Police Shooting of William Marble was Justified

[XLFD]

William Marble, 68, was shot by a Michigan State Police trooper on January 14, 2014, after 11 PM while he was inside his house.  It was a shot into his chest that was fatal.  He was alleged to have been holding a gun, alleged to have had some alcohol and acting confrontational, alleged to have been involved in some domestic altercation which had someone call 9-1-1 and suspiciously hung up.

                                                            William Marble

The police shooter, who has yet to be identified publicly, had went to Marble's home to investigate the suspicious 9-1-1 hang up call.  He arrived and allegedly made contact with a woman at the house.  He allegedly saw Marble holding a gun in an aggressive manner, and the trooper shot him.  This was what the local media started reporting the next morning, the story developing with just a few more details released by the troopers commanding officer.

The police shooting of William Marble was justified, and will be deemed that way by the prosecutor later this week if not today.  I can say this with certainty, without listening to the recording from the microphone that was on Trooper "Smith" that evening, without listening to the woman that was also there that night (both of which have been suppressed for over five days to the public) and that his actions will be found to be totally justified and proper.  I am also optimistic that his actions will not only be lionized by his fellow officers, but accepted as heroic by a majority of the people who read the official account of what happened that night.

Consider, on July of 2009, a Ludington policeman pulled over a woman driving home with her grown son.  The officer said he pulled her over for defective taillights but perceived that she may have been driving impaired on talking with her and smelling her breath, and has her get out from the car.  While talking to the officer about the taillight problem and about any alcohol consumption, her son gets out of the car and wonders about his mother's status.  This is all on dash cam video.

He gets back into the car after the officer insists he does, then about three minutes later he gets back out and is told he has to stay in the car a couple of times.  He politely refuses and asks what the officer is doing.  This is rather proper, since more than seven minutes into the stop there have been no field sobriety tests, or other disposition offered up by the officer.  The officer asks for more space and less interference, and the son complies politely.  The video shows the son kept a respectful distance at all times.

The officer calls for backup, the beach patrolman arrives, the son gets out his I-Phone and starts recording the events.  The new officer slaps the son's hand and he walks away, and is promptly shadowed by that officer.  The son turns back asking about getting the dogs in the back of the car, while reinforcements arrive, two sheriff deputies.  They say:  "We'll take him." and then "Last opportunity to leave or you're going to jail.".  As he pauses, one of the officers says "You're under arrest."

As he continues to walk away with his back to them, the three officers run at him and take him down from behind, leg sweeping him to the hard pavement of Ludington Avenue.  The son is not fighting back, at worst he is passively resisting the assaulting officers by keeping his hands attached to his sides, as per depositions of the officers.  Without any cause for arrest being articulated the three portly officers struggle trying to put the lanky son in handcuffs, as they proceed to shoot him with a taser five times for compliance.  Meanwhile, his mother is watching this take place while the other officer prevents her from aiding her son.

After about two minutes the son is led back by the deputies to their car.  The beach officer, follows and comes back to the mother, who is handcuffed and led to the back of the original squad car also under arrest.  Without any sort of field sobriety test, without any articulated reason as to why they were arresting her, they take her away after her son is shipped over to the hospital.

The son's I-Phone is taken and its contents are later found to be deleted when he gets it back after being jailed.  He is handcuffed to a hospital bed and tasered more by two of the officers after refusing medical treatment for the knee the officers wounded.  He is put into jail and charged with five counts of resisting/obstructing/assaulting officers by the prosecutor.  Facing serious time against a justice system that is anything but, this victim accepts a plea deal to take it one count under the advice of his local attorney who knows how the system works.

None of the three people that senselessly assaulted this man, Ludington citizen Joseph McAdam, on the street and in the hospital with witnesses abounding and the violent crime rather stark,  have ever seen any sort of repercussion on the badged perpetrators.  In fact, the two deputies were specially commended a short time later for their exchange of gunfire with another Ludington citizen on his property, where he was shot.  But that was overlooked, because an officer was shot too.

And when McAdam went to federal court and then binding arbitration to seek justice for what some may deem a large violation of many of his rights, he received relief from being tasered at the hospital, yet nothing was deemed injurious by the arbitrator for the assault, brutality, false arrest, destruction of evidence, and malicious prosecution that also befell McAdam.

And is this why I think William Marble's shooter is blameless and will be seen as someone who deserved to be shot by the trooper?  It's a good start, but let's look at another local police shooting that involved a state trooper that took place last summer, this time when the police is seemingly the obvious victim.

