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Florida deputies who fatally shot US airman burst into wrong apartment, attorney says (apnews.com)
submitted 1 month ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach when the shooting happened on May 3.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson was on a Facetime call with a woman at the time of the encounter.

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[-] stembolts@programming.dev 212 points 1 month ago

Sure, you are allowed to have a firearm. As long as we (the police) never see you with it, or anything shaped like it, on your person ever, even if you are inside your own apartment. Oh, also don't be black. Black people all have guns all the time. /s

That constitutional right doesn't feel very constitutional when it's a death sentence to exercise it.

He's got a gun! Quick! Murder him as fast as possible!

But we have the right to have them? Oh wait I get it, you have the right to have a firearm but not the right to be alive at the same time, ahh, now it makes sense. Got me with the loophole, no "right to live while bearing arms" in the constitution, but you can bear arms, just gotta forfeit your right to be alive.

[-] Mammothmothman@lemmy.ca 63 points 1 month ago

They know they are the tyrants mentioned in the 2A

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Of course. Right wingers never feel bound by their own rules. Rules are just a tool for oppressing the outgroup.

[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Uh yeah, the second amendment says nothing about tyrants. I mean the entire thing is like one sentence dude come on.

The 2A is not, and never has been, about protecting the US from tyrannical leaders. That is not what a well-regulated militia was for.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 6 points 1 month ago

A-fuckin-goddamn-men.

I was literally just coming to write a similar comment.

So right wingers are you still going to lick those boots or maybe actually give a shit about that 2nd amendment you love to use as a cudgel against "the left?"

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 119 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Is the Air Force at least going to care about this? When is this shit going to be stopped?

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 73 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

They didn't care about him when he was alive.

They may care about the operational loss, but they certainly wont bring any kind of hammer down on the local PD.

[-] Cipher22@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

I'm honestly curious about a source for your perspective on the first sentence. I've seen firsthand where the USAF negotiated on an international level for enlisted Airmen over a DUI. This particular case was in Japan and while the Airman had to serve his term as dictated by the Japanese courts, he was aloud to do so in a US Military facility, which was a significantly higher QOL for that Airman.

I couldn't find an article while looking for a minute, but it's been quite a few years. I also promise that skin tone was not a distinguishing factor.

At the end of the day, though, I would simply like information on your perspective, not to convince you to change.

[-] lath@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Own country vs other countries. Doesn't matter what a US soldier did in other countries, if it can be swept under the rug, it will. Own country, they don't give a shit.

[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

Are Japanese prisons that bad? I would expect them to be much better than ours based on my understanding of their society but I honestly have no idea.

[-] sparkle@lemm.ee 34 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Japan is an ultraconservative hellhole, their law & justice system is probably the most backwards in the first world. Their crime management is pretty much just fascism many times, extremely out of proportion punishments for the crimes, and if the government accuses you of something and it goes to trial, you're basically toast. They all but torture you while you're being processed, often times they use harsh treatment to try to force a confession out of you before trial. The state prosecutor also has no legal obligation to present all the facts, they have a lot of freedom to cherrypick and withhold information relevant to the trial in order to make the defendant look as guilty as possible.

They have a 99.8% criminal conviction rate.

Japanese inmates are often treated inhumanely, the way Japan treats prisoners regularly would be considered a human rights violation in most western countries.

Imagine how Republicans treat criminals, and multiply it by a hundred. Japanese society/government HATES anything that's out of order and does all it can to stamp out any "deviance" from norms. This usually results in them treating financial crimes, theft, drugs, etc. extremely harshly, but doing pretty much nothing about crimes like sexual harassment & sexual assault, which are kind of culturally prevalent or even slightly acceptable in Japan. Legally rape victims are treated far worse than rapists. You'd even probably be treated leniently for DUI as long as it wasn't a taboo/illegal drug (i.e., if it's alcohol).

The reason urban Japan seems so nice and orderly is similar to the reason that the streets of Pyongyang seem so clean and behaved. Extremely terrible treatment of people who step out of line, except in Japan it's mostly culturally than politically. There's a reason they're known for suicide and hikikomoris.

It is a very common misconception that Japan is very progressive because of anime and the extremely rampant sexualization/objectification of women in the form of cute/funny things like panty dispensing machines and wacky television game shows and cat girls, and in general Japanese stuff just being very bright and bouncy and all that. But it's very misleading, their culture obsessed with cuteness/"kawaii" stems from an attempt to radically and rapidly distance their cultural image from that of Imperial Japan. They definitely succeeded in changing the world's perception of them, but they didn't address their deep societal issues which were in part caused by the US basically controlling their politics after WW2.

I should point out though that not all Japanese prisons are dystopian torture chambers. But you still get very few rights and freedoms while imprisoned, even socializing may be completely forbidden.

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[-] jonne@infosec.pub 2 points 1 month ago

Americans getting arrested in other countries is "a great injustice". If American cops kill an American, nobody cares.

