Police shoot unarmed man in swimsuit in Kasota MN

http://www.startribune.com/local/51320642.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

fucking disgusting story. : (

Saw that this morning. Judging by the friend's account, if ever there were a time to charge a police officer with straight-up murder, this is it. (Not that I'm holding my breath.)

Strib won't let me in. WHAAAT?

yeah this is nuts. i can't tell whether it's growing or not but the level of authoritarian reaction in this country is really gross and frightening

suzy:

Tyler Heilman was fatally shot by a Le Sueur County sheriff's deputy after resisting arrest. Heilman was unarmed and wearing a swimsuit.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: July 21, 2009 - 11:08 PM
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KASOTA, MINN. - An unmarked Dodge Durango tailed best friends Tyler Heilman and Kris Hoehn as they pulled into an apartment complex Monday afternoon after a day of swimming in the Minnesota River, the SUV having shadowed them through the streets of Kasota.

The Durango pulled up behind their car, blocking it in its parking space, and a man in a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans stepped out.

Minutes later, Heilman, 24, was bleeding on the ground, shot twice in the chest by the man who confronted him, Todd Waldron, a 10-year veteran of the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office.

On Tuesday, residents of this normally sleepy town were still trying to come to grips with how the confrontation so quickly escalated into bloodshed.

Authorities said Waldron fired what they believe were four shots after scuffling with Heilman during an arrest attempt. The sheriff's deputy had followed Heilman, whose history included arrests for burglary and assault, for close to 20 minutes after noticing him speeding, driving erratically on several streets and driving up a "steep embankment," said Andy Skoogman, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Authorities released few other details of the shooting at a morning news conference, but cautioned against drawing conclusions while the case is still under investigation.

"We are still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," Skoogman said. "Cases like this, you need to look at the totality of the evidence."

Waldron was not carrying a baton or a taser at the time, Skoogman said.

But Hoehn has no doubts about what happened.

His eyes red and his voice rising and falling with anger and sadness as he recounted his friend's death, Hoehn said Heilman refused to comply with Waldron's requests that he tell him who owned the car and hand over his driver's license.

"We didn't know who he was," said Hoehn, 24, adding that the man didn't identify himself as a law officer.

When Heilman started walking away, Waldron grabbed his shoulders, ordered him to the ground and announced that he was under arrest, Hoehn said.

Heilman then flipped Waldron to the ground and the two "wrestled," though no punches were thrown, Hoehn said. Heilman eventually pinned Waldron and only then saw the badge clipped to Waldron's belt. He then jumped off the deputy with his hands in the air, Hoehn said.

Waldron "sprang up and shot" without any warning, Hoehn said.

Heilman, who was dressed only in swim trunks, grabbed at two bullet wounds in his chest and staggered as blood oozed between his fingers.

" 'I'm done, man, I'm done -- what the hell?' " Hoehn recalled him saying between strained breaths.

Jolene Manderfield, who lives in the Valley View Apartments where Heilman was shot, supported Hoehn's account of the shooting occurring without any warning.

"[Waldron] just had that look on his face, 'What have I done? What have I done?'" said Manderfield, who pulled into the parking lot minutes before the shooting. "Why would you shoot someone that's unarmed? All he had on was a swimsuit, you know?"

Manderfield ran after Heil-man as he staggered around the apartment building, then collapsed on his stomach. When she and other witnesses turned him over he was unconscious, without a pulse, she said.

Soon after, Heilman's girlfriend of seven years, Abby Bauleke, arrived at the scene. The two have a 3 1/2-year-old son, Haydin, and lived nearby.

"Tell me it wasn't him!" Bauleke said to a friend at the scene. "Tell me it wasn't him!"

The friend confirmed her fears, and Bauleke's knees gave out.

"I felt so helpless," she recalled Tuesday, adding that their son doesn't know what happened. "It hasn't sunk in."

Heilman's father, Mark, arrived soon after and stood over his son's body as paramedics tried to revive him.

"My only son. My only child," he said. "I'm sure he had good reason to confront [Tyler] about the reckless driving, but he went about it all wrong."

that's fucking awful

(there's a little more)

Waldron, who worked his way up to investigator at the department and doesn't have any disciplinary actions on his personnel record, is now on paid administrative leave, as is customary in such cases.

