Video appears to show Texas deputies shot man with hands up

[webfact]

Video appears to show Texas deputies shot man with hands up

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Video obtained by a San Antonio TV station appears to show a man with his hands up fatally shot by deputies, an encounter that authorities say happened after the armed man resisted arrest and nonlethal weapons failed to bring him under control.

Gilberto Flores, 41, died shortly after the shooting Friday, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Monday.

Deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez were responding to a domestic disturbance and found a woman with a cut on her head and a baby who appeared injured, according to the statement.

The deputies encountered Flores, who was armed, and attempted to arrest him, the sheriff's department said. After Flores resisted, they used nonlethal weapons, but when "those efforts failed," they shot him, according to the statement.

The video, taken by a bystander and obtained by KSAT-TV, appears to show Flores standing still with his arms raised just before two shots are heard. Flores drops to the ground. The video doesn't include audio of deputies' commands or Flores' response, and the scene is partially obscured by police vehicles and passing cars.

Moments later, deputies drag and flip Flores onto his stomach. About a minute and a half later, an ambulance arrives.

The deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave amid an investigation.

"Certainly what's in the video is a cause for concern, but it's important to let the investigation go through its course so that we can assure a thorough and complete review of all that occurred," Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said at a news conference Friday. But her office later criticized the release of the video as "unethical" and "sensational."

"These deputies have not been charged with a crime and a family lost their loved one," the office wrote in a Facebook post Monday.

The department didn't respond to messages Monday seeking comment on the video.

A woman at the residence where the shooting took place declined a reporter's questions Monday, referring him to San Antonio attorney Thomas J. Henry, who did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-01

[slipperylobster]

Before all the cop haters jump in...

Lets wait for more evidence. Hands may appear to be up, but a sudden move (especially if he was still armed), would make any normal person react...as well. Any maniac that beats up his family on a rampage should be considered at least partially responsible., for a negative reaction....expecially when armed. I would be very irrate to see a woman and her kid bleeding from an abusive, armed, individual. I doubt seriously that this was cold blooded murder....probably many circumstances that are not fully explained by the video.

Edited September 1, 2015 by slipperylobster

[ScottMallon]

I saw no movement. I'm all for harsh reactions being taken when warranted, but it certainly looks as if the guy had his hands up. If a person has their hands up, the next step is to have them lock their hands behind their head, then kneel, then lie down face first. Shooting them is the incorrect reaction, even if he killed someone.

[sabaii69]

I saw no movement. I'm all for harsh reactions being taken when warranted, but it certainly looks as if the guy had his hands up. If a person has their hands up, the next step is to have them lock their hands behind their head, then kneel, then lie down face first. Shooting them is the incorrect reaction, even if he killed someone.

explanation? =Texas

[quandow]

Texas cops have itchy trigger fingers right now. In ANY case of confrontation, the trained professional must weigh the crime against the criminal. What I mean is, if this crime was a guy hitting on his woman and her child, this does NOT warrant a killing. Let him go if need be or hold him at bay until more LEA shows up. If he is a serial killer and it appears that holding him isn't working, that would justify a shooting. Again, TRAINED PROFESSIONALS must make these decisions, and if they kill a man with his hands in the air, they must be held accountable. They chose the lifestyle.

[SOTIRIOS]

...sounds like they just permanently get rid of the threat...

[Ulic]

Video?

[whybother]

This is a video of the news report showing up to the moment before the guy was shot. (They chose not to show the actual shot).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moeIv4glE5k

Edited September 1, 2015 by whybother

[quandow]

...sounds like they just permanently get rid of the threat...

An alleged wife beater deserves a vigilante death sentence? He APPEARS to be scum, but if an instance of being a scum warrants a death sentence, I'd say all of us at one time or another would then deserve to be shot.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Before all the cop haters jump in...

Lets wait for more evidence. Hands may appear to be up, but a sudden move (especially if he was still armed), would make any normal person react...as well. Any maniac that beats up his family on a rampage should be considered at least partially responsible., for a negative reaction....expecially when armed. I would be very irrate to see a woman and her kid bleeding from an abusive, armed, individual. I doubt seriously that this was cold blooded murder....probably many circumstances that are not fully explained by the video.

