Background (family account of incident):
<broken link removed>
Now, the Las Vegas police officers who shot and killed Erik Scott in the controversial Costco shooting last year have received honors in a national officer of the year award.
Article: Las Vegas officers honored for 'heroic' Costco shooting - News - ReviewJournal.com
My take is that some badly trained cops responded to a call with little or incorrect information. Instead of defusing the situation, they escalated it into an unjustified death of an innocent. With conflicting orders being shouted at him "Freeze" "Get on the ground" "Drop your weapon", Erik tried to do as he was ordered, as many of us might. He raised his hands up, and then told them "I'm disarming" and slowly lowered his hand towards his holster to do so. One officer took this as threat and opened fire. They two behind him, probably (and I'm being generous here) not knowing who fired, opened up in a crowd and shot Erik in the back a few more times.
Tragic. A perfect storm of bad information and bad judgment on both sides. (With your life on the line against the police, you should never reach toward your weapon. Even if you are ordered to disarm, don't. Keep you hands up and go to your knees if it comes to that.)
A bad shoot, imho. Not necessarily criminal, but not justified. The fact that the police seized the surveillance videos and then rendered them 'unusable' opens them up to doubt.
So with all that background, the decision to honor these two officers is unfathomable. (The third officer was not honored due to being charged with a felony in an unrelated case.) It really makes my blood boil. I really hold that department in contempt.
<broken link removed>
Now, the Las Vegas police officers who shot and killed Erik Scott in the controversial Costco shooting last year have received honors in a national officer of the year award.
Article: Las Vegas officers honored for 'heroic' Costco shooting - News - ReviewJournal.com
My take is that some badly trained cops responded to a call with little or incorrect information. Instead of defusing the situation, they escalated it into an unjustified death of an innocent. With conflicting orders being shouted at him "Freeze" "Get on the ground" "Drop your weapon", Erik tried to do as he was ordered, as many of us might. He raised his hands up, and then told them "I'm disarming" and slowly lowered his hand towards his holster to do so. One officer took this as threat and opened fire. They two behind him, probably (and I'm being generous here) not knowing who fired, opened up in a crowd and shot Erik in the back a few more times.
Tragic. A perfect storm of bad information and bad judgment on both sides. (With your life on the line against the police, you should never reach toward your weapon. Even if you are ordered to disarm, don't. Keep you hands up and go to your knees if it comes to that.)
A bad shoot, imho. Not necessarily criminal, but not justified. The fact that the police seized the surveillance videos and then rendered them 'unusable' opens them up to doubt.
So with all that background, the decision to honor these two officers is unfathomable. (The third officer was not honored due to being charged with a felony in an unrelated case.) It really makes my blood boil. I really hold that department in contempt.
Last Edited: