[Peace-discuss] [Announce] And the FOP's response to Norbits'suspension

[John W.]

On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 11:10 PM, Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>wrote:



>   [Taking this off Peace (again) and putting it on Peace-discuss (again)]
>
> Hello Justus (is this yr name or yr hope??),
> I have long wondered if the Carrington's lawyer has been looking at
> bringing suit against Norbits for involuntary manslaughter or negligent
> homicide, and if not, why not. Lots of information in yr email (which I hope
> is true) that  supports this. Thanks for the great additions to a sad, sad
> subject that fortunately does not seem to be going away any time soon.
>  --Jenifer
>

There's a legal doctrine in civil law - I can't recall its Latin name at the
moment - that makes the employer liable for acts of its employees - even
arguably negligent acts - if the employee is acting within the regular scope
of his/her employment.

In a more practical vein, Norbits isn't the one with the deep pockets.

Criminal law has a different set of rules, but as we've seen, Julia Reitz
declines to prosecute criminally.  So, apparently, do the feds.

John "Justus" Wason




>
> --- On *Fri, 4/23/10, j4tado at gmail.com <j4tado at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: j4tado at gmail.com <j4tado at gmail.com>
>
> Subject: Re: [PeoplesPotluck] [Peace] And the FOP's response to
> Norbits'suspension
> To: "Jenifer Cartwright" <jencart13 at yahoo.com>,
> peoplespotluck-bounces at lists.chambana.net, "Court Watch" <
> announce at communitycourtwatch.org>, "AWARE peace" <peace at lists.chambana.net>,
> stop at iresist.org, coalition at iresist.org, peoplespotluck at lists.chambana.net,
> "Brian Dolinar" <briandolinar at gmail.com>
> Date: Friday, April 23, 2010, 3:45 PM
>
>  I am new to this discussion group, but I like to pay attention to abuse
> of power in all of its forms.
>
> It seems Champaign is merely like any other city w/ a diverse population:
> we have a sizable minority, they are concentrated largely on one side of
> town, that side is largely poor or "lower-middle" class, and the police have
> an adversarial relationship to them. Not to mention an ignorant, reactionary
> mayor.
>
> Looking specifically at the issue of police training, or SOP, and the issue
> of our police carrying the ubiquitous Glock semi-auto pistol, it seems that
> Officer Norbits did not follow procedure when pointing his weapon. I was
> part of a firearms safety/training program held by the U of I Police several
> years ago, and they showed us the proper way to hold a firearm, and in
> particular a handgun, was to keep the trigger finger held out straight and
> off of the trigger unless we were absolutely ready to fire. The Glock
> doesn't have an external safety, however, it has a small lever in the middle
> of the trigger that has to be depressed before the trigger itself can be
> squeezed. Officer Norbits clearly had his finger wrapped around the whole
> trigger, which by procedure is ready to fire. He obviously had the muzzle
> trained on Mr. Carrington, because the bullet ended up in his heart. Gun
> aimed at "center mass", finger on the trigger, does not sound like an
> accident. Norbits should be fired on the basis of negligent homicide.
>
>
> And why doesn't he (Norbits) resign? He killed an unarmed kid. Where is his
> conscience? Years ago, back in the 80's, there was a Champaign detective,
> can't remember his name, who shot and killed an armed man who had shot at
> officers when they went to arrest him. That detective resigned himself from
> the force. He had been cleared of any wrong doing. He clearly had the right
> to shoot when being shot at. Why did he quit being a cop? Apparently he had
> a hard time dealing with it in his mind. One should question if a cop should
> remain on a job where they might do it again. Champaign will be synonymous
> w/ New York City and other cities in having a cop being allowed to rejoin
> the force after gunning down unarmed, innocent civilians. Does anyone feel
> particularly safe w/ that cop working the beat? What side of town will he be
> patrolling?
>
> Another thing to consider, in New York, it was discovered that the Glocks
> used to kill Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell were modified. This made the
> triggers ultra sensitive, enabling the officers to squeeze a trigger more
> rapidly, thus being able to empty a 16 shot clip in 4 seconds. I wonder how
> our officers weapons are set up. Do we have officers patrolling with hair
> triggers?
>
> Sounds like the CPD is a perpetual work in progress. Over the last two
> decades, a number of unarmed civilians have been killed by Champaign police
> when they should have been simply taken into custody. Whether it was the
> techniques used to restrain them, or use of firearms, the CPD is very slow
> to learn how to avoid this kind of tragedy. There is an element of danger
> out here, yes. Sometimes, the police might have to respond in a way that
> requires force. True. But what happened to Kiwane Carrington and others is
> entirely avoidable.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to read this.
>
> Justus Fortado
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
>
>

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