Landon Eastep, 37, was shot and killed during the intense situation on the interstate.
*****
You've got to watch the video at the link.
There's 9 cops doing a mag dump, must've been a hundred rounds fired at this guy, and one cop decides that's not enough so he pops him a couple more times while he's on the ground after everybody else quits firing.
Two things:
#1, with the police department taking such swift action in decommissioning this cop and the very fact that he was decommissioned tells me this wasn't the first time they've had problems with him and
#2, just once I would love to read a report where the investigators question a cop after an incident like this wanting to know why the cop didn't fire a single round and have the cop reply that with 8 other fuckers unloading on the suspect, he didn't think his 17 rounds would make any more difference.
ReplyDeleteNo tasers? No pepper spray? They should have been able to end that with out a killing. The way they were lined up just looked like a firing squad execution, waiting on the guy to make one misstep.
And what exactly is decommissioning?
Pulling his credentials so he can't be hired by another department.
DeleteIt means he can't be a cop for the Metro Police. When I lived in TN a commission did not apply statewide. You had to be commissioned by the department you worked for. It would look really bad for him if he tries to get another cop slot elsewhere.
DeleteThat looked like suicide by cop.
ReplyDeleteI saw similar behavior when the ex was nursing in L.A.
ReplyDeleteHospital wanted to get rid of a nurse without risking a wrongful termination suit, so they'd file a complaint with the state licensing board and let them do the dirty work.
Nine officers who need to stand in front of a firing squad consisting of their superiors. Make the chief and his captains and lieutenants gun these guys down.
ReplyDeleteFilm it with high speed cameras. Any who do not shoot or miss get shot as well.
I know several present and formers cops and I have never known one that could shoot very well If they did what you suggest, they would have to hire someone to shoot the last few
DeleteI know several present and formers cops and I have never known one that could shoot very well If they did what you suggest, they would have to hire someone to shoot the last few
DeleteThat probably could have been handled a lot better, but I wasn’t there and I’m Monday morning quarterbacking. With that said, Brandon was partially at fault here. With all those cops with beads on him, dropping the “knife” and obeying the subsequent instructions of the cops would have ensured his survival. I’m not sure, however, that the cops would have honored their word not to arrest him.
ReplyDeleteI'm soooooooo looking forward to the day the public has had enough of cops and this type of behaviour.
ReplyDeleteWatching these fuckers get their heads severed is going to be glorious and well deserved.
Nobody wants to see police officers get hurt but... this guy WAS walking down the road minding his own business. Not to mention that one guy with a box cutter against a group of cops IS NOT a life threatening situation for the cops. Yep, somebody might get cut but nobody was going to get killed.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't shoot him for the box cutter. He pulled a "shiny, silver, cylinder" from his pocket. Until proven otherwise, I have to think it was a Tennessee State Police Commemorative vibrator.
DeleteThis cat committed suicide. He was obviously suffering from some type of mental illness but lacked the intestinal fortitude to off himself. There are millions in this country today crying out for help. Some are dangerous, some not. We see them everywhere. Mostly we ignore them. The ACLU made sure we couldn’t get them the help they needed, so this is the result we get. The cops want to go home after their shift and reacted the same way anyone with a lick of sense would have. While I certainly don’t want to see anyone die like that, I probably would have reacted exactly the same way the cops did. When shit starts happening, it happens fast, and there’s no second place winners. Sorry. Eod1sg Ret
ReplyDeleteDecommissioned? Does that mean he's going to be turned into an artificial reef?
ReplyDelete[rocketride]
We can only hope.
DeleteDead until proven innocent.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, suicide by cop. Landon had lots of chances to stand down but ignored all of them. When he yanked his hand out of his pocket and went into a firing stance he knew he was going to die. He was the only one who knew he didn't have a gun.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet none of the overpaid, pampered snowflakes on scene verified that there was actually a threat. There was no gun and every round fired by the government thugs should be a murder charge. It was not the citizen that was in charge, it was the 9 gang members in blue that chose to escalate the situation and to fire with no clue what in the hell they were shooting at.
