Bond, James Bond. 007 License to Kill.
This might work in spy thriller fiction. Even in the real world of spies.
But it is intolerable, in a supposedly free and democratic society, to view the wearing of a police officer's badge as a "license to kill."
Yet, in practice, law enforcement and prosecutorial officials do exactly that on a daily basis. And only WE, the PEOPLE of this nation, have the power - as well as the responsibility - to ensure otherwise.
A handful of Albequerque, NM police officers, heavily armed with assault rifles, went into the hills to evict James Boyd, a homeless man residing there.
With the throng of armed officers - all with rifles aimed at him - standing no less than thirty, forty, or more feet away, Boyd was conversing nd complying with the directives of the officers.
With no provocation, as Boyd gathered his possessions, an order is blurted out "Do it now!". Obeying the order a second officer shoots Boyd with a Flash-Bang grenade.
Stunned Boyd stood still for a moment and then a police dog was unleashed. Boyd responded, turning away - and thus turning his back to the officers.
At that moment, two additional officers, with fully automatic assault rifles in the far distance - sights continuously on Boyd - rapid fired a series of bullets into the homeless man's body.
He fell to the ground. Not long after - he was dead. Dead, for being homeless. Dead, for being in the hills. Dead - because two persons, abusing their positions while acting unlawfully under the color of law, murdered him.
And murder is murder no matter who commits the act and no matter what they were doing at the scene of the crime. Police are not granted, legally, a license to kill.
Sign the petition to District Attorney Kari Brandeberg - and demand that she immediately charge these two individuals with murder and take up an aggressive prosecution seeking to bring the full extent of the law to bear on these two individuals - without any prejudice afforded to them as police officers.
ALSO: PLEASE. PLEASE Rec this so it gets the widest opportunity for this community to sign it.
A police badge is not a license to kill.
[See story here]
The attached video is indisputable evidence that an Albequerque Police Officer shoots a homeless man, James Boyd, living in the hills, as the man is obeying the orders of a handful of heavily armed (assault rifles) officers.
First, with no provocation from the man gathering his possessions, you hear one officer give a command: "Do it now."
Next, an officer, who had been speaking with the man, while aiming a rifle at him shoots a flash-bang upon command.
No officer is within 30 feet of the man. No officer is in jeopardy of harm - let alone threatened with lethal force. And no officer is assaulted or in any other way threatened by the man.
A police dog is unleashed on the man now clearly in shock from the first rifle shot.
Then, with absolutely no provocation, as the man's back is turned to the officers - a second and third officer fire a rapid series of automatic bullets into the man's body.
The result - a man is dead for living in the hills.
The evidence is prima facie evidence of a crime. A crime committed under the color of law. Thus a crime of the highest order in a free society. That crime was murder.
Being a police officer ought not to insulate the individual from being held accountable, under the law, for his acts. The law should be applied equally to officers as to any other citizen. And when a criminal act is committed while in the service of the Police Department, under the color of law, this undermines the law.
Therefore state prosecutors have a legal and moral obligation to prosecute such individuals, despite their status as a police officer, with extreme prejudice. Crimes by law enforcement officers must not be tolerated. Particularly the crime of murder.
And this act was murder. Plain and simple.
The other officers involved also should be held legally to account with appropriate charges as accomplices to this crime.
But first and foremost, District Attorney Kari Brandenberg must take immediate action to place the two shooters under arrest and charged with murder.
The officers who committed the murder are: Dominque Perez and Keith Sandy.
Then District Attorney Kari Brandenberg must aggressively prosecute the two individuals to the full extent of the law seeking a conviction of the crime of murder .
District Attorney Karia Brandenberg must to pursue this case without any regard to the status of these individuals as police officers. They should be treated equal to any other citizen who committed an act of this nature.
Because wearing a badge is not a license to kill.
SIGN THE PETITION