Trooper Paul Butterfield was shot almost assuredly by Eric Knysz at a traffic stop.  Eric was apparently driving the car, had possession of the gun that was involved, shot the officer, drove off, stole a car, and prepared to go on the run.

His wife was in the passenger seat of his car.  She apparently didn't do anything that could be considered illegal that day.  She is not alleged to have pulled the trigger to shoot the officer, nor encourage it.  She never had control of either vehicle.  She was always within the sphere of influence of a person who had just killed a cop in cold blood and was carrying a five month old fetus.  She has shown only remorse for what her husband did that day.

She was charged with accessory to murder after the fact and unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle in two counties for her part in the senseless killing.   A plea deal was arranged for 1-2 years on the former, 0-11 moths on the latter, and Judge Cooper in a court full of law enforcers, went higher assigning her 2-5 years because of the egregiousness of the crime-- that she really had no part in committing if we look at it objectively.  Judge Richard Cooper acknowledged that Eric Knysz was a controlling husband, but noted there was nothing to show Sarah Knysz couldn't have gotten away after Butterfield’s murder.  Though he didn't elaborate.

So in our area, for review, it is a crime to be a victim of police brutality, that you can be brutalized on camera by police officers, have the prosecutor look at those reports and the video and prosecute the ridiculous claim of five assaults against the bleeding, half-electrocuted victim who did nothing aggressive on the street or in the hospital.

It is a crime to be a captive of someone else who shoots a police officer, it is a crime not to either stop him from getting away even while he's holding a gun and has been abusive to you in the past, or run away from him while his gun is still smoldering.

It is a crime to look on while your son is being attacked, three burly officers raining blows and tasering him repeatedly while you can do nothing.  You are his mother, why have you raised him not to respect abusive authority like he should?   You're taking a ride in the squad car without any charges leveled against you.

Americans have long been comfortable with a double standards for police – both legal and cultural. Cops can murder, rape, and pillage with impunity, both from a legal and moral standpoint. When they murder, rape, and pillage – it is for the sake of public safety, national security, and order. Thus, they are protected from legal consequences, as well as moral judgment.

To many Americans, police essentially can do no wrong. If they murder a petty criminal, it’s justified because he was a criminal. If they murder an innocent person, it was a mere “mistake,” and justified because police were “doing their job.”   We are asked to understand and accept their version, even if it doesn't make sense, because many of us glorify them.

Many Americans care not that police lionization and immunity has resulted in the “Land of the Free” having the highest incarceration rate, both per capita and in sheer numbers, in the entire world. For the same reason, many Americans actually think it’s quite wonderful that their infallible demi-gods have steadily acquired weapons they should not possibly ever need for domestic purposes, while ordinary citizens are increasingly restricted and regulated in firearms ownership. Who are lowly mortals to question the motivation of gods in keeping us safe?

To some, police murdering people in their homes and assaulting them in the streets with little impunity isn’t chaos and violence, it is order and safety-- a way to keep the peace.  And heaven help the person or media outlet that dares to debunk the myth by pointing out facts and sharing photos and videos that paint our heroes in a bad light.  They don't speak for the rest of us, whose confidence cannot be shaken so easily.

For these reasons, William Marble, mild-mannered retired career teacher admired by students, fellow faculty, and neighbors, has no chance in being remembered for those facts, and that trooper who shot him will only be deified by his fellow law officers, the local media, and the majority of our population.  Despite what the 'facts' turn out to be, and if the public is ever allowed to know the truth.

And just in case you think it's a problem in our area alone, out in Fullerton California a group of officers beat an innocent homeless man to death a couple of years ago caught on surveillance tape.  The officer who started the melee told Mr. Thomas while strapping on his gloves that his fists were going to f--k him up.

He was a man of his word in this regard.  Another officer quickly joined in with a club and as these two began a systematic beating of a human being with no regard to his humanity, others arrived and like sharks to a feeding frenzy, continued the lynching.  The incident, including Ramos’ blatant threat, was captured on video. Mr. Thomas can be seen on video being beaten and pleading for his life. He says “Dad, help me… They’re killing me,” repeatedly. He says, “Sir, please… okay…okay…” repeatedly. He says “Help me…help me god…” repeatedly. He also apologizes, but was murdered by police nevertheless.

