Tag: police shootings

Off-Duty Cop Saving Family from Intruder, Killed by Fellow Cops Who Mistook Him for a Criminal

As TFTP reports all too frequently, defending yourself and others in the land of the free can often be a deadly act thanks to police. In case after case, TFTP has reported on heroic individuals who have defended their families and even complete strangers only to be executed by police who show up — after the hero stopped the villain — only to shoot first and ask questions later.

The family of Vancouver Police Officer Donald Sahota learned this the hard way over the weekend. Sahota attempted to defend his family from an armed intruder and his fellow police would kill him for it.

According to police, officers responded to an armed robbery at the Chevron on Northeast 117th Avenue in Vancouver, Wash. According to a 911 caller, the suspect had entered the store, pointing a gun at the gas station clerk’s chest while demanding cash. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect fled in a stolen dark-colored Mercedes, after robbing the store of several hundred dollars. Police intercepted the suspect traveling northbound on I-205 where a chase began for several miles.

“I was working my till at 8:15 p.m. Dude walks through the door, pulls out a pistol right out of his pocket, aims it at my chest holding his hand over the slide,” the clerk said.

After a miles-long chase, the suspect ditched the vehicle and happened to show up at Sahota’s home. According to police, the suspect banged on the door, claiming he was in a car crash and needed help.

Sahota — bravely protecting his family from an armed robber — grabbed his gun and went outside to confront the suspect.

According to police, a struggle ensued and Sahota was stabbed by the suspect before losing control of his pistol. After knocking the off-duty cop to the ground, the suspect went inside Sahota’s home, where his wife was hiding.

The off-duty cop then picked up his firearm and ran back into the home to stop the suspect. Unfortunately, however, as Sahota ran inside, Clark County officers arrived on the scene to shoot first and ask questions later.

As Sahota tried to save his wife, he was gunned down by responding officers who mistook him for the suspect. Sahota was hit several times and died as medics tried saving him.

The unnamed suspect was taken into custody without incident after police killed the officer who was trying to stop him. According to OPB, the incident is being treated as an officer-involved shooting and is being investigated by the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team.

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While Serving Warrant on the WRONG Person, Police Execute Teen as He Slept on the Couch

If you were to read the local news sites in Las Vegas earlier this month, you would think that police — while saving the public from a dangerous murderer — were ambushed and two of them were shot, barely escaping with their lives. The “shooter’s” face, plastered on news sites, telling the public that he fired 18 shots at officers before they finally and heroically killed him. But Isaiah Tyree Williams wasn’t so much a shooter as he was a victim of police violence. Their badges do nothing to change this reality.

After police executed Williams in his own home, a report from a local CBS affiliate read as follows, “Police said the shooter, 19-year-old Isaiah Tyree Williams, opened fire when officers broke a window and entered the apartment near Nellis Boulevard and Vegas Valley Drive at about 5 a.m. on Monday.”

But the question is this: does defending your home from armed intruders make you a “shooter”?

Had Williams been accused or suspected of a crime, perhaps police may have been more justified in their actions. However, he was not. Williams was not the person police were looking for and thanks to their brutal incompetence, two cops are recovering from bullet wounds and a black teenager is dead.

On that early morning raid, police were looking for 23-year-old Wattsel Rembert who was not staying at that apartment. Rembert is accused of participating in a shooting at a casino back in November. Instead of simply arresting Rembert in a normal manner, police chose to dangerously show up in the middle of the night, bash in doors, throw flash bang grenades, and put everyone involved in danger.

During the raid, Williams, who was asleep on the sofa when armed intruders broke into his home, began firing after a flashbang grenade smashed through his window. Police answered back with their AR-15s and pistols, firing 23 shots into the teen’s body — executing him on the sofa. He was still under the blanket when he died.

Two of the armed intruders, Officer Kerry Kubla, 50, and Officer Brice Clements, 36 were injured in the shooting.

After the shooting, police held a press conference, during which they demonized Williams, rattling off all the charges Williams would have faced for defending himself in his own home against armed intruders who threw a grenade through his window as he slept.

“Had he survived,” police explained, “Williams would have been arrested on counts of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon on a first responder; battery with a deadly weapon on a first responder, assault on a first responder and three counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.”

For defending himself against armed intruders, clearly intent on doing him harm in his own home as he slept.

