My whole question is did he even actually point the gun? It was the SWAT team that showed up and discovered the gun on him, and that reported it was in his back pocket. If, for example, the wife of Greg Hill had entered the garage from inside the house (plenty of assumptions here) and moved the gun to his pocket, then I feel she would have been charged when they fingerprinted. I would still like an explanation as to how, after shooting him in the head, he decided he should put his unloaded gun away.
Also (and this is 100% purely my opinion) if the pics provided of the garage door are real and not some reproduction or something like that, by all indication, when they began to open fire, the garage door was closed (I'm almost certain police are not supposed to fire blind, it goes against basic gun safety) as well as intentionally aiming at a level that would be targeting the head (again, I believe they are trained to aim for Center of mass)
Looking at them a bit closer, it seems almost every picture actually has the garage door slightly open to elevate the apparent level at which the shots were taken. That last shot (I'm assuming it's the last shot or these police officers should have their guns taken away based on inability to aim) to the bottom is clearly excessive, there's no way he though he was shooting his foot or something. It strikes me more as a cop doing what he's told is the best result (I forget the exact phrasing but essentially it is better for the force if when they shoot someone, that someone dies)
Also I wouldn't necessarily call the guy an asshole. He was drunk as fuck. If someone was banging on my door -extremely aggressively I would guess if his music was that loud- I might grab a bat in a similar state (I'm assuming he didn't hear, or they didn't announce themselves, I know police wouldn't be screaming "Police!" Around here for a noise complaint.) If he did retrieve his gun, and interpreted a threat outside, he would already have drawn it (remember btw he never loaded it, that says quite a bit about the man's character, plenty of actual assholes walk around with a loaded gun and "+1 in the chamber").
Imagine drawing a gun, and upon opening your door the first thing you see is a police officer. Your first thought would probably be something along the lines of "Oh shit I'm about to die." Should he have shut the door? No, but he was drunk.
Was he brandishing a gun? Debatable. Should he have shut the door? Obviously not. Was there excessive force implemented. Without a doubt.
When you speak about precedent, this case is absolutely terrifying. The court found 0 excessive force and that Hill was 99% responsible because he was intoxicated. Using this as precedent any drunk belligerent assholes could be filled with lead. For example saying "Fuck you" then turning and running from a cop for public intoxication (Stupid fucking idea, I've seen it enough times that this freaks me out) and because it's dark out and the cop can't see every clear detail, he claims to see a gun (cellphone) in his hand and opens fire. In both situations the victim was clearly trying to hide/escape - even though hiding in your garage when they are outside is pretty stupid.
So all a cop has to do now is say he was afraid (In this case for his partner)? A police officers job - one of them- is to handle scary situations with a level of calmness and composure.
If I had encountered these officers when I was covered in blood after my friend had an accident, I would be dead today.
Also (and this is 100% purely my opinion) if the pics provided of the garage door are real and not some reproduction or something like that, by all indication, when they began to open fire, the garage door was closed (I'm almost certain police are not supposed to fire blind, it goes against basic gun safety) as well as intentionally aiming at a level that would be targeting the head (again, I believe they are trained to aim for Center of mass)
Looking at them a bit closer, it seems almost every picture actually has the garage door slightly open to elevate the apparent level at which the shots were taken. That last shot (I'm assuming it's the last shot or these police officers should have their guns taken away based on inability to aim) to the bottom is clearly excessive, there's no way he though he was shooting his foot or something. It strikes me more as a cop doing what he's told is the best result (I forget the exact phrasing but essentially it is better for the force if when they shoot someone, that someone dies)
Also I wouldn't necessarily call the guy an asshole. He was drunk as fuck. If someone was banging on my door -extremely aggressively I would guess if his music was that loud- I might grab a bat in a similar state (I'm assuming he didn't hear, or they didn't announce themselves, I know police wouldn't be screaming "Police!" Around here for a noise complaint.) If he did retrieve his gun, and interpreted a threat outside, he would already have drawn it (remember btw he never loaded it, that says quite a bit about the man's character, plenty of actual assholes walk around with a loaded gun and "+1 in the chamber").
Imagine drawing a gun, and upon opening your door the first thing you see is a police officer. Your first thought would probably be something along the lines of "Oh shit I'm about to die." Should he have shut the door? No, but he was drunk.
Was he brandishing a gun? Debatable. Should he have shut the door? Obviously not. Was there excessive force implemented. Without a doubt.
When you speak about precedent, this case is absolutely terrifying. The court found 0 excessive force and that Hill was 99% responsible because he was intoxicated. Using this as precedent any drunk belligerent assholes could be filled with lead. For example saying "Fuck you" then turning and running from a cop for public intoxication (Stupid fucking idea, I've seen it enough times that this freaks me out) and because it's dark out and the cop can't see every clear detail, he claims to see a gun (cellphone) in his hand and opens fire. In both situations the victim was clearly trying to hide/escape - even though hiding in your garage when they are outside is pretty stupid.
So all a cop has to do now is say he was afraid (In this case for his partner)? A police officers job - one of them- is to handle scary situations with a level of calmness and composure.
If I had encountered these officers when I was covered in blood after my friend had an accident, I would be dead today.
