Police shoot man next to his child

[summer]

Well, damn.  Did the child get her inhaler?


thegrio.com/2014/11/26/man-shot-police-daughter/

Jacksonville, FL — A Jacksonville man was shot at by police officers while he was next to his young daughter inside his car.



Brian Dennison says he was just outside his vehicle when an officer fired at him. He told News4JAX he couldn’t help but think that he or his daughter had been hit.



Investigators said the officer believed Dennison had a small handgun but he was unarmed.

Dennison was ultimately arrested and taken to the Duval County Jail for knowingly driving with a suspended license.



“Last night was very scary,” Dennison told News4JAX. “I had my daughter in the car with me, coming home from the basketball court, and she was having an asthma attack at the time. I was trying to rush her back to the house.”



The father said he was rushing home when a police officer tried to pull him over. Dennison says he got out of his car with his hands up, attempting to explain to the officer and alert him to the emergency.



Dennison said the officer then continued to walk toward him while he was holding his daughter and explaining when the officer took a shot at him.



Authorities say that when Dennison exited the car, the officer believed he had a small handgun and said that he was not holding his daughter.



The incident is currently under investigation.

[EllieArroway]

I quit.

[meggers5]

I really just want to scream, at this point.

[thejackpot]

That poor girl. To be in physical distress and have to witness her father getting shot. Just outrageous.

[pixy0stix]

Dammit.

I don't understand how he could have pulled her out of the car and be carrying her, though, if it happened as quickly as he said.

[ECB]

A black man getting out of a car! Suspicious! SHOOT HIM!!!!

What the ever loving fuck?

[elleblue]

OMFG!

[blink]

Yet the white couple in Iowa rushing to the hospital in labor didn't get shot. And they ran from the police for quite awhile.

ETA: because I can't finish my thought

[meshaliuknits]

Sent from my EVO

[NewOrleans]

a child does look like a handgun.


I see the resemblance.

[sparrowsong]

Maybe these officers are hoping for three months paid leave and then retirement with a million dollars too. All you need to do is shoot a black man and then use the "big black brute" defense. Piece of cake.

[laurenpetro]

Was he hit? It doesn't make it right, I just want to know if he's OK.

[pixy0stix]

On Monday night, Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer JC Garcia fired his gun feet away from where Dennison was standing outside a Southside apartment complex.

“We was coming back from the basketball court and my daughter was complaining about having a headache,” Dennison told Action News.

Dennison said his 6-year-old daughter suffers from asthma, and that he pulled into a parking lot near University Boulevard and St. Augustine Road to check on her. That move was something Garcia thought was suspicious, according to JSO Assistant Chief Chris Butler at a press briefing during the initial investigation Monday. Butler said Garcia then followed Dennison to an ATM, and attempted to pull him over for expired tags, but Dennison abruptly took off.

Dennison admits to driving away quickly, and to seeing the officer nearby, but said his daughter began fighting for air.

“I seen a light, but at that moment in time I'm not paying attention to him. I’m paying attention to my child,” he said.

Dennison said he held his hand out the window and yelled for Garcia to hold on as he drove to his home, something he said he thought Garcia understood. He said he drove below the speed limit to show that he wasn’t running from the officer. When he pulled into a parking lot outside his home, he said he got out of his car to further explain the emergency.

“I actually opened the door and I explained to him again what was going on, and as I'm pulling my daughter out of the car -- gunshot,” Dennison said.

According to Butler, Garcia told investigators he quickly realized Dennison wasn’t armed.

“As the officer gets out of the car armed with his handgun, he begins to discharge his weapon. This was simultaneously, and he then recognizes that the suspect is not armed at all and pretty much directs his fire in another direction and discharges his handgun one time,” said Butler.

Dennison told Action News that Garcia acknowledged what happened.

“As he makes that mistake he says, ‘Damn,’” said Dennison.

Dennison said he was then allowed to take his daughter to their apartment to begin breathing treatments. She was later checked on by rescue at the scene and fully recovered. During that time, Dennison said a detective began questioning him, while officers searched the vehicle that he said belonged to his father. He was later arrested on a charge of driving on a suspended license, and spent the night in the Duval County Jail.

“You just don't know what you're walking into,” said JSO Director Tom Hackney at a second press briefing on Tuesday. Hackney said officers are on high alert for every traffic stop.

“It's one of the most dangerous things officer do,” Hackney explained.

Hackney says a review board is investigating to determine if Officer Garcia violated policy. Garcia is a five-year veteran of the force, and this was his first time discharging a weapon on duty.

Dennison has been charged with driving on a suspended license previously, but said it was the result of failing to pay his insurance and that he was working to correct the violation. He admits to making mistakes Monday, but said he believes his actions were necessary.

