| Submit your comments on this article | |
| -Land of the Free | |
| Short video: FBI releases video of Oregon occupier's fatal shooting by state police | |
| 2016-01-29 | |
| To me, it looks like both sides got stupid in several ways. One LEO panicked and ran out in front of Finicum's truck, and Finicum had to swerve harder into the snow to avoid killing him. Finicum panicked and jumped out of his truck and kept reaching inside his jacket for his gun. After Finicum was shot they left him laying there for about ten minutes rather than tend to him. Supposedly they were dealing with the other protesters. Seems to me they had enough LEOs there to take care of them quite handily while one could have at least tried to see if they could have helped Finicum. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why all the high pressure tactics so that both sides feel it's do or die and things are likely to get out of hand. Finicum probably felt like he was surrounded and marked for death and couldn't think straight. The police, again and as-usual, placed themselves too close to the suspect to be able to retreat. If you want to generate an excuse to kill someone, that's a good way to do it. Shoulda just left an opening and used a spike strip or ten. Maybe park a semi truck across the road a half mile after the spike strips. How far are they going to get in that snow before they call it quits? Now a family of 11 children is without a father. Lots of already edgy friends are pissed off. This may not play out well in the long run.
The shooting happened Tuesday afternoon during a traffic stop on a rural stretch of Oregon highway, where law enforcement had hoped to peacefully arrest the leaders of the armed group that had occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2. As of Thursday evening, four holdouts remain at the refuge, officials and one occupier said. In video taken from an aircraft, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 55, can be seen speeding away from law enforcement officials during an initial traffic stop. He then drives his white truck into a snowdrift near a roadblock, nearly hitting a law enforcement officer. "Law enforcement showed great restraint, and when the vehicle took off it just about seriously injured a law enforcement officer as it barreled toward that barricade," Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said at a Thursday evening news conference where officials released the video. It shows Finicum getting out of the vehicle and then lifting his hands in the air as Oregon state troopers approached him with their guns drawn. The video, which is shot from a distance, shows him then lowering his hands toward his body, then falling into the snow as he is shot. "On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun in that pocket," Bretzing said. Bretzing said that because law enforcement officials still had to deal with the other occupants of the vehicle, it took 10 minutes to start giving Finicum medical aid. An official time of death has not been released. The encounter took place on a remote stretch of U.S. Highway 395 roughly halfway between the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the town of John Day, where Finicum and several other occupiers were headed to attend a community meeting. Until now, officials had released no information about how Finicum was killed. He wasn't formally identified by government officials until Thursday, though his supporters had confirmed his death to the media. A major-incident investigative team from Deschutes County, Ore., is reviewing the shooting. The FBI's account of the shooting came almost two full days after two passengers gave their own accounts in videos that were shared widely over social media. A man named Mark McConnell posted a video on Facebook early Wednesday in which he said that he was driving one of the group's vehicles and that Finicum had been driving the other. McConnell said that after officials detained him and the other passengers in his vehicle -- including Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders of the occupation -- Finicum sped away with Bundy's brother, Ryan, a woman named Shawna Cox and "an 18-year-old girl." "LaVoy is very passionate about this ... about what we're doing here. ... But he took off," said McConnell, who said he was released after two hours of interrogation. He said he was not among the original occupiers. At the Thursday news conference, Bretzing said that about 30 seconds after the shooting, officers threw nonlethal explosive devices, known as "flash-bangs," to disorient the occupants of Finicum's truck. They followed up with less-harmful "sponge projectiles" that contained capsules similar to pepper spray, Bretzing said. Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox and an unidentified woman were then taken out of the vehicle, Bretzing said. Bundy, 43, and Cox, 59, were arrested and charged, and the unidentified woman was released. Officials found two loaded .223-caliber semiautomatic rifles and a loaded .38 Special revolver in Finicum's truck, Bretzing said. There have been a series of desertions since law enforcement surrounded the federal refuge Wednesday morning. One of the four remaining occupiers, David Fry, told The Times in a phone interview Thursday afternoon that "we're willing to leave" but wanted assurances from the FBI that they wouldn't be charged. Some occupiers have been allowed to pass through the police checkpoints, but others have been arrested and charged with federal intimidation charges for occupying the refuge. "Right now the only thing that's keeping us here is them not being clear with us with what's going on," said Fry, adding that the holdouts have been in periodic contact with two law enforcement negotiators. "They're saying three of us can leave and if we leave right now, we'll be fine," but a fourth member of the group, a man, faces a criminal charge when he departs the compound, Fry said. "Everybody's really skeptical of what's going on there," Fry said. Fry said that he had spoken with his family. "They're basically just saying to surrender, it's not worth dying for," he said. | |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #10 I can't screech! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-01-29 23:55 |
| #9 Anyone remember this brave fellow ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-01-29 16:30 |
| #8 Ambushed and shot in the back. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2016-01-29 16:27 |
| #7 Janet Reno approves |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-01-29 15:03 |
| #6 I'm not so sure this guy did anything to merit getting shot in the back. Did he have some kind of injury he was pointing to? I highly the video we have seen is the only one available. There a lot of unanswered questions here. |
| Posted by: Jvalentour 2016-01-29 14:30 |
| #5 He said he wanted to die fighting the US government and he did. Now he's hanging with 72 virgins - which from the look of things isn't too different to his life before his death. |
| Posted by: Yidman 2016-01-29 12:15 |
| #4 They should have taken the approved path for mostly-peaceful protests and burnt down a ghetto. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2016-01-29 12:01 |
| #3 When he first got out of the truck his hands were in the air but then he kept bringing one hand down toward his jacket. Mixed signals and nervous cops. Not a good combination. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2016-01-29 11:38 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-01-29 06:28 |
| #1 There have been a series of desertions since law enforcement surrounded the federal refuge Wednesday morning. Easy to armchair quarterback, but it looks like a missed opportunity. These 'desertions' could have been used as route reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions. Two unmarked pickup trucks blocking the highway on a curve with deep snow embankments? The advantage favours numerics. Alamo efforts usually end in failure. Ruby Ridge, Waco, anyone recall the outcomes? The ranchers and occupiers should have called it a day long ago. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-01-29 05:45 |