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Police Kill Unarmed Teenager

Mike

Well-known member
All respect will be gone soon. When that happens, chaos will ensue. :shock:


Miami Beach protesters demand arrest of officer who Tasered teenager

Sun, Oct 06 20:07 PM EDT

By Zachary Fagenson

MIAMI BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - More than 200 people marched through Miami Beach on Sunday, clogging tourist-filled sidewalks to demand the arrest of a policeman who fired a stun gun at a graffiti artist who died in police custody.

The protesters alleged that Officer Jorge Mercado used excessive force when he used a Taser on Israel Hernandez-Llach, 18, during an arrest attempt in August.

"He was sentenced like a prisoner when he goes before a firing squad," Hernandez-Llach's father, Israel Hernandez Bandera, said on the steps of Miami Beach City Hall.

Friends, family and supporters carried signs reading "Paint is temporary, death is forever" and chanted "No justice, no peace" in English and Spanish.

Hernandez-Llach was prolific graffiti artist nicknamed "Reefa," and the march was led by the Justice for Reefa Committee and the American Community Council. Marchers asked that Mercado be fired and arrested and that the Miami Beach Police Department change its policy regarding use of stun guns.

Police discovered Colombian-born Hernandez-Llach spray-painting the wall of an abandoned McDonald's early on the morning of August 6. The teenager fled, evading police for several minutes before he was cornered and stunned with the Taser.

He died shortly afterward and friends who were with him told Reuters they heard and saw officers celebrating and high fiving while the young man's body lay on the ground.

Medical examiners have yet to release a toxicology report or cause of death. Miami Beach Police have declined to comment pending an ongoing investigation.

The teenager's father submitted a letter late last month to the U.S. Department of Justice and President Barack Obama alleging that police used excessive force and refused to provide him with information regarding the incident.

"I'm not an investigator, just a broken father who wants answers," he wrote.

He said his son's body showed signs of mistreatment, including an injury to the forehead, after it was turned over to the family for the funeral.

"My biggest concern is was it due to the Taser or was it from blows (by police)," said his father.

Hernandez-Llach's sister, Offir Hernandez, disputed speculation that her brother was on drugs at the time of the incident, but said that according to friends he had smoked marijuana that morning.

"He took care of himself," she told Reuters. "He was very healthy and wouldn't even drink sodas and ate salads and fish. He'd never put acid in his body."

Hernandez-Llach's family has also filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court against the Miami Beach Police Department and Mercado, seeking an undisclosed amount for damages and alleging the police used "unnecessary, excessive and unconstitutional force."

The Colombian-born artist was slightly built and unarmed, and "officers had no reasonable basis to fear for their own safety or the safety of the public," the lawsuit said.

Mercado was named in several prior complaints according to police Internal Affairs reports obtained by Reuters. He was disciplined for failing a drug test in 2011 but was exonerated in several other cases, including punching a man in the face during an off-duty fight in a men's room in 2007.
 

Steve

Well-known member
I think if you look at any issue you will see their side.. and the truth..


"He took care of himself," she told Reuters. "He was very healthy and wouldn't even drink sodas and ate salads and fish. He'd never put acid in his body."

yet,..

Hernandez-Llach was prolific graffiti artist nicknamed "Reefa,"

maybe that was in reference to the ocean reefs?


Police discovered Colombian-born Hernandez-Llach spray-painting the wall of an abandoned McDonald's early on the morning of Aug. 6. The teenager fled, evading police for several minutes before he was cornered and stunned with the Taser.


New police dispatch recordings obtained by CBS4 show 18-year-old Israel Hernandez racing through a Miami Beach neighborhood and eluding pursuing police before he was shocked by a Taser and later dies.

CBS4 obtained the recordings through the website Broadcastify and they reveal the police procedures in the moments after they say he illegally vandalized an empty McDonald’s restaurant at 71st Street and Collins Avenue and then took off running.

On the recordings, police describe Hernandez and sound in some occasions as if they are out of breath as they explain that Hernandez is zig-zagging in and out of the neighborhood before he is finally stopped at 71st Street and Harding Avenue early last Tuesday morning in darkness. That’s where police say Officer Jorge Mercado was forced to shock Hernandez once with a Taser when he ran at police.

On the recordings, you first hear a description of Hernandez.

