Woman says she was feet away when shots killed Oregon occupier Finicum.

Woman says she was feet away when shots killed Oregon occupier Finicum. Video of Road Block and Car Chase Analyzed

CNN.Com

Victoria Sharp says she is certain LaVoy Finicum was unjustly gunned down by state police after they and the FBI pursued his vehicle in southern Oregon.

The article linked in this article gives a bit of background on the whole standoff and goes into a little detail about the official version of what happened during the car chase and road block in which LaVoy Finicum was killed.

The article then goes into an interview by CNN with Victoria Sharp, an 18 girl who claims she was in the car with LaVoy Finicum at that fateful roadblock.

She seems very adamant that LaVoy Finicum was unjustly killed by police and she bravely says that she will continue supporting the cause of those leading the stand-off.

Most interesting in this article is that during the interview they actually have Victoria Sharp watch the video from the helicopter during the police chase and aftermath. The interviewers pose questions to Victoria Sharp asking her point of view based on the official narrative released by the FBI statement.

Here are some noteworthy quotes from the interview

Sharp said Thursday that as soon as the vehicle hit the snow bank, she heard shots hit the truck. It's not clear on the video whether any rounds were hitting the vehicle.

"He had his hands up," Sharp said. "He was shouting that if they were going to shoot, then just shoot him. I remember him saying that if they shoot him, it's an innocent man's blood on their hands."

This right here tells me that this very subject was a topic of discussion among the protesters and that they probably had a plan in place if something like this occurred.

As seen on the FBI video, Finicum reaches twice toward a jacket pocket. Officers fire. Finicum falls to the ground. The FBI said it recovered a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun in that left side pocket of his jacket.

Sharp said she heard three shots and saw Finicum fall. "He wasn't doing anything aggressive, anything," she insisted. "He was just walking with his hands up."

This is the statement we have heard several times from Sharp and other people that were in the vehicle at the time.

Things start to get interesting from an interrogation/interview perspective as the interviewer again questions Victoria's answers against what was released as the official narrative.

When asked whether Finicum reached for a weapon, Sharp said, "He was not showing any signs of aggression."

Sharp agreed to sit with CNN and view the FBI video.

CNN pointed out the first, then the second time on the video where viewers can see Finicum reach across his body toward that left-side pocket.

"You know, I can't say that he was reaching for a weapon or not," said Sharp.

She watched the video again.

"OK, he was running through snow and it does not look like he is reaching to me. He's trying to keep his balance. He's running, I remember it. He didn't reach for anything."

So to me, as an investigator, I would argue that while I believe that this young lady believes everything that she is saying, that she could be missing some information that she might not have seen or forgotten in the terror in those crucial seconds after the vehicle came to a stop and LaVoy Finicum was shot. Remember she is a young girl, only 18, and is likely unaware how the brain works in traumatic situations. I take nothing away from her statements as she seems to have her head on her shoulders and is a brave young lady for standing up for what she believes.

However the point where she states the following,

CNN pointed out the first, then the second time on the video where viewers can see Finicum reach across his body toward that left-side pocket.

"You know, I can't say that he was reaching for a weapon or not," said Sharp.

This could be an indicator that she in fact did miss something by either looking away, looking at something else, or having her eyes closed.

I will be posting a second part to this with my opinion based on my expertise in video surveillance and investigations where I break down the video of the car chase that lead to the death of LaVoy Finicum.

Thank you,

The following is my analysis of the video taken by police helicopter camera during the police chase and roadblock that led to the death of LaVoy Finicum

OPINION - OPINION -

This is my take based on my understanding of the events and analyzing of the video evidence that has been released, pure speculation however I do have experience analyzing and presenting video evidence in court.

After the vehicle pulled away from the initial traffic stop, the state police and FBI hardened the road block and the officers took either defensive positions among the trees/ snow bank, or they took position behind the road block vehicles. The officers probably chose that precise location because they felt that they could bottle neck the vehicle in to either a) stopping before reaching the roadblock and surrendering or, b) crashing into the road block in a hail of bullets. The Up-hill s-curve puts the roadblock out of sight until it’s too late.

The vehicle approached the roadblock at a high rate of speed, note that the roadblock has several armed officers, and this also is by design as they now have a legal right of way when it comes to firing on that vehicle as it approaches putting the officers safety at risk. Whether or not that would have been the proper tactic in that situation is not clear. Legally, there is precedent, but morally it is questionable, at best.

