Quote:

Coeur d’Alene Police Officer Spencer Mortensen ordered Eric Byron Johnston eight times to drop two knives before fatally shooting him in a small apartment near downtown last summer, the officer’s body camera recording shows.

Police released the video footage today. The prosecuting attorney in neighboring Bonner County reviewed an Idaho State Police investigation into the Aug. 25, 2013, shooting and concluded that Johnston, a 35-year-old Dalton Gardens resident, appeared intent on “suicide by cop” and that no charges should be filed against Mortensen.

The officer’s body camera footage shows a tense confrontation between the officer and Johnston, who had just fled a nearby car accident and was inside a friend’s apartment. Mortensen entered the apartment looking for Johnston after learning Johnston was upset and had the knife. In fact, Johnston was holding two knives.

“Put the knife down, now,” Mortensen said as he pointed his gun at the man. “Put it down. I’m serious. Put the knives down.”

Mortensen then radioed for help: “I need you in this house right now.”

Johnston, who was standing in the kitchen, began to walk slowly toward the officer, prompting Mortensen to warn, “I will shoot you.”

Four more times Mortensen yelled for Johnston to put the knives down as the man continued to walk toward the officer. Then he fired five times from a few feet away, and Johnston crumpled to the floor.

Mortensen and other officers approached the apartment at 1422 E. Young Ave. shortly before 8 a.m. that Sunday looking for Johnston, who had driven his pickup truck into a utility pole, knocking it over, a half-hour earlier about a block away.

Johnston’s friend, Wendy Woods, came out of the apartment as Mortensen approached and was standing just outside when the shooting occurred.

“I’m worried about him cutting himself,” Woods told Mortensen before the shooting. Afterward, she became distraught, screaming at officers, and was placed in handcuffs and led away.
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9db_1389855116#bUBMmLFu3cGFKckG.99

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LSDylan said:

I saw this video a few days ago. Total bullshit. This dude should not have been shot at all. Does this cop not have a taser? And even if he had nothing but his gun, which I am totally sure is not the case, one bullet would have stopped him. Shooting five times is absurd and it just shows that this cop is either a sociopathic killer or he can't handle the pressure of his job well enough to think rationally. Also, like you said, the cop escalated the situation by entering the home. He started the confrontation. This whole situation is fucked but cops keep doing more and more fucked up shit like this and getting away with it, so why would they stop? They never see any consequences for the horrible life altering actions they take.

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MisterSandman said:

LSDylan said:

I saw this video a few days ago. Total bullshit. This dude should not have been shot at all. Does this cop not have a taser? And even if he had nothing but his gun, which I am totally sure is not the case, one bullet would have stopped him. Shooting five times is absurd and it just shows that this cop is either a sociopathic killer or he can't handle the pressure of his job well enough to think rationally. Also, like you said, the cop escalated the situation by entering the home. He started the confrontation. This whole situation is fucked but cops keep doing more and more fucked up shit like this and getting away with it, so why would they stop? They never see any consequences for the horrible life altering actions they take.

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Do you know how many episodes of cops I've seen where the tazer doesn't immediately incapacitate the perp but instead sends them into a frenzy. Now add the fact the the cop was in a small living room and the guy had a knife, tazer pshhhh yeah right. And it's not like one bullet will immediately put someone down either, shit I would've probably emptied the whole clip on him just to be sure, I'm not taking any chances in that confined space with a knife that size.

The dude would still be alive if he would have just dropped the knife.

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LSDylan said:

I saw this video a few days ago. Total bullshit. This dude should not have been shot at all. Does this cop not have a taser? And even if he had nothing but his gun, which I am totally sure is not the case, one bullet would have stopped him. Shooting five times is absurd and it just shows that this cop is either a sociopathic killer or he can't handle the pressure of his job well enough to think rationally. Also, like you said, the cop escalated the situation by entering the home. He started the confrontation. This whole situation is fucked but cops keep doing more and more fucked up shit like this and getting away with it, so why would they stop? They never see any consequences for the horrible life altering actions they take.

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LSDylan said:

MisterSandman said:

LSDylan said:

I saw this video a few days ago. Total bullshit. This dude should not have been shot at all. Does this cop not have a taser? And even if he had nothing but his gun, which I am totally sure is not the case, one bullet would have stopped him. Shooting five times is absurd and it just shows that this cop is either a sociopathic killer or he can't handle the pressure of his job well enough to think rationally. Also, like you said, the cop escalated the situation by entering the home. He started the confrontation. This whole situation is fucked but cops keep doing more and more fucked up shit like this and getting away with it, so why would they stop? They never see any consequences for the horrible life altering actions they take.