Look at what the US has done to protect obviously guilty Americans from facing any type of consequence from committing crimes abroad. Stuff like the woman who killed a motorcyclist in the UK because she was driving the wrong way, or the airmen that killed scores of people by flying into a gondola cable in Italy.

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[-] Kid_Thunder@kbin.social 98 points 1 month ago

I remember many years ago, the AF was charging airmen when some were splitting their tongues. The least they could do is charge these local PD with felonies. Obviously isn't going to happen.

What is crazy is the woman he was video chatting with said he heard a knock, asked who was there. No answer. Then a louder knock a couple of minutes later which is when he got his gun and they burst in. It sounds like it was unannounced.

I hope we get the video for this but Florida is trying to kill all of its open information policies, so we may never get to see it.

I really hope the cops are charged and convicted on at least manslaughter. Florida is pro-gun but also pro-cop. If the video shows them as being unannounced, I could see people actually being concerned because it could happen to any gunowner at that point, racial bias aside.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

charging airmen when some were splitting their tongues

Like, cutting their tongues down the middle to make a forked tongue?

[-] Kid_Thunder@kbin.social 17 points 1 month ago

yes AKA tongue bifurcation.

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 13 points 1 month ago

This sounds like a very Florida Man activity.

[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Oh hey that's me! I've had mine split since 2017. I'm a sideshow performer and can hold lit torches with mine. AMA 🐍

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[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 8 points 1 month ago

Yes I'm also very curious about the meaning of this line.

[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

(IANAL) So, technically speaking, signing up for the military means the government literally owns you. Self harm and body modification (even as mild as forgetting sunblock and getting sunburned, unapproved cosmetic surgeries) can be punished, on the grounds of damaging government/military property, making a soldier non-combat-ready.

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 91 points 1 month ago

Sooo when are we going to stop bursting into any apartments?

Never?

[-] MsPenguinette@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

It's not fair of you to expect our cops to be compitent! It's against their nature

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

compitent

Found the cop

[-] APassenger@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Doing quite well for a small penguin, tho.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

If this man gunned them down as they came in, it would have been covered by his rights as his life was endangered. It would never go that way on court. That's when things will change though, when people start killing armed people on their property under their castle/stand your ground laws. If 30 cops in a small enough area suddenly get themselves killed they will use their union to fight for disarming civilians and taking away the 2nd amendment rights/self defense laws, or the judges will stop signing warrants once they start getting sued/disbarred for allowing the cops to enter a dangerous situation they shouldn't have. Punish the police and the judges, and change might occur. So.. never

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I remember a similar case where the police didn't announce themselves and were trying to claim qualified immunity in front of a panel of judges. One of the judges said that he would have shot at them too.

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[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 68 points 1 month ago

And once again we're given the name of the victim but not the murderer. ACAB

[-] Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 month ago

Just look for the one posting pictures from his month long paid vacation.

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 55 points 1 month ago

Police officers "fatally shoot"

People of color "accidentally murder"

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago

Reminds me back when Hurricane Katrina happened and the news reported a scene of black people in New Orleans breaking into a supermarket as looting and a scene of white people doing the same thing as "finding food."

[-] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 4 points 1 month ago

Negligently murder.

[-] exanime@lemmy.world 52 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

wait what? the cops were addressing a noise complaint and that, somehow, gave them permission to break into someone's home? (never mind they got the wrong home to begin with)

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

You would think they would realize it was the wrong house when they showed up and it was quiet

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

the cops were addressing a noise complaint

Someone heard another acorn drop.

[-] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 42 points 1 month ago

The office did not offer details on what kind of disturbance deputies were responding to or who called them.

Sooo... noise complaint then? They died because a deputy basically tricked them in to making themselves a threat.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago

I keep repeating this every fucking time I read a story like this. IF THE POLICE CAN KILL YOU FOR JUST HAVING A GUN ON YOUR PERSON. THEN WE DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO OWN GUNS THAT THE SECOND ADMEMENIT SAYS WE DO.

This happens all the fucking time and cops get away with these killings. So we are in a police state.

We need to be allowed to defend ourselves even against the police. If they break into the wrong house ( which they shouldn't be allowed to do without a fucking warrant) then we need to be allowed to shoot those fucking cops.

Then maybe they would take time to make sure they were at the right place.

ACAB.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago

Are the cops on vacation yet

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 20 points 1 month ago

No. They have to take a few days off first.

[-] Hptyhop84@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

There will be an investigation by other pigs, therefore they will find him innocent & he will get a paid vacation by the tax payers probably promoted.

[-] Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 1 month ago

Cops claim they aren't civilians, let's throw them to the military justice system, send them to Leavenworth, they can spend their days turning big rocks into little rocks.

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[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 29 points 1 month ago

the cops are out of control

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

They were out of control 40 years ago when they bombed a neighborhood with helicopters and explosives.

Defund the police wasn't just a blip.

[-] maculata@aussie.zone 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah but he was black so… so what?

-Florida Police.

[-] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

The Boot lick The Blue crowd never have nothing to say about Police abuse.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

ACAB

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this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
617 points (98.9% liked)

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