Drunk On-Duty Cop Kills - Mayor Calls In FBI

reply to post by Dogdish

I live here too. And I had a lot of friends that went to the rally downtown the other day. Its very sad. Its a reflection of the world we live in, tptb abusing the trust and manipulating their power to serve and protect themselves. The biker community will not let the issue die. They will do what they need to do to make sure that justice is served. Kinda ironic isn't it. The Bikers calling out the Police.
Much love and peace in this process to the families of both sides. So sorry for your loss. Out of this tragedy things may change for the better.

I live in Indianapolis, and this is a really hot topic with me. I am infuriated by the lack of professionalism, the irresponsibility, complete disregard for human life, and poor leadership by our police department. Maybe we should hire private security forces to patrol our streets and protect our citizens...we used to have the Guardian Angels here in Indy in the 80's, and I always wanted to grow up and be one...maybe now is the time.

By the way here is the link to the probable cause affidavit, if anyone is interested.

I know Mayor Ballard personally. I used to work for him prior to his political days, and he was a man of integrity then. If he doesn't get this situation under control quickly, his re-election is in definite jeopardy.

reply to post by Dogdish


This is a sad story, and as much as I believe in never 'ratting' someone out and always covering for your buddies, this is one of those things that no one should turn a blind eye too - someone has died and could have all the multiple times this cop had been drunk on the job (or driving drunk period, off duty or not).

I hope the FBI (whom I don't trust but whatever...) cleans this police station, and others involved, up completely.

Anyone involved should be fired and charged with obstruction of justice and the cop who killed someone should be in jail for manslaughter as others have said.

It's unfortunate that due to the nature of there work police will always stick together when they can, including covering for fellow officers that commit crimes or use poor judgement,

The .45ACP is inherently a sub sonic round. It is also a formidable round since the standard 230g FMJ and/or ball projectile has a tendency to cause rather disastrous conflict upon reaching it's target.

Screw a suppressor on the end of said .45ACP and all those within earshot only hear the click of the action...if that.

Rather than advocate for an outcome, I'm merely extending food for thought.

Having a child isn't like buying a Sea Monkey kit at Wal Mart. Should the Sea Monkey kit be knocked over and soil the carpet? Out comes the Bissel to remedy the situation.

Should a child be stolen from his/her family (regardless of age) a different tool is used to remedy the situation.

While such a mentality as previously hinted at can be viewed as barbaric, said view is typically taken aghast typically by those who haven't nurtured and looked into the eyes of their own children.

Again, there is no advocacy regarding an outcome but merely a thought regarding a remedy.

That being stated, I proudly wear the Gadsden flag and woe to those who interpret a mere T shirt as only that.

reply to post by Dogdish


It's sad I only live 70 miles from indy and the police here are the same they all go down to the FOP and drink all damn day there are always cops there so u know they are drinking + driving it just takes somethin like this to show people.

reply to post by Dogdish


I am not aware of his being drunk in any of the other accidents, but nonetheless there has been a cover up. This cover up would be expected of officers unfortunately. It is the job of those above to "explore" and discover the facts. It would then be handed to the prosecutors, but obviously everyone in the path of the system dropped the ball.

As for the Mayor handing this over to the FBI; it should be quite apparent that this is how things are conducted in Indy when the system fails. Another example would be the Carmel High School case of rape and or molestation by the gay basketball team players. The system failed and the Feds were brought in.

As for the victims and family- condolences go out to all. The normal offering for restitution is 600K, but even that seems hardly adequate for the things that can't be bought. Justice should be served as it would for anyone who commits such a travesty.

reply to post by Wyn Hawks


"we dont know for sure when the cover-up started but it doesnt appear to have started immediately in this particular case...".

After all that has been said here, I would have to dis-agree.

