The diary on the rec list about the DOE home invasion reminded me of this recent story, I haven't seen it covered here.
A police chase that ended in with the execution of the driver, Raymond Herisse, was recorded by witnesses on Memorial Day. The police had pulled the car over earlier and as the man sped away he struck an officer. At least four bystanders were also shot, all are expected to recover. There were no reports of shots from the car, so the man who recorded the first video must have heard police gunfire.
But the story gets even worse, after the shooting, police confiscated the cell phones of witnesses who had captured the event and smashed them. One witness who was arrested was able to preserve the images by removing his SIM card and concealing it in in his mouth during his arrest and interrogation.
Benoit said a Miami Beach officer grabbed his cell phone, said “You want to be [expletive] Paparazzi?” and stomped on his phone before placing him in handcuffs and shoving the crunched phone in Benoit’s back pocket. He said the couple joined other witnesses already in cuffs and being watched by officers, who were on the lookout for two passengers who, police believe at the time, had bailed out of Herisse’s car. It is still not known whether any passengers were in the car.
Four bystanders were shot in the gunfire and three officers suffered minor injuries.
Benoit and Davis said officers smashed several other cell phones in the ensuing chaos.
Benoit said the officers eventually uncuffed him after gunshots rang out elsewhere and he discreetly removed the SIM card and placed it in his mouth.
Early reports were that no gun was found in the dead man's car, but more recently the police have revised that account.
Police Police initially said that Herisse was unarmed and had used his vehicle as a weapon. But late Wednesday, police officials said a semiautomatic pistol had been found inside the vehicle.
The police have now also reported that the driver was the shooter in a ruthless gas station robbery, based on the victim's identification using a photo line-up. Let's hope there is more to that story since the assailants in that crime covered their faces with their shirts. The shooting takes place a just after the 40 second mark in this video.