Unarmed Grand Valley student shot by police last week

media.www.cm-life.com... html this link used for title to not offend ats t&c



for your reading info use the following links
www.mediamouse.org...

On Wednesday evening, an unarmed Grand Valley State University (GVSU) student was shot by Ottawa County police during the execution of a search warrant at the Campus View Apartments in Allendale.

UNARMED----DID NOT RESIST!!!!!

Various media reports citing police spokespeople say that the student--Derek Copp--was shot by an Ottawa County deputy. Initial reports indicate that Copp was shot through an open sliding door as police entered the apartment. The student was unarmed according to state police. Moreover, they say that their initial investigation shows "there was no confrontation as they were coming in. Preliminary investigation shows the subject was not armed and that is all we know at this time."

No arrests were made.

student protests link---www.woodtv.com...






protest video



and further more,,,,,6 hours after being shot,,,he had to call his parents to tell them he was in the hospital and had been shot by police,,,,,,,his parents were frantic,,,as i can imagine



ps----let's focus on the fact police shot an unarmed, unresisting college student,,,, and made no arrest either,,,
let's leave the drug allegations to the side,,, as T&C rules apply
presumed innocent until proven guilty,,,,,,
hopefully mods will punish the guilty not the group

Whaaaat?
They didn't even inform his parents?
That is incompetence on a frightening level right there.....both that the unarmed kid was shot for absolutely no discernible reason, and that they didn't even notify his parents.
I guess they give badges out via crackerjacks over there.

also,,, how stupid are police anyway?????

anyone with have a brain could figure this out,,,,,

i'm sure they knew he was a collegte student,,,,,,
that means he's constantly coming and going to classes

why not approach him upon coming or going to class as he enters or leaves his apt,,,,,where they could catch him off guard,,,, and unable to do anything but give up

doesn't that make a whole lot of sense,,,,and certainly would of alleviated any chance of a shooting


or is some good ole fashioned police work to much effort to ask for????



and apparently there have been quite a few unjustified or questionable police shooting by local police,,,,,, i closed the link,,,,,i'll have to find it
here it is--
www.mlive.com...

Shooting of Grand Valley State University student is fifth shooting this year by police in Kent, Ottawa counties

at least people are protesting







[edit on 17-3-2009 by shortywarn]

I'm taking the OPs advice and presume innocent until proven guilty.

Did they shoot him while busting through the door? If so it could have been an accident. There are reasons why they wear back plates in their bullet proof vest. One reason is that when going through the door a fellow officer might accidently shoot the person in front of them.

It has happened.

Someone posted why they didn't grab him coming out of a class.

If they did that and the guy did have a gun a shoot out could happen and bystanders could get shot. At his house he was isolated and the risk to bystanders is deminished.

I think the same posted that they could have atleast called his parents.

They should have if they were listed under his next of kin on his college paperwork. The hospital probably had the info and called them once all that info was gathered there.

Again, I am not condoning what happened. I am presuming innocent until proven guilty on both sides.

I live about 15 minutes from the GVSU campus. Usually the police are more relaxed in college towns, and they (OCPD) were for a while. However, they've become very bothersome (for lack of a better word) in recent years. Before this incident, the Ottawa County Police Dept had a bad reputation on the GVSU campus for going on power trips and, quite frankly, acting like *expletive*'s. I don't know if regular patrol officers were involved in this "raid," or if they have a special NARC team but, either way, this doesn't surprise me.

reply to post by shortywarn


My... what a big protest....

sounds pretty shady on the police's part.. from what I gather it almost seems like an accidental discharge..

I'm all for the rights of police to shoot someone when they absolutely feel threatened. However, cops nowadays seem to think they have a right to force their way into someone's home, use tactics to hide their identity, and think that anyone that doesn't immediately put their hands in the air when they see them must have a gun. Shining a light into someones face through a window after knocking, blinding that person only to shoot him when he reacts to the light is very poor police work. The standard should be what a normal citizen would do in that situation. If I went to my door at night opened it and was blinded, god forbid I don't have a weapon in my hand, especially if that someone is attempting to gain access to my home.

reply to post by shortywarn


You told us to not presume the guilt of the victim.

Yet you presume guilt of the Police.

Are police officers not also innocent until proven guilty?


I'm sure the cops just pulled that dudes address out of a hat and decided to arrest him just because, right?

He was just a random name.

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
I'm all for the rights of police to shoot someone when they absolutely feel threatened. However, cops nowadays seem to think they have a right to force their way into someone's home, use tactics to hide their identity, and think that anyone that doesn't immediately put their hands in the air when they see them must have a gun. Shining a light into someones face through a window after knocking, blinding that person only to shoot him when he reacts to the light is very poor police work. The standard should be what a normal citizen would do in that situation. If I went to my door at night opened it and was blinded, god forbid I don't have a weapon in my hand, especially if that someone is attempting to gain access to my home.