DeleteChris, have you ever posted anything positive about a cop? Ever? Even something neutral?
DeleteYeah, we all get it. You hate all cops - ALL cops.
You are right. I do hate all cops. Just like I hate ticks, leeches and other harmful parasites.
DeleteAs sad as that situation was and the fact that I don't really dig cops and their over the top actions, I'm again reminded of one of Val Kilmer's lines in Tombstone. Deputy and Doc bursting into bedroom: "Nobody move!" Doc Holliday: "Nonsense, by all means, move." Ohio Guy
ReplyDeleteLet's see, 25 most dangerous jobs in America has being a cop at #25. That falls behind roofers, electrician, truck driver and many other everyday jobs people go out to do everyday without murdering someone. The people that make excuses for cops because " it's so dangerous " or " well go be one for a while and you'll see " are so full of shit. A lineman, you know the guy in the bucket truck repairing your power line is 3x more likely to die on the job so if you feel a need to kiss someone's ass go find that lineman working in your neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteAs to these assholes, every damn one should be charged with murder with civil rights violations as well
JD
You wonder why so many police officers miss when firing at suspect, especially when they have all the time in the world and aren't being shot? Look at the shooting stances of the officers in the vid. Piss poor and made for inaccuracy, thus needing a mag dump to possibly connect with one round from less than 30 feet.
ReplyDeleteWho in hell trains these guys to shoot? Probably no one. Bubba gets the police job because good ol' boy, dumb as a rock, former high school athlete gonna Bubba.
Nemo
I think most only have to pass a yearly qualification. The only time most fire their weapon probably.
DeleteDaryl
I read somewhere else that he was hit 9 times with over 100 rounds fired.
DeleteClearly the guy had something going on but that doesn't mean he had a real mental issue either.
ReplyDeleteClearly this was suicide by cop, but was that his intention when he headed out that day ? Hard to know but probably not.
I believe it's illegal to walk on the shoulder of an interstate highway so guessing that's what the off duty cop stopped him for. But was this guys intention by walking there this end result ? His actions at the end might suggest so , but I seriously doubt it.
Seems to me the guy was in a bad way, the cops cornered him, escalated it and he went for it spur of the moment decision.
Looks to me like the cops drew this out way too long and could have easily went with the less lethal options available to them, which seems to be the normal response these days.
So my overview on the video is:
- if this guy wasn't stopped by the initial cop most likely none of this would have happened ... including the increased public safety risk by all the gun fire. Cops do not seem to care about that much in practice.
(not saying he shouldn't have been checked out, just sayin')
- if the cops did the right thing (not drag it out and wind the guy up), he'd most likely be alive with minor charges and possibly getting some help to sort out what might have only been nothing more than trying to cool off from a frustrating fight with his wife. Could have been much more, but could have been no more than that as well.
- if the cops went with the less lethal option almost 100% chance he'd be alive and go from there.
Just because a guy is in a bad way doesn't mean he should be in a rubber room. Just because a guy makes a spur of the moment suicide by cop decision also doesn't mean the cops should be more than willing to oblige him.
I think all of us can clearly see this could have easily been dealt with in a much better way. All cops seem to do these days is give you more and more reason to hate them.
I know I'll get flamed for saying this but.... I would like to see a whole lot more bad guys getting blown away by the police. In our society now, the thugs do not fear the police and they are emboldened to do do as they please. They know the liberals will cry and demand the police be de-funded (see George Floyd) if they are hurt in any way.
ReplyDeleteWell, you won't get flamed by me, and that's a fact.
DeleteThe bad guys know better, and they're usually taken by a SWAT team. Their deal is that they're criminals, maybe violent criminals, but not mentally ill, suicidal criminals.
nice in theory, but the cops rarely seem to shoot the ones that absolutely should be
DeleteI recall a story from a few years ago where a group of several cops emptied their pistols at some perp in New Yawk -- and the perp wasn't hit.
ReplyDeleteThis is why we go to the range, kids.
I remember that. I forget how many shots they fired, but they didn't hit a thing.
