Whenever I read about something like this, it really gets under my skin. Two incidents stand out in my mind from 7 to 8 years ago. Both of them involved cops in Connecticut. As I begin to write this, I can feel my blood pressure rising...
The first was New Milford, CT police officer Scott Smith incident in December of 1998. The Pro-Goblin Lobby went into full force over this incident, and even to this day it is very difficult to get the whole truth. The condensed version of the story was that the suspect was shot in the back. Period. Officer Smith was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison. He fought it, but after years of fighting, gave up and agreed to never work as an LEO again, and to serve a greatly reduced sentence. Even now, if I look for information, I get things like this entry in the 'stolenlives.org' site (which is a typical example):
Mr. Reid was shot in the back and killed by a white cop, New Milford Police Officer Scott Smith, after a foot chase and an alleged “scuffle.” The victim was unarmed and on his knees when he was shot at close range (possibly point-blank range). Mr. Reid was described in the press as a “convicted sex offender...wanted by police for failure to appear on a number of charges.” His family said he planned to turn himself in. Officer Smith justified the shooting, saying he feared for his life when the victim allegedly made a sudden motion. Officer Smith was charged with murder, a first for an on-duty police shooting in Connecticut. He was released on $250,000 bail and put on paid leave until the case is resolved. Mr. Reid is survived by his girlfriend, three children and his parents. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. His mother said, “This is a brutal thing. This could have been avoided.” His girlfriend said, “He was unarmed; they shot him the back. He was going to turn himself in.” Mr. Reid’s death was the second fatal police shooting in Connecticut in three days.
Allow me to paint a sharper picture:
"...New Milford Police Officer Scott Smith, after a foot chase ..."Reid ran into the middle of a highway during the lunch hour rush, likely knowing that the officer couldn't use deadly force, and was at a high risk of being run over. I know Rt. 202 in New Milford, it's a busy road. It's hard enough to take a left out onto it during periods of heavy traffic, much less cross it on foot.
"...an alleged “scuffle”..."The officer was attempting to handcuff the suspect using one hand (his pistol in the other) when he fired on Reid. There were no witnesses to the "scuffle", but there were witnesses after the shot was fired, and Reid had his hands out in front of him, not in cuffs. Apparently Reid didn't want to be arrested after all. Not a good choice when a police officer is standing over you, pointing a loaded weapon at your back.
"... The victim was unarmed and on his knees when he was shot at close range..."Reid was not on unarmed, he was carrying a folding knife. Officer Smith recounted that Reid was reaching in his pocket for something. I find it amazing that the court can read minds, and determine that Officer Smith shot Reid just for the hell of it, but it is entirely beyond reason that Reid -- who up to the point was resistant to arrest and had attempted to stab other officers -- had decided to reach for his weapon. According to the court's findings, Reid was not on his knees, he was prostrate, as procedure requires.
"...Mr. Reid was described in the press as a 'convicted sex offender...wanted by police for failure to appear on a number of charges...'It makes it sound like he had porn on his PC and he skipped out on a few court dates for speeding tickets. Reid was technically an illegal alien from Jamaica, who was in the process of being deported because of his felony record. He had been sentenced to five years in prison 1995, but was let out after 28 months. He had a record which included assault, sexual assault, weapon violations, and was a registered sex offender. He was a real charmer, who beat his girlfriend, and threatened to kill his own mother with a gun, knife and an axe on different occasions. He had previously stabbed someone in New Milford. He was known for resisting arrest, and the NMPD were familiar with his behavior, since he had attempted to stab a NMPD officer when he was arrested in May of the same year. He threatened to kill his
parole officer three months before he was shot by Officer Smith. This is by no means even
close to a complete account of Reid's criminal record.
At the time of the incident, Reid had
FIVE outstanding warrants for his arrest, and according to the New Milford Spectrum, the warrants were issued for
"two counts of probation violation on a past felony sexual assault convictions, failure to appear for six counts of harassment second degree, failure to appear on charges of sexual assault third degree, assault second degree, breach of peace and threatening his probation officer.""...His family said he planned to turn himself in..."Yeah, sure. That's probably why he had accumulated five outstanding warrants, was violating his parole when spotted, and attempted to ditch the car (he wasn't supposed to be driving) and bugged out when he realized he was recognized.
To understand why I am upset, you need to understand some other things from my perspective. During the fiasco with Officer Scott Smith, radio and TV was literally inundated with news about the arrest and trial of Smith. They
never once failed to mention that he shot someone in the back, and they never gave any details about Reid (who was always the "suspect" or the "victim"). News coverage was steeply slanted toward the victim, in fact, I can't even recall the news including any testimony from anyone who was supportive of Smith. It went on for a year like this!
Within a year from that incident, there was the outright, cold-blooded
murder of Office Brian Aselton of the East Hartford PD. On January 23, 1999, Officer Aselton responded to a call about a noise complaint in a building. Aselton poked around outside, and finding nothing, entered. Upon entering, a man came running down the hallway. Officer Aselton attempted to slow him down to question him. Instead of talking, the man pulled out a gun and shot Officer Aselton in the face, killing him.
The news coverage lasted until the murderer, Alex Sostre, was apprehended three days later. It was nowhere near the intensity of coverage for the Reid incident, and was not filled with emotional accounts from friends and family. The story was quickly swept under the rug, and when a Brain A. Aselton Memorial event happens every year, it only gets brief, stiff, and unemotional mention on the news, if it gets a mention at all. While Reid (and fellow felons or cop killers) get immortalized by perveted hero-worship in the media, Officer Aselton gets a stretch of highway named after him. The hero-worship I see about Aselton comes from his own friends and family, noticeably un-amplified by the media at large, compared to the goblins who get national attention amidst alarmist stories about rising rates of police brutality.
The difference between the reporting of these two events contributed to my total disgust for the popular media, which eventually lead me to simply stop watching TV starting four years ago. If there ever was a capital offense for which a quickly-delivered death penalty is justified, the murder of Officer Aselton is it. Guess who didn't receive the death penalty.
That's for reading. This has bothered me for many years, and I had to get that off my chest.