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Police Misbehavior Is a Crucial Threat to Liberty

Whenever I write about police abuse and use-of-force issues, I often hear from the “back the badge” crowd to defend whatever it is the police officer did in a given situation. They’re not always wrong, of course, but one recurring theme always sticks in my craw, especially given that these writers typically describe themselves as “conservatives.”

Police defenders instinctively view most situations—and expect the rest of us to do so—from the perspective of the officer. “Well, sure that African American teen was holding a cellphone rather than a gun, but how was the officer to know before he shot him?” “Sure, the SWAT team broke down the door to the wrong apartment, but mistakes happen (note the passive voice).”

One of the stated principles of conservatism is fealty to the constitution, which protects the rights of individuals against the abuses of government. Police are the face of that government. They enforce the rules that lawmakers pass. Having the right to detain or even kill you, officers literally hold all of your “rights” within their grasp.

Therefore, I spend less time worrying about the genuinely difficult challenges of officers than about my fellow citizens’ right to life and liberty. As Charlton Heston says in a Touch of Evil, “Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.” Likewise, I worry less about the frustrations of IRS agents than I do about the rights of taxpayers. Tax collectors have a legitimate job, but a true freedom-lover is primarily concerned about protecting individuals from the state.

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Unarmed Woman Executed by Cop On Her Way to Work Over Alleged Speeding Ticket—Lawsuit

In June of 2020, family and friends of Hannah Fizer, 25, were shocked to learn that their beloved daughter and friend had been killed during a stop over an alleged speeding violation. Then, four months later, they learned there would be no justice and the officer who killed the unarmed woman as she sat in her vehicle — was back on the job.

Since then, Fizer’s father, John Fizer, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Pettis County seeking damages against Pettis County Deputy Jordan Schutte. The lawsuit argues the shooting was an unjustified, an excessive use of force and that Schutte did not follow several standard law enforcement protocols during the stop. When watching the video, it is entirely clear.

This week, PBS aired a minidocumentary (which you can watch below) detailing Fizer’s tragic shooting and it backs up what TFTP has been reporting since her death. As the documentary shows, the department remains unapologetic about killing Fizer.

In October 2020, the Pettis County prosecutor claimed that the officer shooting an unarmed woman during a traffic stop — dumping five rounds into her as she sat in her car — did not violate any policies. The officer “feared for his life.”

“Schutte had the ability and responsibility to prevent the use of deadly force against Ms. Fizer but failed to do so,” the lawsuit reads. “His actions contributed to Ms. Fizer’s avoidable death.”

As the documentary points out, on that fateful night on June 13, 2020, Fizer was on her way to work when she was targeted for extortion by the deputy. Just six minutes after the stop began, Fizer would have five bullet holes in her, still sitting in her car.

After killing Fizer, the deputy would claim the woman — who never made a violent threat in her life — had a gun and threatened to kill him. However, investigators found no such gun and it appears the only thing she was holding was her cellphone after letting the officer know that she was filming the stop.

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Cop Executes Elderly Man in a Wheelchair, Shooting Him 9 Times as He Rolled By

Richard Lee Richards, 61, was accused of stealing an item from Walmart this week and instead of due process and having his day in court, he was executed on the spot. An investigation is now underway after video was released showing an officer dump 9 rounds into the man as he scooted by them — in his wheelchair.

Officer Ryan Remington, the clearly trigger happy officer, decided to open fire on the disabled elderly man because he didn’t immediately stop when told to do so. Richards execution was captured on store surveillance footage and police body camera footage and it is disturbing to say the least.

According to police, Richards, who was a paraplegic, was accused of stealing a toolbox from Walmart. When officers confronted him in the parking lot, he refused to stop and continued on, attempting to enter a nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement store.

As Richards rolled his wheelchair through the entrance to Lowe’s, Remington bypassed his taser, baton, pepper spray, and all other less than lethal means, and immediately drew his firearm.

“Do not go into the store, sir,” Remington is heard saying on the body camera footage. But Richards did not listen, continuing to roll away from him in his wheelchair.

Though it is not visible in any of the videos, police claimed Richards was in possession of a knife which is why Remington resorted to deadly force. Instead of simply grabbing the wheelchair and tasering the man, the cowardly officer decided to execute Richards. The shooting was so egregious that even the Tucson Police Chief, Chris Magnus said he was “deeply disturbed and troubled” by it.

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