If the police knock on your door, they announce who they are. If you bring a gun to the door when they announce that they are the police, then you dumb enough to deserve to be shot.

Not one time did this story mention blinding anyone with a light in the face and the reaction was the reason he was shot.

In my opinion, I would get a lawyer and destroy the idiot who shot this student, to the point he will never have anything again. I mean take everything he has and then some...

Originally posted by jd140

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
I'm all for the rights of police to shoot someone when they absolutely feel threatened. However, cops nowadays seem to think they have a right to force their way into someone's home, use tactics to hide their identity, and think that anyone that doesn't immediately put their hands in the air when they see them must have a gun. Shining a light into someones face through a window after knocking, blinding that person only to shoot him when he reacts to the light is very poor police work. The standard should be what a normal citizen would do in that situation. If I went to my door at night opened it and was blinded, god forbid I don't have a weapon in my hand, especially if that someone is attempting to gain access to my home.

If the police knock on your door, they announce who they are. If you bring a gun to the door when they announce that they are the police, then you dumb enough to deserve to be shot.

Not one time did this story mention blinding anyone with a light in the face and the reaction was the reason he was shot.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
reply to post by shortywarn

 

My... what a big protest....

sounds pretty shady on the police's part.. from what I gather it almost seems like an accidental discharge..

did u watch the videos????

thy shot him on purpose,,, he went to cover his eyes when blinded by the flashlight and they shot

also,,, i said arrest him at his apt,,, not on college campus,,,,they could surprise him and he'd have no chance of retaliation,,,,,, it's been don e b4,,,,this was just stupid,,, and there approach just heightened all chances of a bad outcome,,, which obviously occured



also,, the innocent until guilty i was taslking about was the victim,,, it was a narcotics warrant,,,, yet they made no arrest

Originally posted by jd140
reply to post by shortywarn

 

You told us to not presume the guilt of the victim.

Yet you presume guilt of the Police.

Are police officers not also innocent until proven guilty?


I'm sure the cops just pulled that dudes address out of a hat and decided to arrest him just because, right?

He was just a random name.

he shot an unarmed civilian,,,,,is he not guilty

again,,, he shot a man who had no gun,,, who was backing up,,,,, and if you watch the video of detectives,,,, it's pretty obvious by there statements and comments,,, there on the defensive and,,,at least to me,,,,saying this wasn't good,,and probably wrong,,,,,they sure didn't defend him much,,, like would be expected if he was innocent




and ,,,,they made no arrest,,, so obviously there was nothing illegal,,,,

surely after sdhooting a man,,,,,,you woud say the evidence you found,,,,,and of he was breaking the law

surely that would make it look a hole lot better for the police

watch the video-----no arrest was made

reply to post by shortywarn


Wow. I live in Michigan and Have not heard anything of this on local news or in the news paper or from my parents or brothers at all.
I'm sure I would have heard of this as news gets around pretty fast usually especially when it involves a Michigan College.

Hopefully I'll hear more about it but it's already monday and it happened last friday and no news?


I'm starting to think that the more guilty the party is, the less we hear about it.

Originally posted by jd140
I'm taking the OPs advice and presume innocent until proven guilty.

Did they shoot him while busting through the door? If so it could have been an accident. There are reasons why they wear back plates in their bullet proof vest. One reason is that when going through the door a fellow officer might accidently shoot the person in front of them.

It has happened.

Someone posted why they didn't grab him coming out of a class.

If they did that and the guy did have a gun a shoot out could happen and bystanders could get shot. At his house he was isolated and the risk to bystanders is deminished.

I think the same posted that they could have atleast called his parents.

They should have if they were listed under his next of kin on his college paperwork. The hospital probably had the info and called them once all that info was gathered there.

Again, I am not condoning what happened. I am presuming innocent until proven guilty on both sides.

Seems to me like a simple " somebody is selling pot on campus or has pot" type of thing which is really EVERYWHERE on EVERY campus in the USA. so lets not presume he is dangerous and has a gun just because DRUGS are involved.

The word Drugs instantly gives people a bad image when that is not always the case.

Sometimes people shoot other people by accident.
Just like they accidentally run people over.
It all depends, whether is was on purpose.

It seems that cops in all countries are getting out of control. For a while i thought it was just an American thing but now i see otherwise. It's an alarming trend and one that is only going to get worse. Frightening times...

TheAssociate