I think the cover-up is an on-going process, The "Don't worry we got your back kind of thing". Somebody has to put a stop to this kind of childish behavior, don't you agree!. Peace

It reminds me of an incident that happened in my small town about 15 years ago that involved a State Cop and me and my friend,

On the weekends all these State Cops would hang out at this local bar some on duty some off, but all would drive their squad cars to the bar.

One night one of the cops left the bar drunk and wrapped his squad car around a rail road crossing pole.

Just so happens me and my buddy were out driving around and he had just gotten this video camera for his birthday and we just out having a good time filming everything, we were about 17 at the time.

Well, we came across this accident just right after it happened nobody had shown up yet, and started filming the whole thing.

This State cop stumbled out of his car and took off running from the scene before any other cops showed up.

Well we got it all on film.

He along his state cop buddies and local police concocted some story, that he was at home with his wife and someone must have stolen his car and taken it for a joy ride and wrecked it and ran from the scene.

The whole thing was in the paper the next day, how a local state cops patrol car had been stolen and wrecked and they suspected teenagers did it etc....

Somehow they got wind that we had a videotape of the whole thing, and state and local cops paid us both a visit demanding the videotape or they were going to arrest us for obstructing justice.

They were like, we know you have a videotape of the accident and if you just turn it over to us nothing will happen to you, but if you dont we can arrest you, your parents, etc..

We told them we didnt know what they were talking about, we didnt have a tape or anything.

So for like a week the were following us everywhere we went harrassing us, pulling us over, comin by out house, telling us how they were going to put us in jail if we didnt turn over the evidence.

Anyway to make along story short, we finally had to go to the states attorny with the videotape and tell them what had been happening.

A bunch of state and local cops got fired for trying to cover up this state cops wreck and harrassing 2 minors.

But, it was definitely an eye opener to learn just how the cops will do anything for one another even to go as far as to cover up a crime and harrass and threaten 2 teenagers.

[edit on 22-8-2010 by skull_bones]

Originally posted by Myendica
reply to post by boondock-saint

 

Isn't voluntary manslaughter, actually like murder in the 2nd? Or is it like, me volunteering to be the one who hangs the criminal? I am confused.

Voluntary manslaughter would be murder which is in some way mitigated by a plea of diminished responsibility i.e. in the UK you can plead provocation, or diminished responsibility through mental illness.

Involuntary manslaughter would be killing someone through negligence or recklessness et c; no intent to kill but punishment for the killing of a human being regardless.

You know what really stinks? The Mayor did the right thing but in doing so may harm his political career. He's the Man in the town. This happened on his watch. And when the civil suits start up the city, that means the voters, are going to have to pay because of the force.

reply to post by skull_bones


I liked that story, it made me laugh.

Thanks

Peace

reply to post by Dogdish


I live in Indianapolis for starters.

The majority of the police force here is disgusted and appalled. So let me ask you, why are you using the exception to define the rule? Are you aware that's an enormous fallacy of logic?

Every Mayor and every Governor in every state should be following this man's lead. No exceptions.

This is all it would take, to put a grinding halt to the out-of-control madness that has become the United States Police Crime Syndicate.

He should be commended by every professional in his field. He would be wise to circle the wagons with his friends and affiliates in politics. This could spur a rather welcoming new trend.

reply to post by skull_bones


Stories like this need to be articulately communicated w/o exageration and hype. Police corruption is a HUGE problem. Most people faced by the the everyday abuse of power by police develop stockholm syndrome. If stories like yours were heard more frequently maybe there wouldbe fewer people w/ stockholm syndrome and more LE accountability. Do you still have that video? If yes, you could digitize and upload it.

Originally posted by Wyn Hawks

Originally posted by richierich
Notice how all the cop groupies , who normally slavishly rush to defend any cop at any time, are noticeable absent from this thread.

Originally posted by richierich
Cops are NOT ' professionals ', by any definition of the word. Professionals do NOT neglect to enforce profressional and legal ethics and violate the rules and laws...