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Do you know how many episodes of cops I've seen where the tazer doesn't immediately incapacitate the perp but instead sends them into a frenzy. Now add the fact the the cop was in a small living room and the guy had a knife, tazer pshhhh yeah right. And it's not like one bullet will immediately put someone down either, shit I would've probably emptied the whole clip on him just to be sure, I'm not taking any chances in that confined space with a knife that size.

The dude would still be alive if he would have just dropped the knife.

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You seriously do not think that one bullet would take someone down? Have you seen the damage a gunshot would causes?
Also, you are ignoring the fact that the cop walked into the house and started this. He should have waited outside for the dude to calm down and called a negotiator and backup.

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MisterSandman said:

LSDylan said:

MisterSandman said:

LSDylan said:

I saw this video a few days ago. Total bullshit. This dude should not have been shot at all. Does this cop not have a taser? And even if he had nothing but his gun, which I am totally sure is not the case, one bullet would have stopped him. Shooting five times is absurd and it just shows that this cop is either a sociopathic killer or he can't handle the pressure of his job well enough to think rationally. Also, like you said, the cop escalated the situation by entering the home. He started the confrontation. This whole situation is fucked but cops keep doing more and more fucked up shit like this and getting away with it, so why would they stop? They never see any consequences for the horrible life altering actions they take.

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Do you know how many episodes of cops I've seen where the tazer doesn't immediately incapacitate the perp but instead sends them into a frenzy. Now add the fact the the cop was in a small living room and the guy had a knife, tazer pshhhh yeah right. And it's not like one bullet will immediately put someone down either, shit I would've probably emptied the whole clip on him just to be sure, I'm not taking any chances in that confined space with a knife that size.

The dude would still be alive if he would have just dropped the knife.

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You seriously do not think that one bullet would take someone down? Have you seen the damage a gunshot would causes?
Also, you are ignoring the fact that the cop walked into the house and started this. He should have waited outside for the dude to calm down and called a negotiator and backup.

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Ummmmm yeah I've seen plenty of videos on liveleak where people have been shot multiple time, even more than 5 sometimes, and not gone down immediately. Adrenaline can be a motherfucker.

And yeah maybe he should have waited. At the same time he had a potentially suicidal man in the house who might have killed himself before backup arrived. You act like he was just some trigger happy cop who went in with the intent to kill the guy which I highly doubt. Shit happens in the heat of the situation, I'd love to see how you would have handled it.

It's ultimately the guy with the knife's fault, all he had to do was drop the knife and he'd be alive.

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LSDylan said:

Police are NOT trained to shoot to kill They are trained to shoot until the threat is neutralized. Having a bullet go in my stomach and come out of my back the size of a baseball would neutralize the fuck out of me. I'd drop those knives and be on the floor.


So the solution to a potentially suicidal guy is to go into the house with your gun already drawn? I've never heard of saving suicidal people that way.

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EdibleStereos said:

MisterSandman said:

LSDylan said:

Quote:

MisterSandman said:You seriously do not think that one bullet would take someone down? Have you seen the damage a gunshot would causes?
Also, you are ignoring the fact that the cop walked into the house and started this. He should have waited outside for the dude to calm down and called a negotiator and backup.

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Ummmmm yeah I've seen plenty of videos on liveleak where people have been shot multiple time, even more than 5 sometimes, and not gone down immediately. Adrenaline can be a motherfucker.

And yeah maybe he should have waited. At the same time he had a potentially suicidal man in the house who might have killed himself before backup arrived. You act like he was just some trigger happy cop who went in with the intent to kill the guy which I highly doubt. Shit happens in the heat of the situation, I'd love to see how you would have handled it.

It's ultimately the guy with the knife's fault, all he had to do was drop the knife and he'd be alive.

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The guy is in there, has been for a while, and hadnt yet hurt himself. Chances are the man wasnt going to hurt himself in the 5 minutes at most it'd take for backup.

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Honestly I think it was suicide by cop. Yeah he hadn't hurt himself yet, probably because he was waiting for the cops to show up. The guy started walking towards the cops brandishing a knife, I mean what did he expect would happen? He was either incredibly stupid or he wanted to die.

All in all I think it was just a fucked up situation where both parties hold part of the blame. It's not black and white. Shit happens, it's the world we live in.

Heffy said:

Armed guy, coming towards me, doesn't respond to 5 warnings, at a distance of less than 21 feet, in an enclosed space.

I would have shot him dead. 100%.

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MisterSandman said:

Honestly I think it was suicide by cop. Yeah he hadn't hurt himself yet, probably because he was waiting for the cops to show up. The guy started walking towards the cops brandishing a knife, I mean what did he expect would happen? He was either incredibly stupid or he wanted to die.

All in all I think it was just a fucked up situation where both parties hold part of the blame. It's not black and white. Shit happens, it's the world we live in.

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