BCA spokesman Skoogman said that no weapons were found in the car Heilman was driving, and that authorities are awaiting official autopsy and toxicology results from the Ramsey County medical examiner's office.

Waldron was in plainclothes conducting an unrelated investigation in the area when he noticed Heilman's driving. He suffered minor injuries in the scuffle with Heilman.

Skoogman would not confirm whether the deputy's bullets struck the apartment building, even though a bullet hole was visible in a window near where witnesses said the shooting took place. Blood stains splattered the siding below it.

Hoehn admitted that the two had been drinking Monday, but said it was not to excess. He also admitted that Heilman had been driving erratically, but said it was for fun, and not out of the ordinary in this town about 70 miles southwest of the Twin Cities that offers few distractions.

"It's Kasota," he said. "We do stuff like that once in a while."

While Heilman had run-ins with the law in his late teens and early 20s, including traffic violations and convictions for burglary and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, his father said he had been cleaning up his act in recent years. He was supposed to start a landscaping job in August.

Friends and family members described him as a loving father who loved camping, fishing and the outdoors. Born and raised in St. Peter, he moved to Kasota about five years ago, his father said. His family plans to hire an attorney and conduct a private investigation.

"Nothing's really making sense yet," Mark Heilman said.

Chao Xiong

Hoehn admitted that the two had been drinking Monday, but said it was not to excess. He also admitted that Heilman had been driving erratically, but said it was for fun, and not out of the ordinary in this town about 70 miles southwest of the Twin Cities that offers few distractions.

"It's Kasota," he said. "We do stuff like that once in a while."

^minnesota small town life truth bomb

no kidding

yeah no shit. this is so wtf

just for the record, I do understand that if you are beating a police officer in a physical struggle, he may reach for his weapon; I also understand how that police officer might be legitimately frightened or not thinking straight (though it's pretty obviously his job to be able to do stuff like, I dunno, hold a person at gunpoint without just shooting him); it's just that if you haven't adequately identified yourself as a police officer, you are fighting/murdering this person as a private citizen, not someone with a monopoly on violence

I mean, it sounds kinda like this guy was doing his job in an "it's Kasota, we do stuff like that" way -- "sometimes we just box people in with unmarked cars and then get in fights with them without all that 'I am a police officer' rigamarole"

Pretty sure that part of being a small-town police ossifer is knowing what people "just do" in your town and reacting accordingly.

"We are still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," Skoogman said. "Cases like this, you need to look at the totality of the evidence."

ie. ok, look, we just need some more time, right, we're pretty sure we can rubbish this guy in the press for the next couple of weeks, and his so-called friend, and find someone who heard Bauleke said "you better shoot me man or I swear to god I'll kill you with my bare hands..." or something...

Another problem with small towns is the presumption that everyone knows each other, which is mostly but not always true, ergo the cop might have been like "duh dude KNOWS I'm a cop, how many ppl live here anyway" right up to the point where he pulled the trigger.

In summation, strip dude of his badge and put him in jail.

amazing how the compulsory mention of the victim's criminal record can ostensibly cast such dark cloud of suspicion over the dude -- totally infuriating

I mean, it sounds kinda like this guy was doing his job in an "it's Kasota, we do stuff like that" way -- "sometimes we just box people in with unmarked cars and then get in fights with them without all that 'I am a police officer' rigamarole"

― nabisco, Wednesday, July 22, 2009 6:37 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

nah man honestly i have 2 friends from HS that are cops in my small town and those dudes are on their shit....

plus small town cops have had to adjust to a lot in the meth era, my friends have worked on federal drug task forces and shit now

Another problem with small towns is the presumption that everyone knows each other, which is mostly but not always true, ergo the cop might have been like "duh dude KNOWS I'm a cop, how many ppl live here anyway" right up to the point where he pulled the trigger.

― Lisa Simpson = a fictional bitch (HI DERE), Wednesday, July 22, 2009 6:43 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

good point no WAY can you assume that up in the mankato/st peter area, way too many bedroom communities and people live up there and work all over the mankato area which is a fair good sized small city....

"I'm sure he had good reason to confront (Tyler) about the reckless driving...

Such a Minnesotan response. I say that with love and despair.