So we have the vehicle approaching at a high rate of speed and as it approaches the roadblock the armed officers may or may not have fired rounds in attempt to disable the vehicle or the operator. Instead of crashing into the roadblock, the vehicle swerves left to avoid the roadblock and crashes into the snowbank.

At this point you have armed officers from the road side as Lavoy Finicum emerges from the vehicle. Two things here, I can almost guarantee that Lavoy Finicum got out of the vehicle under his own accord, meaning that the Police would not have prompted anyone to get out of the vehicle immediately or in a hasty manner. Second, Lavoy Finicum knew there was a good chance they were all going to be killed.

Lavoy Finicum gets out of the vehicle and puts his hands in the air. At this point the police are probably yelling instructions to Lavoy Finicum for him to get on the ground, or to get back in the car. He continues to walk away from the vehicle and from all indications all of the police on the roadside are willing to work through the situation. Lavoy Finicum then appears to open his coat in a gesture to show he is unarmed. He faces the officer on the road side opening his coat. Obviously if he would have been reaching for a weapon he would have been put down by that officer at that moment. The officer on the road side did not appear to fire as Finicum reached to his chest area at least two times and the officer closest to him on the road side did not fire or appear threatened.

At this point it gets very strange from a law enforcement perspective. Another law enforcement officer appears out of the tree line from the snow bank with a pistol aimed and closes in within several feet of Lavoy Finicum. It appears that this officer is also shouting commands at Finicum, who turns to the officer coming from the snow bank. It is at this time that Finicum again appears to pull his coat open in a gesture to show that he is unarmed or not a threat. The officer closest to him in the snow bank side begins firing his pistol at Lavoy Finicum.

A couple problems here.

The officer is firing in the directions of not only the white vehicle full of occupants who are currently posing no threat, but also firing in the direction of other law enforcement officers. You can see in the video it appears they were not expecting the officer from the snow bank side to fire from that trajectory either. This is not standard procedure. It is bad form and somewhat a disgrace to watch. It is my estimation that it is during this gunfire that Lavoy Finicum was hit and killed and other rounds hit the vehicle Finicum was driving injuring at least one occupant. It appears that the officer on the snow bank side fired at least a dozen rounds because if you watch as he is firing he reaches his free hand around to his bag, I presume, to pull out another magazine. So more than likely he had fired 12 to 15 rounds at the direction of sardines in a can as well as other state and or federal law enforcement officials.

With Finicum incapacitated the officers focused their attention on the other occupants of the vehicle. The officers chose to deploy devices designed to concuss and disorient the passengers. This decision also is a bit confusing. You would normally use stun devices when you are about to make contact with someone. The effects of these devices in such an open environment would typically not last more than a few minutes. Yet the officers did not begin to evacuate the vehicle for more than five minutes.

Also during this time there appears to be either more gunfire through the front windshield and side window, or the police were deploying further tactical measures. This could be rubber bullets or any number of gadgets the feds have really. Its pretty much textbook take down from this point on.

So was LaVoy Finicum murdered? Many of us agree on the findings I just think from a lawful point of view that under the circumstances the officers were justified in shooting him. On a personal level I do not feel that it was justified, but personal levels don't have any credence in the justice system.


Ok please keep the hate mail to a minimum but I am willing for all constructive criticisms. Again, this is my opinion based solely on watching the video and using my professional analysis as an investigator. I purposely did not listen to commentary immediately following the shooting so that I could watch the video without having the predisposition of having heard eye witness versions or even official authorities versions. I made these conclusions based only on what video evidence presented to me.

"Lavoy Finicum gets out of the vehicle and puts his hands in the air. At this point the police are probably yelling instructions to Lavoy Finicum for him to get on the ground, or to get back in the car. He continues to walk away from the vehicle and from all indications all of the police on the roadside are willing to work through the situation. Lavoy Finicum then appears to open his coat in a gesture to show he is unarmed."

so you recognize he reached for his jacket were he had a gun, after running from the police and getting out of the car.

that's great.

notice the first time he ran from the cops, he stayed in his car. so he knew what to do when someone gets pulled over. in my opinion he was looking to get shot. the only thing he didnt do to suicide by cop is actually put his hand on his pistol. everything else he did when added, justifies the cops' actions.

a reply to: vjr1113

Not sure what your point is but let me reiterate that these were my observations based only on analyzing the video. I have heard since this analysis that the police stated LaVoy Finicum had a 9mm in his left coat pocket. Obviously I cannot make that same assumption based only on the video (without actually being able to see a firearm inside of his coat)

a reply to: beyondtruth

i actually dont know if he would have fired his gun. but like you, i agree there is more than enough justification by his actions.

a reply to: vjr1113

And also let me say that the reason for my having done this analysis publicly is because of all the sentiment going against the official version of the story as well as the other side of the issue questioning the legitimacy of the eye-witnesses whose statements conflict with the official version.

