Strange that another 1/10 of 1% of the Good Guys gets to do his thing in no less, than a theater, where citizens are supposed to be watching, no less, than a simple movie. Entertainment has gone, well, not just WILD, but, simply, unabashedly, GROSS imho! The term "peace officer", has simply perished, under our own watchful eyes of just looking the other way. And we call this America? Who's the good guys now?
"DADE CITY — A judge ruled Friday that Curtis Reeves Jr., the retired Tampa police captain charged with shooting a man to death in a movie theater, will remain in jail until he goes to trial.
After two days of testimony, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa said prosecutors convinced him that Reeves should not be granted bail. Reeves' lawyers said they will appeal.
Reeves and his lawyers had hoped that Siracusa would be swayed by Reeves' statements to detectives after the shooting in which he said fellow movie-goer Chad Oulson "scared him s---less."
The incident, which has drawn national attention, erupted Jan. 13 in a Wesley Chapel movie theater after Reeves, 71, became agitated that Oulson, 43, was texting.
Oulson's widow, Nicole, 33, nodded slightly and closed her eyes when the judge read his ruling Friday afternoon. Outside the courtroom she said she was "happy and relieved."
Reeves was arrested after the two men got into an argument at a matinee showing of the Navy SEALs film Lone Survivor. During the previews, Reeves became angry when Oulson texted his young daughter's babysitter.
Reeves left briefly to complain to a manager but returned alone. The argument continued. When Oulson threw popcorn at Reeves, authorities said, the retired Tampa police captain pulled a .380 semiautomatic pistol from his pants pocket and fired, hitting Oulson in the chest and his wife in the left ring finger.
In the patrol car with his hands cuffed, Curtis Reeves told detectives he was scared for his life after Oulson came over the seat and punched him in the face.
"Suddenly he's virtually on top of me. I reach in my pocket. I'm stretched out trying to get away from him. I'm either saying 'no no no' or 'whoa whoa whoa.' Suddenly my head was to the right. He hit me with his fist or something. I assume it was his fist and something is wrong with my left eye. . . . I was kind of dazed — had to be from the strike. I felt like I had something in my eye. Still do."
In a surveillance video of the theater played in court Friday, a shiny object appears to hit Reeves and fall to the ground. Then a hand grabs Reeves' popcorn and flings it at him. Reeves then raises his right hand, fires and leans back in his seat.
Dust, dislodged from the camera's lens by the rattle of the gunfire, then flutters across the screen.
Assistant State Attorney Manny Garcia used Reeves' own words against him in arguing that he should be held without bail.
"Pointing the gun, firing the gun and his statements constitute second-degree murder," Garcia said. "From his own mouth, judge."
Garcia went through Reeves' statements made in a recorded interview in the hours after the shooting, including: "Good heavens, I didn't mean to do that."
Garcia also brought up how Reeves told detectives Oulson lunged at him and hit him.
"Where in that video do you see Mr. Reeves holding Chad Oulson back like he was describing?" Garcia said. "It's not in there, judge."
It was after the gunshot and before he knew there was video surveillance, Garcia said, that Reeves made up a story about self-defense.
"He knew that he shot that man in cold blood with no justification," Garcia said.
Prosecutors also played a recording of Nicole Oulson's statement to detectives. She said a gray-haired man sitting behind them "got rude" with her husband during previews.
"He was just nasty," she said.
The man left for a minute and came back. By then, she said, Chad Oulson's phone was off.
"We thought that was end of it," she said.
But the man taunted Oulson, she said.
"He said, 'Now you put it away, are you scared?' " she said. " 'Oh so now you put the phone away.' And my husband turned around and stood up and said, 'Dude, what is your problem?' "
At this point, Mrs. Oulson said she put her hand up to her husband's chest in an effort to say it wasn't worth a fight.
She said her husband never hit Reeves.
Reeves' wife, Vivian, also told detectives she didn't see Oulson hit Reeves.
In a recorded interview, she said Oulson "stood up and turned around and was just right there leaning over. It looked like his whole body came forward."
