[IamRobot]

No mater who or what, this is just plane wrong. This was a firing squad. It looks like he was walking away from them.

Video at link! http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/us/mic...ing/index.html

Saginaw, Michigan (CNN) -- Three days before Independence Day, Milton Hall died in a fusillade of police gunfire outside a strip mall.

He had been arguing with officers in a parking lot next to a shuttered Chinese restaurant when he was shot, in full view of passing motorists and while he was holding some sort of knife. Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael Thomas said later that the squad of police confronting him opened fire "because apparently, at this point in time, he was threatening to assault police."

Thomas' office and the Michigan State Police are investigating Hall's death. Saginaw Police Chief Gerald Cliff said Hall was "known to be an assaultive person" with "a long history" of contacts with law enforcement, "not only with police from our department but with the county."

Hall's cousin, Mike Washington, acknowledged Hall had been jailed for minor offenses like vagrancy in the past, but, "He was not violent." And Hall's mother is growing impatient with the probe and questions why police opened fire so furiously on her son, whom she said was mentally ill.

The chart blog: Mental health

"It appeared to be a firing squad dressed in police uniforms," Jewel Hall told CNN from her hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. "There was another way. They did not have to kill him. He had not done anything. He was not violent. He was not a murderer. He was not a criminal."

Jewel Hall said her son had once trained as a civil right activist, been an avid reader and played football. He had lived in Saginaw for 35 years and received Social Security disability payments for a mental illness, but, "He knew his rights."

"Everybody knew him. The police knew him well," she said. "So that's another question: they knew him, so why? Why did they kill him?"

The July 1 shooting happened in a parking lot on West Genessee Avenue, a busy commercial strip on the north side of Saginaw. In a video purchased by CNN, shot by a motorist from across the street, the 49-year-old Hall is seen arguing with a half-dozen officers. For more than three minutes, he walks back and forth, and at one time appears to crouch in a "karate stance," according to the man who captured the scene.

Police said Hall had just had a run-in with a convenience store clerk. On the video, he tells police, "My name is Milton Hall, I just called 911. My name is Milton, and I'm p---ed off." When an officer tells him to put the knife down, he responds, "I ain't putting s--t down." He appears unimpressed by a police dog, telling officers, "Let him go. Let the motherf---ing dog go."

Finally, he turns to the left of the frame, where another officer had moved out of view a short time earlier. It's then that the police open fire with a reported 46 shots in a five-second hail of bullets.

"I'm stunned that six human beings would stand in front of one human being and fire 46 shots," Jewel Hall said. "I just don't understand that. It's a lot of pain in that because it only takes one shot, so the question is why?"
She questioned why none of the cameras in the police cars at the scene recorded the shooting -- "none of them work."

"So that's the question I have and the community has is, what's taking so long?" she said. "Why is not being transparent?"

Lou Palumbo, a former Long Island police officer, told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that the video is "a perceptive nightmare" for a police department and could reflect a lack of training by the officers.
"This wasn't a scenario where he was discharging a weapon in their direction," he said.

But Palumbo added that the shooting may yet be determined to be justifiable. "One of the things the public has to understand, an individual wielding a knife at you at about 20 feet can be on top of you in a split second," he said. "The public doesn't know this because they don't do this for a living."

Neither state police nor the prosecutor's office would comment on the investigation. In a written statement to CNN, the state police said, "Our focus is on conducting a complete and thorough investigation, rather than a hasty one."

But Saginaw City Councilman Norman Braddock, who also has criticized the pace of the investigation, said the probe should be a "top priority."

When CNN showed Braddock the video, which he hadn't seen before, he said, "This is disturbing."

"I can see what people are traumatized at, looking at something like that," Braddock said. "We need answers."
Jewel Hall said her family is conducting its own investigation into the shooting, "and at the end of that investigation we will decide what next steps to take with our legal advisors."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/us/mic...ing/index.html

[glasscollector]

If you argue with an armed robber, chances are you'll get killed. It's the same with the police. Save your arguments for the judge, who is also an armed robber that is armed with 'the law'. You won't win unless you know the law.