Personally and professionally speaking I can say that more than likely neither version is entirely true. And that is not to say that anyone lied in an attempt to maliciously attack the other side. But in events that can be traumatic and occur in fractions of seconds, sometimes things can be misconstrued. It is my attempt to bring some clarity and balance to this discussion.

here's a new theory.....

Burns Oregon--LaVoy Points Out the Person that Takes the First Shot At Him!



video only. no story yet.

originally posted by: vjr1113
a reply to: beyondtruth

i actually dont know if he would have fired his gun. but like you, i agree there is more than enough justification by his actions.

My perception of LaVoy Finicums actions based on the video is that he was not going to pull a firearm, nor did he plan to shoot it out with the police. My perception is that he was purposely distancing himself from the vehicle so that the remaining occupants would not be fired upon by the police. As you said and I am aware that we do not know for certain, but based on his movements this appears to be a logical assumption.

a reply to: beyondtruth

well he reached for his jacket were he had a gun, before being clearly shot on the video. thats the evidence that we have. we have no evidence of any shots being fired until he jerks his knee up in what looks like pain, about 2 seconds after reaching for his jacket.

most cops wont give you half a second before pulling the trigger if you reach into your jacket or pockets, and rightfully so.

thats why when i get pulled over i stop, stay in my car, put my hands up, and sit still. so i dont end up like this guy.

In another thread, the other woman in that truck reported that there were a hundred shots taken at the truck as it plowed into the snow bank and that Finnicum jumped from the car to draw fire away from those in the truck. Yet this young woman makes not mention of those shots at all.

Also was it not one of the women who on the first night reported that Finnicum was on his knees in surrender when he was shot. That was one of the first rumors to emerge from the whole thing, before the video was available.

a reply to: beyondtruth

Very thorough, and basically fair and reasonable analysis -- my compliments for your efforts. And I agree that Ms. Sharp believes what she is saying is the truth.

This could be rubber bullets or any number of gadgets the feds have really.

Speaking of other gadgets, would the flashbangs or any of those other gadgets sound like gunfire from inside the vehicle? Would a flashbang, for example, make one large "boom," or several "booms," or how would that sound from within the vehicle? Ms. Sharp also mentioned the gas canisters, as Bretzing did; would those be distinguishable from within the vehicle? And were they actually shot inside the vehicle or just right outside? If you know, of course.

I made these conclusions based only on what video evidence presented to me.

What variables, if any, would change your mind if confirmed or disproven? For example, if the vehicle is actually completely shot up, would you reconsider? If/when the autopsy report is released, what would you look for to confirm or disprove your conclusions? (I ask because, for me, if the vehicle is released, and it's not all shot up, then I have to question Ms. Sharp's other perceptions).

And, the $64,000 question, do you think there is video with sound taken from ground level? Double points: If so, why was it not released instead of this video?

originally posted by: xuenchen
here's a new theory.....

Interesting video and I understand that we will all come to our own conclusions watching this video. I am going to respectfully disagree with this theory and here is why...

If you watch the video and read my analysis the point where I state that the officer comes out of the tree line shouting commands at Finicum, you will see that is when the officer that your videos narrator claims shot Finicum, moves quickly back to cover behind the police vehicles. This, in my professional opinion is done because this officer realizes that the officer in the snow bank shouting at Finicum is about to discharge his weapon, and may have already begun to do so and the officer is getting the hell out of dodge. Again in my analysis I state that this officer in the snow bank is not only endangering the passengers in the white vehicle, but also every police officer that is in the line of fire.

Also another thing I don't agree with on your video is that LaVoy Finicum pointed at the officer who shot at him.. It appears that LaVoy Finicum is pointing at his vehicle. And again, in my professional opinion this pointing to the vehicle tied in with other movements and behavior appears to show that Finicum was worried about the safety and well being of those occupants in the vehicle rather than him pointing at someone who shot him.

a reply to: beyondtruth

My perception is that he was purposely distancing himself from the vehicle so that the remaining occupants would not be fired upon by the police

I can easily see that his gesture was to save others. But I can also see that he had been in flight mode, running from the first road block, and on seeing the second road block attempted to swerve around it to go on getting away. When the truck became stuck, he might have continued on in the same frame of mind, jumped from the truck and was high-tailing it for the tree line to gain his freedom only to find that the LEO's were already in the trees waiting.