“As long as she got to safety, I was fine with any other results that I had to deal with,” Dennison said.

While he believes he deserves an apology, Dennison does not want others to look negatively at law enforcement as a whole.

“An apology would be fine. At the end of the day, you have to take accountability for the things that you do. In his head it was quick. In me and my daughter's head, it was never quick, and we'll never forget that. I wasn’t raised to be afraid of the police, and I don’t want her to feel like she has to be cautious when she sees them either,” he said

- See more at: www.actionnewsjax.com/news/news/local/man-says-he-did-not-initially-stop-police-because-/njGFz/#sthash.gjx6eAy5.dpuf

[pixy0stix]

^^ Explains what happened a bit better. Now I understand why he had his daughter out of the car with him.

[tictac]

"Dennison says he got out of his car with his hands up, attempting to explain to the officer and alert him to the emergency."

"Dennison said the officer then continued to walk toward him while he was holding his daughter and explaining when the officer took a shot at him"



Wait. Did he get out of the car with his hands up, or did he get out of the car holding his daughter? I have been pretty jaded against the police when it comes to black men/boys being shot at lately, but I really don't see how he could possibly have been doing both in this particular scenario.

ETA: did not see Pixy's other article about this at the time that I hit "post", going to read more before I form an opinion.

[NewOrleans]

Nov 28, 2014 17:16:30 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

“You just don't know what you're walking into,” said JSO Director Tom Hackney at a second press briefing on Tuesday. Hackney said officers are on high alert for every traffic stop.

“It's one of the most dangerous things officer do,” Hackney explained.

First,   that they searched his car even knowing the real reason he fled the scene.

As to the above... then maybe fucking stop doing it for no reason.  Danger averted.

[pixy0stix]

Nov 28, 2014 17:25:14 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Nov 28, 2014 17:16:30 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

“You just don't know what you're walking into,” said JSO Director Tom Hackney at a second press briefing on Tuesday. Hackney said officers are on high alert for every traffic stop.

“It's one of the most dangerous things officer do,” Hackney explained.

First,   that they searched his car even knowing the real reason he fled the scene.

As to the above... then maybe fucking stop doing it for no reason.  Danger averted.

He probably gave them permission to search the car.

[NewOrleans]

Nov 28, 2014 17:28:18 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Nov 28, 2014 17:25:14 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

First,   that they searched his car even knowing the real reason he fled the scene.

As to the above... then maybe fucking stop doing it for no reason.  Danger averted.

He probably gave them permission to search the car.

 that they wanted to do so.  

[pixy0stix]

I don't know. I can see how this could have been interpreted badly by the police as an honest mistake. (Even though with guns there should never be a mistake.)

You have a car acting suspiciously. The car refuses to pull over and continues driving. It finally pulls over and a man emerges from the car yelling (which you probably can't hear what he's yelling), and rushes over to the other side of the car to pull something out. I can see why the cop was on edge.

I don't excuse the shot being fired. I do credit the cop for stopping after the initial shot. Again, I think it was an honest, although it could have been lethal, mistake.

[NewOrleans]

Nov 28, 2014 17:39:05 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I don't know. I can see how this could have been interpreted badly by the police as an honest mistake. (Even though with guns there should never be a mistake.)

You have a car acting suspiciously. The car refuses to pull over and continues driving. It finally pulls over and a man emerges from the car yelling (which you probably can't hear what he's yelling), and rushes over to the other side of the car to pull something out. I can see why the cop was on edge.

I don't excuse the shot being fired. I do credit the cop for stopping after the initial shot. Again, I think it was an honest, although it could have been lethal, mistake.

We really do take turns, lol.  You and me, Pixy.  We never part.  Cinnamon and apples.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 29, 2014 9:41:29 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Nov 29, 2014 6:19:13 GMT -5 tryingtobehappy said:

Side question; Can you be arrested if your lisence expired and you still drive? It seems this could happen to a lot of people!

Says the person who drove on a suspended registration for 13 days and dudnt realize.

I think you get fined. The first time. I think it probably does also depend on the underlying reason your license was suspended.

It's a misdemeanor here. When I worked for the public defender, I represented many a' folk that were arrested and in custody for driving while suspended. 

[mominatrix]

What I don't like is the LEO's explanation that the discharge of his weapon occurred simultaneously with exiting his vehicle. It strikes me that he didn't have time to think about the situation, didn't have time to listen, literally came out with guns blazing.

Nope. Don't like that one bit.



And I have a very difficult time believing that anybody with white skin would spend the night in jail for driving on a suspended license, when what he was doing was driving his child home while she was having an asthma attack. If anything deserves a "verbal warning", you'd think that does.