DeleteI don't recall that one but do recall the guy in NYC who gunned down a former coworker on the sidewalk then calmly walked away. A bystander saw two cops on foot patrol, told them what happened, and pointed out the killer. Cowboy cops 1 and 2 then started shouting at the killer to stop before they got withing 20 feet of him. He pulled his pistol out, they yanked theirs and started shooting (one had happy feet but stayed in place, the other began firing then walked away with one hand covering his face while firing with the other).
Delete*Nine* people were injured by direct gunshot or ricochet and the NYPD's first report said the killer did it to them. Then they had to backtrack because the video clearly showed that he never fired a shot at the cops or anyone besides the man he killed.
Then, of course, the commissioner stood up and praised the job his officers had done.
Sheesh.
Cops are dirt,
ReplyDeleteAS I posted on this Yesterday: THis was like the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago a few years back.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the kid was black and the cop white, so they got a murder charge for the cop (which it was....).
But Landon was white so no great outcry and the cops will likely walk over this.
Some of the comments are so off base I want to puke. Although I never served as a cop I did my time in the sandbox as Navy EOD. When an individual would approach a check point, entry control point or your patrol and would not listen to commands and would not show their hands everyone would cover and shoulder their weapon. If they made a wrong move, everyone opened up and dropped a mag. That even as the guy on the 240 was more than enough to eliminate the threat.
ReplyDeleteTo the one comment, the off duty cop was not the initial contact, the on duty TN Highway Trooper was. The Trooper stopped to offer the guy a ride off of Interstate 65, it is illegal in TN to walk along Interstates (excluding breaking down and walking to nearest off ramp) and not just that in is quite hazardous.
Hind sight being 20/20 one officer, preferably with a rifle should have taken up a covering fire position while the others tried to talk him down. Then you would have only had one officer firing, but the results would have been the same, at least 3 shots center mass, with more than likely a 5.56mm 55gr HPBT cartridge, the suspect would be dead.
As for less than lethal systems, as they moved closer to deploy the system he may have made the wrong move and gotten shot any how. Those taser guns are great if you're close and manage to have both barbs strike the suspect. Do you as a cop want to bet your life on someone else hitting the target with a taser at a distance that looks to be 15 to 20 feet away.
The guy drew, turned and took a shooting stance, in the 1/10th of a second it took him to do that do you think you would have been able to distinguish what he was holding. Watching the video when he made his move it appeared to be a stainless S&W to me. Are you going to wait long enough for him to get off a shot before engaging, I F-in doubt it. As for the late shots, lets wait until that camera footage is released there may be a reason for it.
The problem with your logic is that your basic missions are different. As a "soldier" your job was to kill people and break their stuff while preventing your enemies from doing the same. The police are there to protect society from criminals by either preventing crimes by their presence or finding an bringing before the court suspected criminals. Nowhere in their duties is "kill people" a basic function.
DeleteThere are federally required processes in place in every police department in the country that are supposed to actually prevent that. It appears at first blush that either these processes were not taught to these officers (training issue) or they chose not to use them for what appears to be erroneous reasons (personality issue).
A thorough investigation by unbiased individuals would bring the facts to light.
Deploying snipers on traffic stops and stop and frisk incidents is putting an awful lot of faith in both the training and personality of the sniper, and sounds like a terrible idea for police. Great for a military patrol or checkpoint though.
Do you want to live somewhere that military patrols and checkpoints are commonplace without being an active member of that occupying force?
Let's see, in the sandbox vs an interstate hwy in Tennessee. Also war one vs a morning commute. I could go on but that would be a waste of my time
DeleteJD
Early-1970s.
ReplyDeleteSacramento suburb of Citrus Heights.
I was ride-along with California Bureau Of Narcotics Enforcement (before they were dis-banded (for 'selective enforcement'?)...).
.
Call on an alleged peeper complaint.
Two cars rolled up on an apartment complex.
Alleged suspect was empty hands in swim-trunks and flip-flops exiting the pool area.
No verbal instruction, two full-auto M-16s unload 54 (fifty-four) shots in the vaguely general direction of the elderly gentleman.
Four hits, deceased at scene.
.
What happened to the other fifty slugs?
Swept under the rug.