
California Man Pleads Guilty in Deadly Wichita Swatting Case - lnguyen
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ks/pr/california-man-pleads-guilty-deadly-wichita-swatting-case
======
bootsz
> A man who came outside to face police, however, had done nothing wrong and
> did not know about the swatting call. As he stepped onto the porch, police
> told him to put up his hands. When he unexpectedly dropped his hands, he was
> shot and killed.

The number of times I've read an account of this kind of scenario playing out
in the past few years is absolutely mind-boggling and depressing. The fact
that in the US you can so easily be shot to bits by police just by
accidentally making a small incorrect movement is just insane to me. I
understand that police face real threats and need to take precautions to
protect their own lives, but _surely_ there must a better system to accomplish
this other than requiring someone to immediately perform a sequence of body
movements without making a single mistake or else you kill them.

~~~
cypherg
Non-deadly force has been completely ignored. Why not just incapacitate the
suspect?

~~~
Analemma_
With the way incentives are set up right now, there’s no reason to. For all
practical purposes, police are completely immune to any consequences of
unjustified killings– DA’s never ever prosecute cops and internal affairs
departments are do-nothing bodies designed only to make it look like there’s
some accountability– so there’s no reason to not always use the maximum amount
of force “just in case”.

~~~
erichurkman
Or, if you do get fired, you just move to the police department in the town
next door, or from city to county, or county to state. It's the standard
practice for communities with no incentive to prosecute (like the Vatican
shuffling around rapist priests and bishops instead of bringing them to
judgment).

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danielvf
The man who pled guilty was calling in a swatting or a bomb threat every two
to three days for the three months before he was caught. It took someone dying
to actually get a serious investigation.

\- Initial charges (including twitter logs, 911 call transcript)
[https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/05/24/barrissindictment.pdf](https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/05/24/barrissindictment.pdf)

\- 46 additional charges for bomb threats and other swattings.
[https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5019352/Barriss-I...](https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5019352/Barriss-
Information-10-24-18.pdf)

------
sorokod
What happened to the policeman who did the actual killing?

~~~
zimpenfish
Looks like "nothing" \- the DA declined to charge him and whilst there was an
internal investigation, that doesn't seem to have gone anywhere either.

~~~
sorokod
The contrast between the fate of the swatter and the killer is quite...
striking. Makes it look as if police has no agency not to kill.

~~~
goldenkey
"When crime is acceptable, make no mistake.. the criminals will be the ones
wearing the uniforms and badges of honor."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynwood_Vikings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynwood_Vikings)

------
opwieurposiu
What about this: A device that uses a camera and laser galvo to temporarily
blind people by scanning a laser in their face. If someone is blind then they
can't aim a gun. This could be useful for both police wanting protection from
citizens and visa versa.

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msla
One of these days, there's going to be a swatting case that's deadly for the
police.

~~~
kickopotomus
Not swatting, but no-knock raids have gone badly for the police before[0].

[0] [https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/courtroom-files/texas-man-
fou...](https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/courtroom-files/texas-man-found-not-
guilty-for-shooting-three-cops-during-noknock-raid-ehraX84ZEUi9Q0___1p4XA/)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
And there, as here, the police refused to accept any responsibility for their
actions.