As if. It's cold blooded murder, and entirely unsurprising given the person taking the video was out of view.

I don't hate cops, I hate cops that abuse their power. Unfortunately, in my experience, that includes a large percentage of them.

Edited September 1, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[Langsuan Man]

You know that there has been a real uptick in fatal attacks by policemen in the US lately, despite the homicide and crime rate being at all time lows

Can't help but feel that the militarization of US Law Enforcement is the root cause

You act like you dress: if you are dressed like storm troopers , then you are going to act like storm troopers and the civilian populace is going to react in kind

Edited September 1, 2015 by Langsuan Man

[chuckd]

You know that there has been a real uptick in fatal attacks by policemen in the US lately, despite the homicide and crime rate being at all time lows

Can't help but feel that the militarization of US Law Enforcement is the root cause

You act like you dress: if you are dressed like storm troopers , then you are going to act like storm troopers and the civilian populace is going to react in kind

A photo of the Houston Sheriff's Department Deputy assassinated in the past few days.

No storm trooper here. He was dressed in his uniform.

[capcc76]

Before all the cop haters jump in...

Lets wait for more evidence. Hands may appear to be up, but a sudden move (especially if he was still armed), would make any normal person react...as well. Any maniac that beats up his family on a rampage should be considered at least partially responsible., for a negative reaction....expecially when armed. I would be very irrate to see a woman and her kid bleeding from an abusive, armed, individual. I doubt seriously that this was cold blooded murder....probably many circumstances that are not fully explained by the video.

As if. It's cold blooded murder, and entirely unsurprising given the person taking the video was out of view.

I don't hate cops, I hate cops that abuse their power. Unfortunately, in my experience, that includes a large percentage of them.

Sounds like a personal problem as I have never had scrapes or problems with cops.

Another cop got shot and killed today in Chicago.

[Langsuan Man]

Seems to suddenly be an epidemic !

Anyone want to make their guess as to why

[rwdrwdrwd]

Before all the cop haters jump in...

Lets wait for more evidence. Hands may appear to be up, but a sudden move (especially if he was still armed), would make any normal person react...as well. Any maniac that beats up his family on a rampage should be considered at least partially responsible., for a negative reaction....expecially when armed. I would be very irrate to see a woman and her kid bleeding from an abusive, armed, individual. I doubt seriously that this was cold blooded murder....probably many circumstances that are not fully explained by the video.

As if. It's cold blooded murder, and entirely unsurprising given the person taking the video was out of view.

I don't hate cops, I hate cops that abuse their power. Unfortunately, in my experience, that includes a large percentage of them.

Sounds like a personal problem as I have never had scrapes or problems with cops.

Another cop got shot and killed today in Chicago.

Can easily respond with 'sounds like serendipity, as I have'.

In terms of Chicago (and Houston), cops get shot, it's an unfortunate part of the job and is one of the reasons why they are allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves.

That cops sometimes get shot and carry a tool that can kill people does not give them the authority to summarily execute suspects at a whim, regardless of how clear their guilt appears to be. Modern society has a judicial process that is responsible for administering punishment, it is (quite rightly) not the responsibility of the police. Their task is to apprehend suspects and enter them into the judicial process.

Hopefully this cop is prosecuted for murder, since a murderer is what he is.

Edited September 2, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[slipperylobster]

Before all the cop haters jump in...

Lets wait for more evidence. Hands may appear to be up, but a sudden move (especially if he was still armed), would make any normal person react...as well. Any maniac that beats up his family on a rampage should be considered at least partially responsible., for a negative reaction....expecially when armed. I would be very irrate to see a woman and her kid bleeding from an abusive, armed, individual. I doubt seriously that this was cold blooded murder....probably many circumstances that are not fully explained by the video.

As if. It's cold blooded murder, and entirely unsurprising given the person taking the video was out of view.

I don't hate cops, I hate cops that abuse their power. Unfortunately, in my experience, that includes a large percentage of them.

Sounds like a personal problem as I have never had scrapes or problems with cops.

Another cop got shot and killed today in Chicago.

Can easily respond with 'sounds like serendipity, as I have'.

In terms of Chicago (and Houston), cops get shot, it's an unfortunate part of the job and is one of the reasons why they are allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves.

