebody and now he has killed somebody,” attorney Scott Weinberg said during a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime Wednesday.
“Everybody had been put on notice that he was a loose cannon, that he should not have had a badge and a gun. The city, the state attorney and the police department knew he was not mentally fit to serve the public.”Weinberg sent PINAC a document showing that 37 percent of Coel’s cases have been dismissed, which he calls an “astronomical number.”
Most cops have between five to seven percent of their cases dismissed, he explained.
“The state attorney dismissed those cases because he either violated procedure or somebody’s Constitutional rights,” Weinberg said.
Coel was hired by the Punta Gorda Police Department in 2014 after he was allowed to resign from the Miramar Police Department in South Florida for excessive force.
Bad cops tend to float from one PD to the next. Why anyone hires them is beyond me.
I've written of this a number of times.
The Punta Gorda police officer who shot and killed a 73-year-old woman during a citizen academy role playing session
I predict attendance at the Citizen Academy will plummet.
Bad cops tend to float from one PD to the next. Why anyone hires them is beyond me.
Because cities need police bodies and really are to a point that they will take anyone. This really comes down to police are ask to do too much by politicians.
This has always been my gripe is that we ask to much so they are always under staffed. Basically a jobs program. Then they are allowed to retire at 25 years and get full pension.
We really just have a broken system and im not sure how you fix it when there are too many hands in the pot wanting more and more. Tax payer always loses.
This is basic, basic gun safety stuff this cop violated. The police should probably not even have blank rounds in inventory as just having them contributed to this fatality by causing confusion via a false sense of safety. All rounds should be considered lethal, and in fact, even some blank bullets can be fatal at close range. Brandon Lee was killed by a blank round, though it was because there was a bullet lodged in the barrel that the shooter didn't know about which the blank fatally ejected. But even the blast from a blank can be fatal without a projectile at very close range.
The cop should not have been handling a real gun during the demonstration, but given he was, he should never have pointed it directly at the woman, but given he did that as well, he should have never actually pulled the trigger. There is so much negligence at so many points in this killing.
If police responsibilities were reduced to dealing with real crimes instead of criminalized victimless activities and some traffic enforcement like seatbelts and such, it would certainly help.
Coel was hired by the Punta Gorda Police Department in 2014 after he was allowed to resign from the Miramar Police Department in South Florida for excessive force.
Where is the crowd that will tell us this lady deserved it, and that the cop was a brave "hero", and that he should be given a medal ? Oh, and thank God he went home safe.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
Never Pick A Fight With An Old Man He Will Just Shoot You He Can't Afford To Get Hurt
I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