...thats incredibly naive... there are no professions that should be put up on a pedestal - because - all professionals are humans and all humans have personality flaws, just like you, just like me...

...what your comment up there says about you is - you expect cops to act like infallible gods, then you get pissed off when some act like they think they're gods and you get pissed off when some fail to act like the gods you think they should be... if you could come to the understanding that all human groups contain good people, bad people and inbetweeners, you might not be so angry all the time...

Originally posted by richierich
cops always want US to pay strict attention to the laws, while they cover up for their buddies and laugh at us for being powerless....sick freaks. Some day....some day..

...yeah, well, you're entitled to your opinion - even though its naive and full of generalizations (which, btw, make you wrong by default)...

Uh, do you actually believe that last part? You don't think that public servants who wield the power to incarcerate and kill us should not be held to a higher standard than people in other professions which do not have such an overt and adverse effect on people's lives? If you do, I pity you, because you are one of the weak sheep that the wolves in power depend upon to maintain their position.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Good- then why did the cops immediately connected to the incident attempt to run interference? How does that FACT relate to the logical fallacy of which you speak?

edit to clarify- No one has made an argument. No one attempted to generalize from the OPs incident. The generalizations if any are coming from the numerical weight of incidents and data of which most participants of this thread are aware. Your implication that the OP or anyone else is generalizing from a single incident is (in addition to being insulting) is an attempt to bate- not an attempt to discuss.

[edit on 22-8-2010 by sjorges2002]

Originally posted by sjorges2002
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

Good- then why did the cops immediately connected to the incident attempt to run interference? How does that FACT relate to the logical fallacy of which you speak?

Because the cops "immediately connected" to the incident are at best 1/10% of the police workforce for Marion and the surrounding counties.

That's using the exception to define the rule. It's an absurd fallacy of logic. most every policeman in Indy is appalled and disgusted here.

reply to post by Dogdish


I think I can shed some light on the DUI being dropped (I work in Law Enforcement). There is something alled a lesser included offense. Its there to prevent people from being charged for the same crime multiple times.

Any type of vehicle accident that results in a death from a DWI/DUI driver becomes complicated. A person was killed, and even though the guy was drunk, you cannot charge him with DWI and Involuntary Manslaughter / Vehicular manslaughter / 2nd murder (depening on the state you live in).

If they charge him with DWI/DUI, and he takes a deal / pleads guilty to that, the PA cannot charge him for the death. Being intoxicated, driving the vehicle, and killing someone are the keys elements, and DUI/DWI would be a lesser included offense to a murder charge. You cant charge him with both (again in most states).

So while things look like a coverup, sometimes they arent. Sometimes the law acts goofy in these cases, but its there for a reason.

A first time DWI offense is usually a fine, classes, and rarely jail time. Its a misdameanor charge (DUI). You dont get to felony DWI until your 3rd conviction.

Being it involved an offier of the department, there are generally 2-3 investigations that are done. The initial investigation, which should be handed off to the State Police or other police entity who dont have a vested intrest in the case. Internal affairs for the department usually will do an investigation as well, and if its bad enough the FBI can investigate.

The cop had to drop the DUI/DWI to prevent the cop from getting out of a murder charge. Because the crime is now a felony, you dont write them a ticket. You file a Probable cause statement, detailing the crime and evidence to support the charge.

The PA will review it and decide if the charges fit, or if they need to be modified.

Hope this explains some of it.

[edit on 22-8-2010 by Xcathdra]

Our local Wakulla County Sheriff crashed his car, was drunk, fled the scene, got home, sobered up, then later called in the crash. Responding officers worked for him! What could they do? Eventually Florida Highway Patrol got involved, but all they could charge after so much time was leaving the scene of an accident. That charge was later dropped due to no witnesses and flimsy excuses from the sheriff.

Luckily it was only property damage for this guy, although he is now known as "Hit and Run Harvey!"

He is still on the job protecting and serving his own interests!