Dude was from county sheriff's office, not the locals, so his jurisdiction was obv. more than this town, so no way could it be assumed that the guy who got killed would just recognize him as a cop.

I remember reading about quite a few of these occurance, where a cop(s) shoots and unarmed man. But I don't remember ever reading about said cop spending any time in prison. Has that ever happened?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090715/twl-policeman-jailed-for-shooting-footba-3fd0ae9.html

And that BART shooting officer is still in jail.
http://cbs5.com/local/BART.police.shooting.2.922477.html

yeah M@tt I'm not trying to say that's normal for small-town cops, just that, umm, even if you interpret this one really charitably, it sounds like the deputy was working a bit loosely and just sort of ... rolling a bit semi-officially on his own? (herein lies the beauty of proper, official policing: it does a lot to prevent you from getting into weird scuffles with people and then bugging out and killing them)

my bf's stepbrother was recently shot by police officers in canada, suspicious circumstances, incident under investigation... this article is touching a raw nerve over here.

Here's another jailed officer.
http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-nypd-cop-sentenced-in-shooting,0,1541217.story

Oh wait, he's not actually in jail...

ug sorry elmo.

heckuva job there um Waldrony

It's OK it'll all be cleared up in the Q & A.

yeah BART cop's out on bail. I don't know if they've made a decision about change of venue -- moving the trial out of Oakland/Alameda County.

OK, so it looks like currently there's one Italian policeman in jail for shooting someone?

cops don't go to jail for shooting people duh

Not a shooting but this seems relevant. Ta-Nehisi Coates adds to it.

Mehserle - the BART cop - hasn't been tried for the shooting yet. I'm sure if a cop shot his wife and kids he'd go to jail.

Pretty sure if I shot an unarmed citizen on a train station I'd be in jail awaiting trial.

unless you were granted bail.

Mehserle - the BART cop - hasn't been tried for the shooting yet. I'm sure if a cop shot his wife and kids he'd go to jail.

were wife and children resisting arrest/did they have a criminal record/etc

yeah ... I'm sure if a cop shot his 3 year old kid that got caught shoplifting once, he'd get off scott free.

hey that kid could've been on meth! all kidding/sarcasm aside my not-that-obvious point is that a police officer killing people in the line of duty /= police officer committing crime of passion involving his family

and that the courts invariably give broad BROAD leeway to a cop using lethal force. jail time just does not happen.

i'm sure that's informed by the fact that a cop would probably not last very long inside an elevated security correctional facility but yeah, the weighted scales of justice pretty obvious

er that should be "using lethal force in the line of duty"

I'm sure the reasoning is probably along the lines of "well if we send a cop to jail for killing someone, then cops will start second-guessing themselves about the use of force and we'll just have more dead cops and/or dead civilians"

x-post

uh, yeah, that was my point ... most people that shoot other people are not doing so under the government's employ. Don't they handle cases of bus drivers that get in accidents while intoxicated differently than regular people?

xp shakey: also, whoever decides to aggressively prosecute officer-related shootings as murder probably has a political career to consider and pissing off the police union, who are likely to stand up for one of their own, might be a bad political move.

unless you were granted bail.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get bail, not with my record.

I'm sure the reasoning is probably along the lines of "well if we send a cop to jail for killing someone, then cops will start second-guessing themselves about the use of force and we'll just have more dead cops and/or dead civilians"

This is no way to run a criminal justice system.

It's the American way!

Meanwhile, in my normally quiet neighborhood, a domestic disturbance ends in a suicide:

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/51364112.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

This happened in the block behind my house. Evidently there was a SWAT team in my street (and driveway) before the guy took himself out. My wife and kids and I slept through the whole thing.

"lethal force" is a legitimate job option for them, so yeah, obviously they're pretty liberal about what's considered, like, "non-optimal job performance" versus, say, "manslaughter"

prosecutions of those things seem totally political and publicity-based, but I'd be curious if anyone here knows the legal details about such things; it seems like it involves arguing not just that the officer did something wrong, unnecessary, insane, or against policy, but that there was some kind of malice or intent or some kind of over-the-top unreasonable gross negligence, right?

