Gang Beatdown
by digby
The victim was a 16 year old burglar, who was convicted. And the court refused to allow the tape into evidence because it would be prejudicial.
But that’s not the worst story I’ve heard this week about police violence:
A Goodwater police officer shot a defendant twice inside the municipal courthouse Thursday after the man became unruly in response to a jail sentence, eyewitnesses said.
Struck by at least one bullet, the man, identified by witnesses as Brian Keith Ford, was taken by helicopter to the hospital at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, where he was in critical condition.
Court records show that Ford, 25, was due in court on a harassment charge filed by a neighbor who claimed he cursed at her in December after accusing her of talking to police about him.
The Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) is investigating the shooting. The initial investigation indicates that the man attacked the judge and tried to forcibly obtain a firearm, according to a Bureau statement.
Eyewitnesses said the man was on crutches and became belligerent when Municipal Judge Carlton Teel sentenced him to jail on a misdemeanor harassment charge.
Attorney Bill Denson said Ford went for the judge’s gun before being shot.
[…]
Sara Williams said she was sitting in the front row when the man, whom she knew, got agitated after the judge fined him $800. He waved one of his crutches in the air.
“The police were hollering for him to get down” when an officer opened fire, she said.
Another woman who said she was in the courtroom at the time of shooting also disputes the official version of what happened.
“That man never went for no gun,” Marion Allen said.
The guy was on crutches.
Unless the judge was wearing his gun over his robe or kept it on the top of the bench I don’t see how this suspect could have known he had one to try to grab. But he was carrying a deadly weapon –a crutch. There was obviously no way that law enforcement could have done anything else but shoot into a crowded courtroom. Like tackle the man. Who was on crutches.
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