The two officers who instigated the incident were just exonerated of charges at the beginning of last week.  No criminal charges for them or anyone else involved.  The threat and the senseless beating on a non-resistant, innocent-of-any-charges individual caught on tape, but absolutely no punishment for the systematic killing.  Yet, you could not easily count the number of years that all six individuals would have received if they were not wearing badges, and the pulp on the ground was.

Many who read this will continue believing those words on our Supreme Court "Equal Justice Under Law", and that public servants are held to a higher account.  It's a myth we would all like to believe.  As is the myth that will arise about William Marble's 'irrational acts' and the 'heroism' of our unknown trooper in this incident that our officials have done so well in covering up over the last week, and will manufacture into a convenient parable, irregardless of the truth.

[AQUAMAN]

The latest from the LDN pages say the paperwork is finally coming thru on Monday to MCP Spainola's office for review of any possible charges. The trooper was only a 5 year veteran, probably late 20's in age, no name nor background on him is being released while on mandatory leave. Without a toxicology report from Marble's autopsy, the Hart Post is saying alcohol may have been a factor, (kinda jumping the gun so to speak imho). They are also reporting the female in a domestic situation there that made that 911 call, isn't being identified either, and went home with relatives for now. Most of you probably read this already, I had read some, but not the release date of the file and audio of the officer's microphone at the scene.

[XLFD]

Aquaman, those are from two weeks ago.  Whether Marble was drunk or not has little bearing on what happened that night, other than to cloud the real issue of what actually happened.   In fact, since there hasn't been a sequence of events given, waiting for the toxicology report before issuing anything has me thinking that the "official story" will be modified according to what the report says.

[wayne]

So let me get this straight, according to some people on this forum the odds of this incident happening are reasonable.  So the odds that rite now, someone calls me, and hangs, & I then end up at their residence, shooting them dead, inside their own home, is reasonable?  Try imagining, this situation, you, a stranger, who, as we just found out, has absolutely no vested interest in the community (troopers do not originate in the community they patrol), and does not presumably live anywhere near the area, ends up shooting, dead, a schoolteacher, in their own home.   And to top it off, they are just sent home, while no explanation is given?  And the best that can be offered up is that, alcohol may have been a factor?  

[XLFD]

Those 'some people' have not batted an eyelash with the Kelly Thomas video or offered anything on the other indignities presented herein by local officials with badges on local innocent civilians, William Marble, Joseph McAdam, Shelly Burns, and even Scott Woodring.  Yet, these are the same people who call for harsh sentencing for Sarah Knysz because she didn't run from or disobey a maniac with a gun who just shot a trooper. 

The whole scenario reminds me of a Dr. Seuss story called "The Sneetches", described by Wikipedia:

"At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without. A "fix-it-up chappie" named Sylvester McMonkey McBean appears and offers the Sneetches without stars the chance to have them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original star-bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their special status." 

I won't ruin the ending.  Dr. Seuss offered it up as a satirical look at discrimination, but I think it can be liberally interpreted to apply to cops (stars) and non-cops.

[wayne]

Of course, we live in a society trained to be idolatrous.  At the same time, lack the ability to self-examine our motives.  Like children, failure to correct our mistake, & then repeat them.   Challenge any pop culture meme, such as the good cop programming, and you will receive much resistance on so many levels.  As Hunter, Bad Boys, Hill Street Blues, and the lame news taglines reinforce your behavior.  But to what level can you suggest this is merely programming?  When an issue becomes so devisive, so pervasive, it becomes impossibly to ignore any more, it flies in the face of normal behavior?  Reasonable behavior?  Expected behavior?  Or perhaps a better statement, at what point does this become psychotic behavior?  Decades of a trajectory towards institutionalized thuggery, and where is the pulse?  It would seem the non-stars are so caught up in dreaming of stars, they won't come back down to Earth.    

[Willy]

Good find Art

[XLFD]

It is a good find, and because I'm naturally skeptical I went over the various events and found footnotes for each incident.  It's well worth reading the full accounts to show that the mainstream media had an agenda present when reporting it, in diverting the story away from the gun-toting hero: 

Pearl school shooting (asst. principal's actions were actually ignored by CNN, local news had the gun story, CNN reported him using his car)

Edinboro school shooting (hero underplayed by CNN, full story suppressed)

Golden Market (some versions just say hero was not arrested by police for his involvement)

and I remember the last one with Meli, mainly ignored by the gun-control-friendly media.

[AQUAMAN]

Nice link Art, I too wish more stories like this would be publicized. I think Wayne hit the nail on the head too last Friday, great analysis.