That cops sometimes get shot and carry a tool that can kill people does not give them the authority to summarily execute suspects at a whim, regardless of how clear their guilt appears to be. Modern society has a judicial process that is responsible for administering punishment, it is (quite rightly) not the responsibility of the police. Their task is to apprehend suspects and enter them into the judicial process.

Hopefully this cop is prosecuted for murder, since a murderer is what he is.

I would not want to be a cop, if my job was to protect unsupportive people like you. You call him a murderer...but what do you know? You were not even there. I bet the cop has a good family and is a decent human being...... perhaps made an error in judgement....

this is not a murder..or some planned event to do evil. The evil was in the wife/child abuser. There is something missing that the video does not cover. I can never believe that this policeman who shoot to kill for no reason....whatsoever. I just don't. His job, his family, his future...would mean everything....

I want to hear what he says...before passing calling him a murderer.

Edited September 2, 2015 by slipperylobster

[rwdrwdrwd]

I do not care if my opinion affects either your, or anybody else's, likelihood to join the police force.

In this instance there is a video that clearly shows the cop shooting the suspect when his hands are held up in the air and he is shirtless. There is no movement.

The unedited video is here - http://www.ksat.com/news/ksatcom-exclusive-unedited-video-of-fatal-deputy-involved-shooting

Yes he made an error in judgement, he summarily executed a suspect without remit to do so. The errant judgement he made was that it was within his remit to murder somebody - or more likely, that he could get away with doing so by lying about the sequence of events.

What the suspect is suspected of is entirely irrelevant. Romanticised rhetoric regarding whether or not the cop has a good family or is a decent human being (which I would say based upon this event he is evidently not) is also entirely irrelevant.

Furthermore, you jump to the cops defence claiming that we do not have the whole picture, and then state that the suspect 'was a wife and child abuser' - huge double standards. It is for precisely the reason that the whole picture is needed that society does not sanction police officers to execute suspects on arrest, dispatching 'justice' based upon their personal viewpoint in the manner of Judge Dredd.

Really not sure why you find it so hard to believe, given numerous recent events like this one

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html?_r=0

Edited September 2, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[webfact]

Prosecutor: 2nd video emerges of deadly shooting by deputies
SETH ROBBINS, Associated Press
DAVID WARREN, Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A second video has emerged that gives authorities a "very clear view" of a confrontation between deputies and a Texas man who had his hands raised before he was shot and killed, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood described the new video and one broadcast earlier as "disturbing," but cautioned against a rush to judgment as authorities investigate the shooting that killed 41-year-old Gilbert Flores northwest of San Antonio.

Flores' death is the country's latest law enforcement shooting to draw heavy scrutiny for using deadly force in a situation where it may not have been necessary. Law enforcement officials in the U.S. have expressed concern that the deadly confrontations have spawned retaliatory shootings of officers, including last week's death of a suburban Houston deputy at a gas station.

An initial video recorded by a motorist from some distance was posted online by a San Antonio TV station. It shows Flores outside a residence Friday facing two deputies when he raises his hands — one arm obscured by a utility pole. The deputies fired multiple times.

Sheriff's officials say Flores was armed, though they didn't specify with what, and that nonlethal efforts to subdue him, including a Taser, were unsuccessful. LaHood declined to say Tuesday whether Flores' arm motion was surrender.

"I don't know what his intent was," he said. "All I can tell you is the video is disturbing. But my encouragement to everyone is to press the pause button."

San Antonio attorney Thomas J. Henry, who is representing the family, said in an interview Tuesday that the initial video appears to show that deadly force was unnecessary but he is seeking more evidence.

"From a lay perspective, seeing the video, it does appear the immediate danger is gone because he had both hands in the air," Henry said. "Now there are other videos and other pieces of evidence that we want to gather." He said the family is considering filing a lawsuit to compel authorities to turn over more evidence.

The second video was recorded by a witness closer to the incident, LaHood said, but he declined to provide further information about what it reveals or when authorities acquired it. An investigation is under way to determine whether the deputies will face criminal charges or whether the danger to them was imminent, LaHood said.

Deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez, who were not equipped with body cameras at the time of the encounter, have been placed on administrative leave.

