Texas Cop Fired After Shooting at Suspect 41 Times, Killing Him

 

03/02/2013

A police officer in Texas has been terminated from the force after an investigation determined that he violated official policy when he rammed his car into a suspect’s vehicle, cornered him and then fired 41 shots, killing him.

Officer Patrick Tuter shot and killed Michael Vincent Allen on August 12, 2012, but he has only now been fired more than six months later. He has spent the last half year on administrative leave while the Garland Police Department conducted an investigation that has finally concluded this week.

“Tuter has been fired because he was found in violation of two general orders of our department,” Garland PD spokesperson Joe Harn tells the Dallas Morning News. “He violated our pursuit policy as well as our use of force policy.”

The events of last August occurred after Officer Tuter pursued Allen, an unarmed 25-year-old, because he was wanted for running from the police only days earlier. A high-speed chase ensued, and Tuter followed Allen in his cruiser for around 30 minutes. At that point, Tuter slammed into Allen’s pickup, reached for his gun and fired 41 shots.

Only three of the few dozen bullets entered Allen’s body, but he died nonetheless from gunshot wounds to the back, side and arm.

“I don’t see anybody reacting like that,” the victim’s father, Randy Allen, tells CBS 11 News. “41 shots, I mean, was the other police officers just standing there?”

”I can’t believe somebody didn’t tackle him and say, ‘Stop, that’s enough,’” he says. Speaking to NBC News, he adds that the officer’s use of force wasn’t just excessive. “It was excessive on top of excessive,”he says.

According to the officer’s attorneys, “Tuter did feel in fear for his life and was justified in firing his weapon.” The estate of the victim is suing the officer for wrongful-death. Meanwhile, Tuter’s attorneys have been appealing the indefinite suspension that was enacted in August and according to some report will appeal his termination.

Sinkhole Swallows Florida Man in Home

 

03/02/2013

A man has vanished under the earth, sucked in into a sinkhole that suddenly opened under his bedroom in a suburban Tampa home. Authorities warn that the sinkhole is unstable and dangerous, as it may grow further.

The hole, estimated to be 20 feet across and 20 feet deep, sucked 37-year-old Jeff Bush, along with his bed, television and dresser into the ground as it broke through the concrete floor of his bedroom late Thursday evening.

As Bush was declared dead on Friday, his brother described as he jumped in to try to save his sibling that he “heard him hollering my name to help him,” said Jeremy Bush.

“I feel in my heart he didn’t make it,” Bush told Tampa TV station WFTS. “There were six of us in the house, five got out.”

 

When the emergency team got to the scene “all they could see was a part of a mattress sticking out of the hole,” said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Ron Rogers.

County administrator Mike Merrill described the home as “seriously unstable,” warning that more lives could be lost if people continue to occupy the house, as the soil around it is very soft and the sinkhole is expected to expand.

 

Six people, including a 2-year-old child, were inside the house at the time of the incident.

Limestone caverns place Florida in a sinkhole prone zone. A 400-foot sinkhole near Orlando in 1981 swallowed up five sports cars, two businesses and a three-bedroom house. More than 500 sinkholes have been reported in Hillsborough County since 1954.

UPDATE: First Look Down Seffner, Florida Sinkhole (Raw Video)

Bradley Manning Tells Court Public Have the Right to Know About US War Crimes

02/28/2013

American Attorney for Julian Assange, Michael Ratner, reports he was in the courtroom and witnessed Manning speak with confidence and intelligence as he detailed the outrages that drove him to upload the documents to WikiLeaks.

 

Related Link: Bradley Manning’s FULL Statement on Informing the Public Through WikiLeaks

11-Year-Old Boy Checks Dallas City Council Members On Rude Behavior

 

02/27/2013

A young man goes to a Dallas City Council meeting to learn, but he was the one who schooled city leaders.

David Williams, 11, found his voice Wednesday and called out city council members for being rude to people who address them during meetings.

His original question to members was, “What is an alternative for the teachers to keep the schools safe in DISD without having to bring dangerous weapons to school?”

But then he noticed council members looked distracted and walked around while community members were speaking.

His next question was, “Do you feel it is acceptable for city council members to be up and walking around while constituents are addressing them?”

His mother, Shatara Mathis, didn’t expect him to say that. “I was very proud because sometimes it’s out of the mouth of a babe that you really get enlightened as an adult,” said David’s mom.

Longtime councilmember Dwaine Caraway addressed David’s question and praised his courage.

“Let me first be apologetic to you because I do walk a lot around here but we had to keep things going at times but it is not so respectful to walk around when visitors are speaking so I will adhere to that as well,” said councilmember Dwaine Caraway to David Williams.

Mr. Caraway went on to say he pays a little bit more attention when that kind of statement comes from a different level, as in a younger person.

When asked if he wanted to be a city council member in the future, he said yes, but is more interested in being President of the United States.

David Williams and his mom Shatara Mathis shared some of their experiences inside the FOX 4 studio.

Fmr. Press Sec. Gibbs: “One of the First Things They Told Me Was ‘You’re Not Even to Acknowledge the Drone Program”

 

02/25/2013

Joining MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Sunday morning’s Up, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admitted that he was told by members of Barack Obama’s administration “not to admit” that a drone warfare program exists. Gibbs shocked MSNBC’s panel guests by the admission that Obama was already focused on hiding the drone program from the press even before he took office in 2009.

“When I went through the process of becoming press secretary, one of the first things they told me was ‘you’re not even to acknowledge the drone program,” Gibbs said. “You’re not even to discuss that it exists.”

“Here’s what’s inherently crazy about that proposition: you’re being asked a question based on reporting of a program that exists, right? So, you’re the official government spokesperson acting as if the entire program – pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” Gibbs added.