Careful, out there, if in a situation where you've used force against someone (robbery, home invasion, whatever). You might well get taken for "the bad guy" in the situation.
Here's a case of "mistaken identity" in which police heard shots in a home, entered, saw "a dead body lying on the bathroom floor, and assumed he was a victim of the invasion.
A Vietnam vet kills an intruder. Then, cops show up and shoot him dead by mistake @ CNN.com, 3 August 2018.
Excerpt:
(CNN)A case of mistaken identity left a man dead after protecting his family from an invader.
Officers were dispatched to an Aurora, Colorado home around 1:30 Monday morning. They heard gunshots coming from inside the house, according to Aurora Police Department Chief Nick Metz.
Upon entering, officers saw a dead body lying on the bathroom floor, and assumed he was a victim of the invasion. Then, Metz said, they saw Richard "Gary" Black, 73, standing in the living room --- alive --- and armed. He was perceived as the perpetrator, so they opened fire.
But Black was not the invader. He lived there.
... Then, shots rung out from inside. Black emerged shortly after, with a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
Standing by the front door, within 15 to 20 feet of Black, officers commanded Black to drop the weapon and put his hands up several times.
"We don't know why, but for whatever reason, Mr. Black did not drop the gun," Metz said.
Black raised the flashlight, and it was then that an officer fired four rounds at him, he said.
...
Few details, so far.
Questions I've got:
- How much time elapsed between the time LEOs initially engaged the resident, to the time they commanded him to drop his tools and raise his hands, to the time they fired upon the resident?
- Was the raising of the flashlight by the resident clearly seen as only a flashlight being raised, or part of a change in the threat dynamic sufficient to cause lawful concern over loss of life and limb by the officers?
At least one lesson to be learned: remain aware of your surroundings, including the need to engage safely and correctly with inbound LEOs, doing everything necessary to be seen as the good guy in that encounter, while being fully prepared to be initially seen as a bad guy.
Rough situation.
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Originally Posted by Nakyak