“He is six foot one, a Latin male, wearing a cream colored shirt with long sleeves. He’s running southbound through Collins.”

“He went southbound through the scene from the 7000 blocks through Collins,” says an officer. “Between Harding and Collins. He’s on the perimeter.”

Police have trouble catching up with Hernandez.

“Yeah like I said this is a misdemeanor,” said one officer. “We are not going to bring dogs for this. We are going to be looking to see if we find him. He is probably hiding somewhere.”

“Let them know we are going to be on Harding just before 71st Street on the east side of the bank,” said another officer. That is where Hernandez was shocked with the Taser. He went into cardiac arrest and was transported to a Miami Beach hospital but died shortly after.

When finally cornered a block away, Hernandez-Llach bolted straight at the officers, at which point Officer Jorge Mercado deployed a Taser. It struck Hernandez-Llach in the chest. An hour later, he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Last Friday, Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez told CBS4’s Peter D’Oench, “He was running at officers as we best we know and he was tased in the front. This was a single tasing. He was not tased multiple times by multiple officers. The officer has to make a quick decision.”

Chief Martinez said, “Everything we have seen and reviewed so far is that the use of the Taser was appropriate.”

when a person runs and is pursued he can obviously run the risk of a heart attack with the pursuit alone..

add in any other factor such as drug use and the risk goes up..

while some feel the taser acts as a defibrillator that is an urban myth..
as well is the number of deaths claimed to be caused by it.. (500 annually) the actual number is 60,.

it isn't good for you but it's use alone often will not harm a healthy person..
 

Mike

Well-known member
Whatever the reason for his death is immaterial. The police are still projecting an aura of bullying and will lose all credibility and respect. It's just a matter of time.

We don't always have to find fault one way or another. But we should realize the end result of any action.
 

Steve

Well-known member
The police are still projecting an aura of bullying and will lose all credibility and respect. It's just a matter of time.

If this kid,.. actually adult had any respect for the Law, this wouldn't have happened..

and that lack of respect started long before he grew up in his community..

when his "art" is celebrated by the left and his family and friends they encouraged the lack of respect that led to the confrontation..

when this kid came at the officer the officer had to make a decision.. one that could easily have cost him his life..

Sadly there is an example of this how even a person trained and experienced in the military was dead in an instance.. one his friends didn't even realize happened..

A 20-year-old white soldier was stabbed to death on Saturday in what authorities believe could be a hate crime.

After a desperate 911 call, officers discovered Tevin A. Geike, a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier, in a parking lot in Lakewood, Washington suffering multiple stab wounds just after 2:30 a.m. He died at the scene.

The victim's two friends, also soldiers and also white, told police they were walking south on Pacific Highway when a vehicle approached them and someone inside called out a racial slur.

One of the soldiers yelled back something about those in the car treating combat soldiers with disrespect, Lawler said.

The car then turned around, stopped next to the soldiers and five black males piled out of the vehicle.

A verbal confrontation started, Lawler said, but the driver called his friends off when he learned some of the soldiers were actually combat veterans.

As the group returned to the car, one of the suspects appeared to bump into Geike, Lawler said.

The two soldiers then saw their friend fall to the ground as the car sped away. That's when they discovered Geike had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely.

no comment about seeing a knife seconds before,. just a friend getting bumped and then falling to the ground..

seconds.. bumped.. experienced combat soldier falls and is dead

now think about what any reasonable person would do if they knew they chased the guy for blocks and now.. that chase is reversed...

When finally cornered a block away, Hernandez-Llach bolted straight at the officers, at which point Officer Jorge Mercado deployed a Taser.

think about it..
 

Mike

Well-known member
I have thought about it. It doesn't matter what you and I think of it. The liberal media will portray it as a killing of an innocent. Meanwhile, they'll play down the killing of the white soldier....................
 

farmguy

Active member
I 'm so tired of this "victim" mentality . When you place yourself outside the law you should expect the consequences. What are the cops supposed to do? The police have a very limited time to make a decision and the press has all the time to gather facts, background etc. Just as people on this forum complain about the cops lack of shooting ability when they are being shot at or that threat is there. Believe me, ask any veteran, it all changes when someone is shooting back. Excuse this rant. It just struck a sensitive area for me. I am a Viet Nam vet.
 
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