TexasCHLforum.com

talltex wrote:

texanjoker wrote:The grand jury has cleared the officers and that is why I await the facts vs jumping on the bandwagon . Glad to see the truth came out vs the media hype! This suspect should not have picked the gun back up and pointed it at the officers. Obviously the grand jury agreed.

The CLEAT Legal Team spent countless hours preparing for this Grand Jury presentation. After a weeklong proceeding, the Grand Jury concluded last week that the actions of Officer Hoeppner to be reasonable and justified under the facts and evidence presented.

I will agree the Grand Jury failed to indict Officer Hoeppner and found his actions to be justified under the facts and evidence presented. I can't agree that this guarantees the truth came out. According to the CLEAT publicity statement, one of their lawyers arrived on the scene within minutes of the shooting (and I expect was immediately instructing the officers on what to say and what not to say). CLEAT attorneys were informed a couple of months ago by the DA's office that their office would not be making a statement or recommendation to the Grand Jury or presenting any expert witness for the officer's defense, which CLEAT said was contrary to normal procedure in an officer involved shooting. This led CLEAT to believe that the DA's office thought he would be indicted, so they scrambled a top "Grand Jury Defense Team" to prevent that from happening. I've read through the complete investigative report issued by the department and presented to the Grand Jury. That department statement, along with the testimony of Officers Hoeppner & Hanlon and a forensic witness was what the Grand Jury had to base its decision on. The forensic expert said that one of the shots struck Waller's hand/wrist first and then his torso, indicating he had his arm raised in front of him. According to CLEAT's lawyers, that was proof that Mr. Waller was pointing his gun at Officer Hoeppner intending to shoot him. The truth is, there's no way of knowing if that wound was from the first or last shot fired and it could just as easily happened because Waller threw up his arm instinctively to shield himself when Hoeppner opened fire on him. Only three people know what was actually said and done that night, and the only version of the "facts" the Grand Jury heard was from the two that survived and were facing criminal or civil charges for their actions. I don't believe that Hoeppner shot Waller out of malice...I think it was probably a combination of lack of experience, panic and pumping adrenaline. But the one fact, that I believe to be indisputable, is that Mr. Waller would be alive if the Officers had not screwed up and gone to the wrong address to begin with.

drjoker wrote:

rbwhatever1 wrote:Stupid avoidable tragedy. Police Officers are paid to put their lives on the line. Not the lives of Citizens. It's a higher calling of Duty. Sacrifice. Honor. Courage. I see the opposite here. An American Citizen gunned down because a Police Officer refused to put his life on the line and protect the very citizens he is entrusted to protect and serve.

The fact of the matter is, that this is a case of mistaken identity, HOWEVER, if the tables were turned and the old man shot the cop, I seriously doubt that the old man would be out on "administrative PAID leave." He'd probably be sitting in jail pending payment of bail, if he can afford it. This is NOT liberty. Liberty is when the law applies equally to all citizens, cops or not. Being in the government doesn't give you special powers over others because it is a government BY THE PEOPLE and FOR THE PEOPLE, so if anything, the power of government should be less than that of the people.

Sadly, too many cops think that everyone else should "Obey my authority!" (or else suffer a violent end).

P.S. the take away message is this: ALWAYS treat every interaction with LEO with kid gloves, record video, audio, and post online immediately so that it couldn't be deleted off your phone later. Remember, cops are people too, some are good and some are bad. Be careful out there....

P.P.S. Here's some fun footage of a cop who shoots an unarmed woman dead for rolling up her windows and driving away because she wouldn't obey his verbal orders to stop her car. He lies and claims that she dragged him with her car. However, an eyewitness saw the officer shooting the woman once after she drove away. Then, to cover up his crime, he chases after the car on foot as it slows down (woman was shot) and then fires 5 more times to make sure the woman is dead (so she can't tell her side of the story). http://youtu.be/BSPhC916GQM

The husband of the slain woman then "dies of natural causes" after he files a $5.3 million lawsuit against the police. Guess who ruled that it was "natural causes"? Police investigators! At the very least, another police department or the FBI should investigate it or internal affairs should investigate it. Instead, the wolves are telling the sheep, "it wasn't me." http://youtu.be/V7zYqCvLbWQ

Police officers should all be elected officials. We should all push for that. That's the only way to weed out rogue cops that I can see.

Here are some cops who beat a man LYING ON THE GROUND to death. Witnesses had it all on video. Cops confiscated the video.
http://youtu.be/7taxYcpEfX4