(also a weird gap where a lot of things cops might do can be demonstrated to have violated your civil rights but not be in any way criminal, because cops did them)

Oh how I love how they include his criminal record. Christ. Maybe he was stuffing stolen property in his swimming trunks. Please.

but I'd be curious if anyone here knows the legal details about such things; it seems like it involves arguing not just that the officer did something wrong, unnecessary, insane, or against policy, but that there was some kind of malice or intent or some kind of over-the-top unreasonable gross negligence, right?

I think it depends on what degree of murder they're being prosecuted for. That was the most recent stage of the BART cop saga - whether to try him for 2nd degree murder or a lesser one. The whole thing makes me feel sorry for the cop, because his fate is such a highly-politicized football. He's a transit cop, not an Oakland police officer that could expect to deal with shooting someone at some point down the line.

I can understand the breadth of leeway accorded to cops exercising the monopoly of force (insluding lethal) in society. That's precisely why we make them wear uniforms or at least declare themselves to be 'peace officers'. That this guy was so dead-set on chasing these guys down single-handedly, speaks of a kind of outlaw, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may attitude that undelines the helplessness of a police force when a stern populace (led by demogogues) insists on criminalizing extensive and difficultly policeable human behaviors. They feel alone and beleaguered and the harshest behavior always seems to appeal to them as the best course of action. It's not enough to arrest a dickhead, he must be humiliated while you do it (regardless of any eventual finding of guilt). It's the sign of a certain intellectual and social laziness which eschews negotiation and dialogue in favor of playing whack-a-mole with what ever pops up and if one whack ain't enough, by all means deal out more, each one harder than the last.

Nabisco has commented along these line on other threads as have I, but this isn't just murder (which I believe it very well might be or some kind of unjustified homicide) but this is very poor policing.

Here's another great one, via Radley Balko:

Last week, an undercover New York City police officer participating in a drug buy shot and killed 49-year-old Shem Walker during an altercation at Walker’s home in Brooklyn. Police say Walker, described by family and neighbors as an ex-con who had reformed, apparently thought the officer was a drug dealer or a vagrant. When the officer didn’t respond to Walker’s verbal demand to leave his property, apparently because he was wearing earphones to monitor the drug buy, Walker tried to forcibly remove him from Walker’s front stoop. The two got into an altercation. A second undercover officer then joined the fight, at which point the first officer shot and killed Walker.

The tension escalated Thursday when Walker’s family held a vigil on the same porch several days later. The family says that as they gathered, an NYPD officer pulled up and demanded identification. When several members refused, the officer called for backup. More officers arrived, and the vigil eventually erupted into shouting and shoving between the family and police. Police and family accounts obviously differ on who or what instigated the shoving. But it seems like a bad idea to send an officer to demand ID from participants in a vigil honoring an unarmed man who was killed by police just days earlier. Or, for that matter, putting undercover drug cops on private property in the first place.

Walker’s death is reminiscent of the Isaac Singletary incident in Florida from a couple of years ago. Singletary was shot and killed by undercover officers conducting a drug buy on his front lawn. He had confronted the officers with a rifle, thinking they were drug dealers. Those officers were cleared of any wrongdoing. Singletary’s family has filed a lawsuit.

I don't mean to suggest there that I condone drunk driving or that I think the officer was wrong in going after him, but a less confrontational approach, perhaps with a call for back-up (after all, he had been following him some ways), might have avoided the spilling of blood.

Yeah, Balko is a great clearinghouse for these cases -- depressing reading though all of them are.

^^ Coates has been talking about that Walker one quite a bit; his commentary sort of sticks out interestingly because he comes from a background where "do not let strange men hang out on your stoop" is a basic good-citizen rule understood by all

so dead-set on chasing these guys down single-handedly

not like I know anything about what happened here, but this seems sort of key, doesn't it? it really sounds like the crux of the thing, a guy who thought he could just "handle" something in some gray area between proper law enforcement and just ... "handling" things. (it will always, always, always mystify me how many police officers start thinking of the authority as theirs and not the job's, if only because, umm, people you interact with will make you life a whole lot easier if they know you're a policeman, and not just some psycho chasing them! it's more convenient for everyone!)

so many cop movies glamorize this type of cop behavior ... I mean, isn't that the plot of every Lethal Weapon movie?