Michelle Lee, a special agent for the FBI in San Antonio, confirmed Tuesday that "experienced civil rights investigators" are monitoring the investigation.

The deputies had responded to a domestic disturbance, authorities have said, and found a woman at the residence with a cut on her head and a baby who appeared to be injured. Sheriff's officials have not indicated whether they believe Flores harmed the two.

Attempts to contact members of Flores' family were unsuccessful Tuesday, but Henry said that Flores' wife is devastated. The couple have a child who is just 21 days old, he said.

Bexar County court records show Flores was convicted in 2003 of aggravated robbery, and the San Antonio Express-News reports he also has a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.

Bexar County commissioners approved a county budget Tuesday that includes more than $630,000 to provide deputies with body cameras and also cameras for patrol vehicles.
___

Associated Press writer David Warren contributed to this report from Dallas.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-02

[Seastallion]

You know that there has been a real uptick in fatal attacks by policemen in the US lately, despite the homicide and crime rate being at all time lows

Can't help but feel that the militarization of US Law Enforcement is the root cause

You act like you dress: if you are dressed like storm troopers , then you are going to act like storm troopers and the civilian populace is going to react in kind

A photo of the Houston Sheriff's Department Deputy assassinated in the past few days.

No storm trooper here. He was dressed in his uniform.

Redneck cowboy, and all that an observer can connote from it.

That's definitely one POV. Not necessarily mine.

RIP.

[capcc76]

I do not care if my opinion affects either your, or anybody else's, likelihood to join the police force.

In this instance there is a video that clearly shows the cop shooting the suspect when his hands are held up in the air and he is shirtless. There is no movement.

That video only shows one hand in the air at the time he is shot.

[rwdrwdrwd]

You can see the countours of his shoulder and the start of his upper arm before the start of the pole. Unless he was the most double jointed individual in the history of the planet both arms are in the air.

Even if one wasn't, the shooting still occurred well before 'imminent danger' presented itself.

Edited September 2, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

no problem it was a white guy they shot this time, there won't be any riots at least.

[edwinchester]

You know that there has been a real uptick in fatal attacks by policemen in the US lately, despite the homicide and crime rate being at all time lows

Can't help but feel that the militarization of US Law Enforcement is the root cause

You act like you dress: if you are dressed like storm troopers , then you are going to act like storm troopers and the civilian populace is going to react in kind

Large spike in US homicide rates.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34120247

[rwdrwdrwd]

suspect (noun) səsˌpekt

a person thought to be guilty of a crime or offense.

synonyms: suspected person, accused, defendant

"a murder suspect"

criminal (noun) krĭm′ə-nəl

One that has committed or been legally convicted of a crime.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 11

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

Edited September 2, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[capcc76]

no problem it was a white guy they shot this time, there won't be any riots at least.

Actually it sounds like two latino cops shoot a latino villain, injuries to a wife and a 21 day old baby, good shooting, no innocents were injured.

Yep, screw anyone who beats a women and harms a child. Some thing happened that the distant video did catch. They could have easily shot the loser several times when loser charged them earlier at which times the used non-lethal force.

Nevertheless, there is clear and close up video out there so they will get to the bottom of it either.

[Scott]

A racist comment has been removed.

[capcc76]

This why goof balls watching video games on the Internet should not rush to judgment. That said, no of use still know what happened. Still strange the cops would use non lethal force for so long and when dude is charging them, but all of a sudden shoot the wife beater when his hands were up.

---------------------------

A second video shows Gilbert Flores holding a knife as he's shot, a source with knowledge of the investigation says

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/us/san-antonio-bexar-county-texas-police-shooting/

[Linky]

Video appears to show texas deputies shot man with hands up.

Yes it does, what else nedds to be said?

I dont vare what he is thought to have done, the police are not there to administer justice. That is not their job.

[mankondang]

Many the time I've seen people on this site complain when they see Thai police shoot a "suspect" with a camera. But when US police shoot a "suspect" with a gun their reaction is totally different. Sad, sick state of minds.

Edited September 2, 2015 by mankondang

[gigman]

Deputy or not they all have practice in shooting..hence why not to shoot legs??

In first act of "defence"

Simply they don't care..