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Twelve-year-old boy was shot by West Memphis officer - 6/26/2007 2:44:55 PM

slaveboyforyou

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http://thecommercialappeal.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_5602727,00.html

FBI investigating case in child's killing

Twelve-year-old boy was shotby West Memphis officer
By Chris Conley
June 26, 2007
Arkansas State Police on Monday began giving the FBI information on the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy by West Memphis police, officials said.
DeAuntae Farrow died Friday night after he was twice shot by an undercover officer on a surveillance detail in the Steeplechase Apartments south of Interstate 40 and east of Ingram Boulevard.
West Memphis police asked the ASP to investigate the shooting, since it involved an officer.
"Today we began sharing information with the FBI," said ASP spokesman Bill Sadler.
The FBI will decide within a few days whether to officially open a civil rights investigation, but probably will, spokesman Steve Frazier said. "It is unlikely that we wouldn't," he said, since the incident involves a minor and a police officer.
The FBI typically conducts a preliminary investigation and submits it to the Justice Department, which decides whether to launch a full investigation.
Witnesses have given diverging accounts of the shooting, and state police were questioning numerous potential witnesses, including a 14-year-old boy who was with Farrow at the time of the shooting, and a second officer at the scene, Sadler said.
West Memphis police said the officer mistook a toy gun in the boy's hand for the real thing and fired in self-defense.
Family members and some claiming to be witnesses said the boy was not holding a toy gun, but rather a CD player, a drink, or a bag of chips.
West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert said he saw the toy gun, which he described as a silver semi-automatic pistol.
Evidence, presumably including the toy gun, was collected by West Memphis crime scene officers and turned over to the state police.
The officer who fired the shots, a 10-year veteran, has been relieved of duty with pay pending the results of the investigation. The two officers were on a surveillance detail following reported crimes in the area, police said.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Paudert declined to name the officer and said the officer received death threats after the shooting.
Paudert said that, coupled with fake 911 calls and threats called into the police department, forced officers to ride two to a car over the weekend, AP reported.
"The problem is there is so much speculation in the community about what happened and they are totally wrong," the chief told AP.
"If they would just allow the state police and FBI to complete their investigation, we would know what happened."

< Message edited by slaveboyforyou -- 6/26/2007 2:46:04 PM >

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RE: Twelve-year-old boy was shot by West Memphis officer - 6/26/2007 3:08:43 PM

Alumbrado

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quote:

....Witnesses have given diverging accounts of the shooting

Sounds like a ton of uninformed speculation to come...

(in reply to slaveboyforyou)

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RE: Twelve-year-old boy was shot by West Memphis officer - 6/27/2007 1:44:56 PM

wwwkevinww

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there isn't much to say regarding this incident, you really don't want to jump to conclusions and I'm sure the investigation will turn up more.....

whether there is a toy gun that looks realistic is really at the crux of this incident, another is the mental condition of the officer, since the motivation of someone with a gun is important.

I had someone held a gun on me, actually several times, and although I don't like people pointing guns at me, I knew that although the guns were real, I was in some danger but not iminent, because of the motivations of the people holding the guns and the context of the situations.....

With regard to toy guns, some do look very realistic, unless you touch them you cannot even tell if its plastic or metal often.....

its really a bad idea to bother owning a toy gun that looks realistic, for anyone, and they should outlaw them and stop making them....

it was mentioned in the news about a toy gun with a orange tip easy to remove, that besides the orange tip looks very very realistic and these guns can get innocents shot by police who are concerned for their lives.....

no one likes gun being pointed at them.......

there are many key things missing in this story, including context and situation about why the police officer thought he was in iminent danger from the 12 year old...

(in reply to Alumbrado)

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