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Denver cops shot the wrong man 50 times, but it's OK...


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because they feared for their lives.  This happened in March but dashcam footage was just released yesterday.  Video in link.

Denver police released body cam footage Tuesday of a March 2018 shooting that left the wrong suspect dead.

Three Denver cops mistakenly thought they were pursuing an attempted murder suspect who had escaped jail on March 19 when they opened fire on 27-year-old Steven Nguyen's SUV, killing him.

Nguyen was shot almost 50 times.

Nguyen's passenger 23-year-old Rafael Landeros was wounded, but survived the shooting.

It turned out, they shot the wrong guys.

The suspect, Mauricio Venzor-Gonzalez, who was on the lam from attempted murder charges after shooting at a police officer in November before escaping jail, was not inside the SUV.

In fact, police had mistakenly identified Nguyen as Venzor-Gonzalez when they began pursuing Nguyen.

https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
 

Venzor-Gonzalez, 23, had been arrested earlier in the year after shooting at the officer, according to the Denver Post.

Even though Denver police officers William Bohm, Austin Barela and Susan Mercado shot the wrong people while looking for Venzor-Gonzalez, Denver Police Commander Barb Archer, declared the shooting justified because the officers believed they were actually pursuing Venzor-Gonzalez.

And since the people inside of the SUV did not follow orders, officers "feared for their safety."

"Officers knew that Venzor-Gonzalez had been arrested in November for attempting to kill a police officer," Archer said after watching the video.

"They believed the actions being made inside the car were efforts to locate a weapon. So fearing for their safety the officers fired.”

It happened as Denver police were monitoring Venzor-Gonzalez's home after he escaped from deputies at Denver Health hospital on March 18.

An SUV with two men inside circled the block near Venzor-Gonzalez's home.

Police believed the SUV to be Venzor-Gonzalez.

Officers were granted permission to pursue the SUV.

Nguyen fled, at times reaching speeds of around 100 MPH.

Video shows when officers stop the car, Nguyen and Landeros don't have much time to comply before officers open fire, spraying their SUV with bullets.

The SUV then rolls down an embankment where officers claim they could see the occupants looking for something inside.

And that, they say, prompted them to fire a second round of shots as the SUV comes to a stop.

"This level of excess is particularly egregious because it was fueled by a dispatch from detectives who could not positively identify the passenger in Steven’s car, but falsely reported ‘to a 100 percent certainty’ that he was an escapee wanted for shooting at police," Nguyen family attorney Spencer Bryan said in a statement

https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
Steven Nguyen

Watch footage of the incident, shown from three different body cam perspectives, above.

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not blaming the victims but why would they flee the police?  sounds like it was an intense car chase.  were the victims connected to the escaped murder suspect?

the converse to that, fleeing the police is justifiable cause for the police to fire 50 times at you?  what crimes did they commit other than fleeing from the police who incorrectly were pursuing them?

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32 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

not blaming the victims but why would they flee the police?  sounds like it was an intense car chase.  were the victims connected to the escaped murder suspect?

the converse to that, fleeing the police is justifiable cause for the police to fire 50 times at you?  what crimes did they commit other than fleeing from the police who incorrectly were pursuing them?

 

Victims should have watched the below video:

 

1 hour ago, bernorange said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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40 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Take their guns away. Can't be trusted.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

What? You want some fiend with a blunt to be able to get away?

You’re gonna force the boys in blue to work on their physical fitness. Every Planet Fitness gonna be grabbed as a forfeiture for official use.

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One thing about cops. They are among the most prodigious liars out there. Imagine working a job where hardly a day goes by where you don’t casually lie about something.

The job requires lying as far as most cops are concerned...and they do it with absolute ease.

I spent about five years picking the brains of several HPD SWAT guys and it profoundly changed the way I perceived law enforcement beforehand.

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I’ll never understand how a police officer expects someone to “show me your hands” or “get your hands up” after firing 20+ rounds into a car. I’ve never been shot but I’d imagine if I was shot once maybe 20 times the last thing I’m going to be able to do or think about doing is putting my hands where someone can see them. When they don’t see the hands in 5 seconds let’s go ahead and fire more rounds into the car like that’ll help see hands. 

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