Two NYPD beat cops caused a bit of a stir recently when they wounded nine innocent bystanders on a busy Manhattan Street. Imagine what would have happened if it had been a civilian, gun control advocates argued. Nine people wouldn’t have been shot, people familiar with civilian defensive gun use (DGU) replied. Additional evidence of the existence and impact of trigger-happy cops: the baseball-sized hole in Pedro Fez’ window in Mesquite Texas. Luckily, the unnamed Garland PD officer who drilled Fez’ crib and shot and [eventually] killed Michael Vincent Allen didn’t take out a law-abiding taxpayer. But it wasn’t for lack of not not trying. We’re talking 41 shots. One officer, and one officer only. “Garland police will continue its internal investigation to determine if the officer involved ‘was in compliance with applicable departmental general orders,'” crimeblog.dallasnews.com. My money’s on a big thumbs up. Which gets a big thumbs down here.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. Vids not working for me :/. Any news on what he was carrying? That had to be 2 reloads right?

    But somehow he missed the other passenger of the truck. So he had that going for him. Only the felon was ventilated.

  2. Information is sketchy at best. Bottom line, don’t run from the police. Don’t fight them in the street. That’s what lawyers and courts are for.
    I don’t know about Texas law, I haven”t been there since the 70’s, but when i lived in WVA if you ran and somebody dies you get charged with murder. Even if the person that dies is running with you.
    2 boys went for a joyride, one 19 and the other 18, as the police were chasing them the 18yo fell out of the vehicle and died. The 19 yo was conicted and had to serve at least 15 years before he could think of getting out.
    Running from the cops just ain’t worth it. This young man pulled it off once, but he died the second time. Hellava price to pay for being stupid.

  4. You shoot until the threat stops, if that takes 41 rounds or 141 rounds. In this case it may have been excessive, or it may have been just enough. I suppose the citizen’s video of the incident will help tell the tale. In the meantime, let’s go ahead and hang him.

    • Well said. This story sure sounds fishy to me, as if the Cop may have very well overstepped his bounds and caused the unnecessary death of someone. If so, I’ll be the first to say “hang ’em”.

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      • You should shoot until the threat stops. Is a fleeing person a threat? Even if so, if it takes you 41 rounds to neutralize one person in suburbia, you’re fucking doing it wrong. These situations point to a lack of training, a lack of discipline, or security in the knowledge that as a cop you can get away with it, take your pick.

      • I’m no cop lover, trust me. The anti cop bias is just too much on this site however. Again, if this cop is found in the wrong after the facts are truthfully presented to us, I’ll be the first to vote guilty and vote to to send this cop away to jail for life.

        • “If this cop is found in the wrong after the facts are truthfully presented to us”

          If? Yeah, and if the queen had balls she’d be the king.

        • This is in part because of cop culture in many departments. Personally, I’m tired of skinheads in uniform running around acting like Billy Badass all the time due to the drug war and Hollywood glamorizing aggressive a-hole attitudes among police.

          The job really attracts a ton of people who are in it for the wrong reasons. And since you’re a cop, I’m sure you’re aware of the attitude I’m talking about among coworkers or colleagues elsewhere.

          By the way, I also hate it when cops are called law enforcement officers. That sounds so robotic and fascistic. Peace officer, police officer, etc. sound much better.

    • What was the threat? The guy was unarmed and it is being reported the other officers are saying the cop ran into the suspect not the other way around. His fellow officers fired no shots, if there was a threat during the 41 shot volley you think they would have shot as well. From all accounts, this would be a routine day in Los Angeles metro area. This was a bad shoot but fear not the cop will probably get a pass.

      • ??? Please read the first two paragraphs of my post carefully and slowly…

        It’s too soon to know the real facts, so it’s too soon to say definitively either way. Too soon to be saying this guy that was killed did anything wrong, and too soon to be bagging on this cop.

  5. Hey, I’ve been tryin to access your site for the last two days, with Google Chrome, to no avail. I’ve been getting nothing but 502 Bad gateway messages. This is the only site I’m having a problem with. I had to load up IE (cringe) to get my TTAG dosage, while Chrome still gives me error messages. I have tried numerous other firearm-related sites and have no rpoblems with them.

  6. I can’t link the vid either, or the newspaper article cited in the main text. The Fox story says he has been relieved of his firearm and placed on extended administrative leave, and there is a possibility of criminal charges. Who woulda thunk? If the punk or his bro’ didn’t have any gats, there was no excuse for this officer to open fire, and that adds up to a homicide charge. We’ll see.

  7. At one time, many cops were ex-military. Well trained persons who know that the last step to take is firing a weapon. Contrary to popular liberal belief, us prior and current military personnel know what bullets do and are the last ones wanting to get in front of one or use them in an unjustified way. In the early 80’s police departments started hiring billy bad xxx’s. You know the cops…the ones who have sun glasses on at night and have gloves with the fingers cut out. They look like uniformed gang bangers. I know, I tried for years to get into a department where I lived and on the third attempt I was flat out told “we don’t hire you military people anymore”. And what was I in the military? A cop! While I have no problem with a cop (or civilian) doing a justified shooting of a fleeing felon (because you don’t know what the crime was – which includes up to murder), 41 rounds is highly excessive, especially if the fleeing felon is not shooting. And no, it doesn’t matter if the fleeing felon only did a minor felony, he/she decided to run and the cops don’t know what that person is willing to do to escape…up to and including taking a hostage. In this case, from the little information provided, chasing the perp down would have been a better choice, then holding at gun point and firing if he presented a threat to the cops or to a citizen.

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