General Discussion

TransitJohn

(6,932 posts) Mon Aug 3, 2015, 07:32 AM Aug 2015

This guy trains cops to shoot first, ask questions later, then testifies at their trials

to justify their trigger happy actions.

WASHINGTON — The shooting looked bad. But that is when the professor is at his best. A black motorist, pulled to the side of the road for a turn-signal violation, had stuffed his hand into his pocket. The white officer yelled for him to take it out. When the driver started to comply, the officer shot him dead.

The driver was unarmed.

Taking the stand at a public inquest, William J. Lewinski, the psychology professor, explained that the officer had no choice but to act.

“In simple terms,” the district attorney in Portland, Ore., asked, “if I see the gun, I’m dead?”

“In simple terms, that’s it,” Dr. Lewinski replied.

When police officers shoot people under questionable circumstances, Dr. Lewinski is often there to defend their actions. Among the most influential voices on the subject, he has testified in or consulted in nearly 200 cases over the last decade or so and has helped justify countless shootings around the country.

His conclusions are consistent: The officer acted appropriately, even when shooting an unarmed person. Even when shooting someone in the back. Even when witness testimony, forensic evidence or video footage contradicts the officer’s story.

He has appeared as an expert witness in criminal trials, civil cases and disciplinary hearings, and before grand juries, where such testimony is given in secret and goes unchallenged. In addition, his company, the Force Science Institute, has trained tens of thousands of police officers on how to think differently about police shootings that might appear excessive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/training-officers-to-shoot-first-and-he-will-answer-questions-later.html

14 replies

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This guy trains cops to shoot first, ask questions later, then testifies at their trials (Original Post) TransitJohn Aug 2015 OP

That explains why it's happening everywhere gollygee Aug 2015 #1

this is bad 6chars Aug 2015 #3

Yeah there needs to be a lot of pushback against this complete bullshit gollygee Aug 2015 #4

THese POS are making it up as they go along FreakinDJ Aug 2015 #8

#TheOnlyOnes Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2015 #2

Message auto-removed Name removed Aug 2015 #5

You're about as dumb as your user name. hobbit709 Aug 2015 #6

Some people might consider his a perfect job. Turbineguy Aug 2015 #7

He's full of shit. GoneFishin Aug 2015 #9

Gun lovers are constantly constipated. The gun lover's childish rejection of cause and effect and logic is how Fred Sanders Aug 2015 #13

wow...this creep needs some serious bright light and history exposure. SoapBox Aug 2015 #10

Predictable Johnny2X2X Aug 2015 #11

Once again at the heart of all this killing and fact-based fear and horror is....the GUN. And rightful terror of the GUN. Fred Sanders Aug 2015 #12

But don't we want cops to shoot open carriers? ileus Aug 2015 #14

gollygee

(22,336 posts)

1. That explains why it's happening everywhere

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 07:49 AM

Aug 2015

though I suspect this has gone on a lot more than we've heard about forever.

This info needs the light of day.

6chars

(3,967 posts)

3. this is bad

Reply to gollygee (Reply #1)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 08:04 AM

Aug 2015

gollygee

(22,336 posts)

4. Yeah there needs to be a lot of pushback against this complete bullshit

Reply to 6chars (Reply #3)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 08:12 AM

Aug 2015

"If I see the gun, I'm dead" is license to kill at any time, for any reason, with no consequences, and that isn't OK. People have the right to not get shot over someone's speculation. Police should have a real and concrete reason to believe there is a gun, like oh, seeing a gun.

I'd like to hear what police officers were taught before this became a thing.

FreakinDJ

(17,644 posts)

8. THese POS are making it up as they go along

Reply to gollygee (Reply #4)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 09:50 AM

Aug 2015

When an actor is shot and killed during a Halloween party in Los Angeles--and investigations show that several rounds hit him in the back -- the LAPD officer who fired the rounds finds himself faced with accusations of criminal wrongdoing. Family members of the deceased hire high-profile attorney Johnnie Cochran who immediately discounts the officer's claims that at the time he fired, the party-goer was pointing a gun at him and he feared for his life. Instead, Cochran claims that the officer deliberately shot the man in the back.

Dr. Bill Lewinski is called to explain how the officer's rounds could in fact hit the deceased in the back without the officer intentionally firing at a man who has turned away from him. Following Dr. Lewinski's testimony, a jury found that claims that the officer intentionally shot the man in the back were not credible.

Once the officer's statements are proved to be false it should be a murder investigation

Nuclear Unicorn

(19,497 posts)

2. #TheOnlyOnes

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 08:03 AM

Aug 2015

Response to TransitJohn (Original post)

Name removed Message auto-removed

hobbit709

(41,694 posts)

6. You're about as dumb as your user name.

Reply to Name removed (Reply #5)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 08:21 AM

Aug 2015

And DWB isn't a crime even though most cops treat it as a capital offense.

Turbineguy

(37,343 posts)

7. Some people might consider his a perfect job.

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 08:38 AM

Aug 2015

Nearly all the satisfaction of being a serial killer, without the risks and downside.

GoneFishin

(5,217 posts)

9. He's full of shit.

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:04 AM

Aug 2015

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)

13. Gun lovers are constantly constipated. The gun lover's childish rejection of cause and effect and logic is how

Reply to GoneFishin (Reply #9)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:44 AM

Aug 2015

they manage to keep from self-imploding on their own shit.

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)

10. wow...this creep needs some serious bright light and history exposure.

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:07 AM

Aug 2015

"Canned" testimony.

And he gets $1,000 an hour? Man oh man, this guy is slick...and he looks the part too.

Creep.

Johnny2X2X

(19,066 posts)

11. Predictable

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:17 AM

Aug 2015

It's the training that these officers are receiving that is so very very wrong. The makeup of police officers has not changed, you have some in it because they want to help people, yo have others who are ego maniacs and want to give people a hard time, same as always. But at some point, overwhelming force at any sign of noncompliance or a threat became what they were trained.

It's a tragedy when a police officer is killed, no one wants to see that ever, but the police are simply out of control. For every high profile case of police brutality or misconduct there are thousands we never hear about. And the only reason people are talking about it at all right now is that people are filming it.

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)

12. Once again at the heart of all this killing and fact-based fear and horror is....the GUN. And rightful terror of the GUN.

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:29 AM

Aug 2015

Melt the guns. 320 million is too many. Destroy the terrorist propaganda of the NRA first. It is encouraging to see how the Dixie Swastika and related fear propaganda went down so fast...why not the NRA?

ileus

(15,396 posts)

14. But don't we want cops to shoot open carriers?

Reply to TransitJohn (Original post)

Mon Aug 3, 2015, 10:59 AM

Aug 2015

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