Fucking ridiculous. The kid didn’t speak English. He didn’t even speak Spanish. He was an Indigenous Mayan from Guatemala that only spoke a Mayan dialect. And this asshole cop decides to start searching him even though this poor teenager had no idea what was going on because of a lack of communication. The kid resists, the cop and two other cops knock him down, put him in a choke hold and taser him six times, then cuff him and put him in a squad car. At that point, the cop has a heart attack and keels over. Not during the struggle, but after the kid was choked, tasered, cuffed and put in a car. And yet the kid is facing murder charges.
Even the coroner admitted the kid wasn’t responsible:
The ABC reporter, who obtained a copy of Kunovich’s autopsy report, wrote that it said, “These cardiac changes, while recent, predate the struggle with the subject. The circumstances do not fully meet the criteria for a homicide manner of death.”
I don’t even understand how this could qualify for felony murder (which is what I’m assuming they’re going for; the article only somewhat talked about the charges), since it was natural causes and not homicide. Sure, you’ve got an argument for the first element of resisting an officer with violence, but the second element isn’t met; no one was killed.
This shock was swiftly followed by another. As a result of the crash, which all parties agreed was unintentional, two men stood accused of murdering his father and a friend who was cycling with him. One of those charged, twenty-five-year-old Sadik Baxter, had never laid eyes on the victims. At the moment of impact, he had been miles away, in handcuffs.
Recently, Ian spoke with me about the case while caring for his newborn daughter in Brooklyn; as we talked, he sometimes ran his hand down a thick beard he’d grown in homage to his dad. “It’s truly one of the cruellest ideas in the American legal system,” he said of felony murder. “And most people don’t even know it exists.”
In some states you can be charged for the death of someone during the commission of a felony. It is meant to be used for something like you and three people rob a bank and one of your crew shoots a guard. Even though you didn’t pull the trigger, you catch the charge.
You can be charged with a felony resisting arrest if the cop is hurt while arresting you. So they are trying to extend it to the cop having a heart attack due to the strain he exerted while the guy was resisting arrest.
Bullshit application of the law, cop was being a dick, kid shouldn’t have been here but didn’t deserve none of this.
Exactly. It’s Florida and he’s indigenous. That’s the only explanation here. He did nothing wrong except struggle. There’s no indication he physically harmed any of them. The cop claimed he went for a knife, but the knife he had on him was a small pocket knife that couldn’t have hurt the cop much even if he was attacked with it. Unless he started tasering the cop back while handcuffed in the squad car, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t responsible.
This whole situation is bullshit for that kid, but that knife absolutely could harm or kill someone. It has a blade over 2", which is a smaller blade, but more than enough to kill. A box cutter is enough to kill someone and most of those have about an inch of exposure. You don’t need a Ka-bar to kill someone, multiple major arteries and plenty of veins are accessible with a 2" knife for most bodies.
Couldn’t have happened to a better named hispaniard…now wait…what about Adacleto Arvelaes? Or Tetanacintio Espiriqueta? Oh Chupamelocio Del Pitopaez? Or MonSeniorpipirisnicio Delacuentalargadejesusmariayjosenoshandeacompaniar Y Pavon…Delacu for short.
Anyway poor guy, I hope Virgilio gets justice. Such a cool unique name can’t be let to fall into the cracks.
This is pretty fucked up. The dude died after the exchange was well over and it had nothing to do with any of the bullshit he just put that kid through for no reason.
Obviously not as extreme but certainly much more common are those charged with assaulting a police officer who hurts themselves beating the shit out of a cuffed person lying on the ground.
One example is the case of Tyrone Carnegay where an off-duty cop working security though Tyrone stole a tomato, only to beat the shit out of him and finding the receipt. Then he charged him with assaulting a police officer and obstruction. Maybe he sprained his wrist as he hit Tyrone's knees with a baton while yelling get on the ground without giving him a chance to comply. He also lied and said Tyrone went after his weapon which the camera shows that he did not.
As I recall, even though he was charged with assaulting the police officer and obstructing a police, once Tyrone sued them, the police department was like "Whoa, whoa, he wasn't a police officer at the time while wearing his uniform but he was working for Walmart." in a case of being Schrodinger's cop. Some justice was eventually served in this case, though it still falls very short in my opinion, but there are many that never made headlines and had much public support. I'm pretty sure if the camera wasn't there and if he stole the singular tomato, he would have gotten much more than the 5 years former officer King got. I also bet if it wasn't for the DOJ getting involved King would have done probation, if anything.
I find it beyond ridiculous that they are allowed to wear their police officer uniform while working private security. You should not be able to pay for police officer muscle. That uniform, and the authority that goes with it, is in service to the taxpaying public.
We see it in Canada all the time as well. And to add salt to the wound, taxpayers’ are also on the hook for even more money because those hours cops worked for private firms count towards their retirement pension. :(
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