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n5wd wrote:Deceased?

He was only mostly0 dead, not yet all the way dead. So, he got better and got up.

Generally, the larger departments, like Dallas, will handle their own investigations of officers. They might request assistance from another agency if they have a reason to think their investigation is compromised or serious corruption is involved. In the case of corruption, a department will ask either the Rangers or FBI for assistance. The deciding factor is almost always if the corruption involves drugs, in which case they go with the FBI to get federal time. Anything else will almost always be handled by the Rangers. This is because, again as a general rule, most police officers (including the chiefs) don't really like the FBI or trust them. Smaller departments generally ask the Rangers for help with shootings and any serious offense involving officers.

One of the reasons that cops don't like the FBI is that the FBI goes after cops. A second reason is the way they step in and take over cases that the local officers have handled.

But the FBI will almost always step in when they think there is a civil rights violation. They can be asked in by the department, local politicians, the public, or anyone. They have been known to step in when they see a commotion in the news. I believe that this case is being investigated by the FBI on their own just because the news releases don't mention anyone asking for them and politicians will almost always take the credit for asking for that type of investigation. And it doesn't really mean anything to the case, IMO, since there are no allegations of anything being race related or departmental.

I think Charles mentioned what caused the officers problems in this case and convinced the chief to drop charges before further investigation. it kind of got skipped over in the discussion of the Tueller drill though, so let's go back to it for a minute.

The officers statement said that the mentally ill man lunged at him and took four steps towards him, causing the officer to fear for his life and open fire. The video may not show everything about the possible threats but it clearly shows that the man did not lunge or take any steps before the officer opened fire. This discrepancy places the officer's credibility in doubt enough for the criminal charge to be dropped. It also will hurt the officer in any investigation.

It should be noted that the chief is still allowing both the internal and criminal investigations to continue. If it turns out that the man really did threaten the officer, the charge can be refiled with no problem. By dropping the charge at this point, the officer stopped the clock on the speedy trial requirement, giving them time for a proper investigation. This part of the case is probably not understood well by people who have not dealt with the criminal justice system as much as the chief has. At this point in time, with what I saw on the video, I am in agreement with the chief's actions and with the view that it does not look good for the officers right now. It is certainly not conclusive either way, but it does not look good for them.