Like you, I do not know. The stories are all still to jumbled. The favorable witnesses to the venture are all from people who are sympathetic to the whole cause. There are reports from them that NONE of them had weapons with them, that they had decided to leave them back at the ranch and that the gun found on Finnicum was planted.

To many conflicting stories.

She also said she was down on the floorboards for protection. So how did she see out the windows?

I cannot understand how anything she says has bearing on what obviously happened.

"Hands up, keep them up " obviously being shouted out by all of those officers, and then he puts them down and fumbles in a pocket.

I do not think there is a trooper in the country that would not have fired on him.

As seen on the FBI video, Finicum reaches twice toward a jacket pocket. Officers fire. Finicum falls to the ground.

This is a totally incorrect sequence of events. Here, this is more accurate and as per the video and witness testimony...

As seen on the FBI video, Officers fire.Finicum reaches twice toward a jacket pocket. Finicum falls to the ground.

Typical state sanctioned propaganda to cover up and distort the facts - one being that LaVoy Finicum was murdered by US law enforcement officers. They can however redeem themselves and prove me wrong by releasing the audio and any body camera footage of the event.

*crickets*

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Here's a link to the transcript of her statement (pdf):
Victoria Sharp (transcript)

These are the pertinent statements I found:

And then like when we crashed, we stopped for a second, he ( Lavoy) got out of the car and he had his hands in the air, and Unless just shoot me then , and they did, they shot him dead, they shot him right there like there just walking with his hands in the air. And I thought I swear to god my god, just walking with his hands in the air...

Was he standing His hands were still up after he was dead.

I believe it was Nevada Rep Michelle Fiore who said Lisa Bundy called her and claimed that Ammon (her husband) had told her that Mr. Finicum was on his knees. At least that's how it was reported if I'm remembering right.

Ive seen the reports and heard the witness testimony that you speak of and I only want to add this...

The reports, from my understanding, say that Finicum was shot from the roadside before reaching for his chest area. Review the video and you will that most if not all the officers are armed with rifles. If what you say is true and LaVoy Finicum was first hit with rifle fire then why is there no concussion effects to his body. He does not seem to be taken aback or moved by anything until the officer on the snow bank fires. This officer is firing a pistol. Watch LaVoy Finicum's body as this officer fires several rounds at Finicum. LaVoy Finicum immediately crumples toward the road, away from the angle he was shot from. I have a hard time believing that he was hit with rifle fire and did not flinch or in any way display effects of rifle fire, but instantly after taking pistol rounds he shows concussive effects from the rounds hitting him before slumping to the ground TOWARD the road.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft

As seen on the FBI video, Finicum reaches twice toward a jacket pocket. Officers fire. Finicum falls to the ground.

This is a totally incorrect sequence of events. Here, this is more accurate and as per the video and witness testimony...

As seen on the FBI video, Officers fire.Finicum reaches twice toward a jacket pocket. Finicum falls to the ground.

Typical state sanctioned propaganda to cover up and distort the facts - one being that LaVoy Finicum was murdered by US law enforcement officers. They can however redeem themselves and prove me wrong by releasing the audio and any body camera footage of the event.

*crickets*

Its far past the time when one can trust the FBI to be honest.....The local cops the same......
Too many lies have been caught out.....their methods have been exposed....
So if The FBI claims he had a gun.....what makes it true......
Just asking.....
I have a feeling his actions were based upon drawing the fire and attention of the police from the OTHER OCCUPANTS....
Among which was a daughter.....
As far as reaching for a somewhat suspect 9mm he was supposed to have in a coat pocket goes.....I say maybe but just as likely not.....If so then show us better film footage we can have examined by independent experts.....lets hear the audio....
The FBI were ordered to kill Lavoy Fincum by who knows how high up....because he was a good communicator,
because he didn't come across as some one any different than you or I.....
That was his death sentence....he was too normal and they were afraid too many people would pay attention to his words
Which are a danger to the current junta in power

a reply to: charlyv

"Hands up, keep them up " obviously being shouted out by all of those officers

Based on this comment, I have clearly missed the audio being released of the event, if so can you please post a link for me?

Or is this a presumption you have made based on standard LEO training protocols and tactics?