"I can see what people are traumatized at, looking at something like that," Braddock said. "We need answers." Doesn't the video speak for itself? Shoot first and ask questions later. Life is cheap. That's your answer.


Hatha

[movlabz]

looked like he was standing 12-15 feet away from the nearest cop, walking away, then they just opened up, I've said it before; a cop told me once: "we don't show up to fight fair, we show up to win"

[carreraboyracer]

Wow, gangster shoot down. How cowardly pathetic does it have to get before people start slapping back. Inexcusable over abuse of power/authority. Rack up the tension some more I guess.......... and where the f*ck is the taser? Isn't this what they were intended for or did they need to remind the public what will happen if you defy the gang?

[Snocioncilm]

Absolutely ridiculous! why have the dog there if you aren't going to use it, and blink's point about tazers. The guy didn't have a fire arm, there was no reason for the shooting let alone 46 shots. Of course the cops will be in the right in the end, they can never do wrong, right?

Also, doesn't the victim seem really short compared to the officers in the video? Maybe it is just the view but he looks like a midget. Or maybe it is the karate stance....

[wMceqj7F]

In the civilian world if you shoot a man with a knife they bring up proportionate use of force. One guy with a knife walking away vs. six trained guys with bullet proof vests with firearms and an attack dog. Hmmm...

[thomaskkk]

i've been 'collecting' incidents like this since about 2004, every time i see an article in the news or a credible report on the Internet, i archive it.

in 2004, it may have been once a month.

then it got to once a week.

seems like now, it's once a day or more - and those are just the incidents that are reported.

i could start a website dedicated to 'abuse of power under color of authority'.


theoretically the FBI tracks and prosecutes such incidents, but i won't hold my breath.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investig.../color_of_law/

[Snocioncilm]

i've been 'collecting' incidents like this since about 2004, every time i see an article in the news or a credible report on the Internet, i archive it.

in 2004, it may have been once a month.

then it got to once a week.

seems like now, it's once a day or more - and those are just the incidents that are reported.

i could start a website dedicated to 'abuse of power under color of authority'.


theoretically the FBI tracks and prosecutes such incidents, but i won't hold my breath.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investig.../color_of_law/

I was thinking the same thing when I read this story, that it seemed to be happening a lot more, I thought maybe I was just paying more attention. Wishful thinking maybe....

[mas-dkt-sive]

46 bullets for 1 guy? Looks like they may have to boost their ammo purchases.... again

[maxuilg]

Looked like cold blooded murder to me. The knife he had was probably a butter knife from his mothers kitchen utensils drawer. Those cops just wanted to try out all the training they've been getting. SOB's

[Trikaduliana]

i could start a website dedicated to 'abuse of power under color of authority'.

What would you call it?

[derisgun]

dam . is this why there buying up ammo ? how many shots were fired ? or they just making sure no one lives to talk about it are sue there asses ... so arguing gets you shot 46 times

[freevideoandoicsI]

Chief of the dimwitted donut munchers: "This guy had a long history."* And that's really all you need to know as it justifies *whatever* the dimwitted donut munchers do. And of course they couldn't let the K-9 loose 'cause Bruno the K-9 *may* have gotten killed or injured by a 'combative person with a knife'.

*wtf is this supposed to mean? that the dimwitted donut munchers are too poorly trained and/or too fucking incompetent to take down someone with a knife with all the tools available to them without resorting to having to shoot someone NO LESS THAN 3 DOZEN TIMES? are the dimwitted donut munchers that fucking lame? apparently...however I think it may be a bloodlust thing going on in a culture super-saturated with bloodlust by the Death Cult...ya know dimwitted donut munchers like to drink Kool-Aid with their donuts...