She said she didn't hear Oulson threaten her husband or see Reeves' gun. The whole thing "happened so fast" and she said she saw no sign of Reeves having been injured.
She said her husband, a law enforcement officer for more than 20 years, had never shot anyone.
"He's never threatened anybody with a gun or nothing," she said. "I just couldn't believe it."
In arguing against bail, prosecutors said they met the burden of showing the second-degree murder charge was appropriate.
Reeves' attorney, Richard Escobar, said the video, which he agreed to release immediately to the media, clearly shows self-defense.
"This is not a throwing popcorn case only," he said during his closing argument. "This is a throwing a deadly missile case."
Escobar said he was disappointed by the ruling but not surprised. Neither was Reeves.
"He prepared for this," he said. "This was a murder case."
Escobar said he is confident a jury will ultimately acquit Reeves, who will be in court again in March for a pretrial hearing.
Siracusa made it clear this week's proceedings were not a trial.
"No matter what my ruling is on this motion, Mr. Reeves," Siracusa said, "nothing changes about the fact that you are presumed innocent of this charge."
Used to be we could trust in Cops and God, not anymore, according to this video of last week. In Florida, no less, this cop wants his case pleaded as a "defend your ground" incident. Does that make any sense to you? Really?
Permalink Reply by XLFD on February 14, 2014 at 10:58am
Although the use of deadly force in this case is definitely not warranted and not part of any police protocol, I have to admit that this incident shouldn't be used to bash the culture of police officers or departments any more than incidents involving veterans should be used to bash the military.
That is, unless the department he retired from had had plenty of complaints against him (or others) which went ignored or were glorified. Otherwise, this should just be a tragic tale of an individual who should have the law applied to him the same as everyone else.
Permalink Reply by Willy on February 14, 2014 at 12:32am
Aquaman, your links don't have the information regarding this discussion. At least I can't access it. I can view the photos but that's it. I've heard about this on the radio but have not read any articles on it.
Permalink Reply by XLFD on February 14, 2014 at 1:31am
Aquaman needs to be trained a little more in threadcraft. I embedded the video, attached a picture of Reeves, and a tampabay.com write up of the recent news.
Sorry, but actually, the links I posted came thru well on my computer, then when I uploaded them here, they just came with the pics.. I plead innocent to being totally computer ignorant, but, I plead guilty to not being a computer guru, thus I asked for X's help in retrieving the critical video of that event...lol. Thanks for all the help guys. I understand the frustration and aggravation of ex-Capt. Reeves for sure, I think texting by all too many is totally out of control. However, he knew far better than to pull a gun and shoot a citizen. It looked like the theater was practically empty, so why didn't he just move to another seat, or again, go tell the mgmt. for the second time? This was a senseless and needless killing that happened over a knee-jerk reaction, that of a fully trained and seasoned officer of the law for over 20 years.
Cop Kenneth Qualls Sues Over Firing After He Cited 3-Year-Old For Peeing In Public
An Oklahoma cop who was fired for citing a urinating toddler is now suing the city of Piedmont for wrongful termination.
Kenneth Qualls says he had permission from a police lieutenant to slam 3-year-old Dillan Warden with a $2,500 public urination ticket on Nov. 4, 2012.
Dillan’s mother, Ashley Warden, argued at the time that the boy urinated on private property. His own private property. That's right – Dillian was busted for going potty in his own yard.
“I said really, he is 3-years-old, and [the officer] said it doesn’t matter – it’s public urination,” Jennifer Warden, Dillan’s grandmother, told KWTV at the time. She added that the officer would wait down the street on their block “doing nothing at all.”
“I am disappointed that the officer thinks… what he needs to do with my tax dollars is sitting and harassing our family,” she said.
Qualls was fired ten days after the citation. The ex-cop now argues that city Police Chief Alex Oblein knew of the ticket, but did not give orders to amend or dismiss it.
The lawsuit claims Qualls was even insulted by the mayor, who called him “stupid,” and that he was only fired on Nov. 16 because the incident got media attention.
“Of course we did receive a lot of notoriety over that,” City Manager Jim Crosby said at the time.
