By now we’ve also seen footage of the Alex Pretti incident, from multiple angles, and we’ve also seen clips showing federal officials clamoring to convince the public that what they’ve seen was completely justified – even prior to any investigation occurring. We see both sides pushing politics and sowing division, rather than looking objectively at the facts to figure out what happened, and then fairly applying the law.
I’ll walk you through what we actually know happened, based on the currently-available video footage, and then let one of the best civil rights lawyers in the country – Patrick Jaicomo, with the Institute for Justice – who is literally at the forefront of the efforts at holding federal officials accountable for civil rights violations, cut through all the b.s., all the propaganda, and give you the actual information that you need to know right now. And there’s a lot of it – that you’re not hearing anywhere else right now.
A 16-year-old boy was running for his life after being shot at in downtown San Diego. He was not a threat and not a suspect, yet he was shot in the back by a police officer who only saw him for ONE second before deciding to pull the trigger. Sadly, that young man lost his life that night, which I detailed in a video back in March. Now it has been announced that the City is set to agree to THE LARGEST police settlement in US history – 30 million dollars.
16 year old Konoa Wilson ran for his life after being suddenly shot at by another teenager at the Sante Fe Train Depot in San Diego, California. Police officers were nearby – on the other side of the building – when the shots rang out. The teenager narrowly survived being shot by the other teenager, but as he fled through a corridor, he had no idea that in moments, he would encounter a police officer who would end his life.
On August 13, 2024, Anchorage police responded to a 911 call involving Easter Leafa, who was reported to have threatened her sister with a knife. What followed was a series of events that ended with Officer Alexander Roman discharging his weapon, leading to Easter’s death. The State of Alaska’s Department of Law, after reviewing the case, concluded that the officer’s actions were legally justified. But does the newly released bodycam footage contradict the report?
Full Report from the State of Alaska Department of Law:
Here’s my complete breakdown of the important parts of the Sonya Massey shooting, utilizing indisputable screenshots from the bodycam footage of both deputies. There’s been a lot of confusion, as well as misinformation about both the facts and the law surrounding this incident. We can have differing opinions as to conclusions, but nobody is entitled to make up facts. These are all provable facts. Comparing these facts to Illinois self defense law, former-deputy Grayson faces an uphill challenge in his murder case.
Self defense in Illinois can be asserted as an affirmative defense by someone who uses force against a police officer under certain circumstances:
“A person is not authorized to use force to resist an arrest which he knows is being made either by a peace officer or by a private person summoned and directed by a peace officer to make the arrest, even if he believes that the arrest is unlawful and the arrest in fact is unlawful.” Id. § 7-7.
The Illinois standard for police use of force:
The peace officer’s use of force when making an arrest is governed by section 7-5, which provides, among other things:
“[A peace officer] is justified in the use of any force which he reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any force which he reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest.” Id. § 7-5(a)….
“The decision by a peace officer to use force shall be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable officer in the same situation, based on the totality of the circumstances known to or perceived by the officer at the time of the decision, rather than with the benefit of hindsight, and that the totality of the circumstances shall account for occasions when officers may be forced to make quick judgments about using force.” Id. § 7-5(f)….
If the officer’s use of force is not justified under section 7-5, then it is considered excessive, and section 7-7 no longer applies to the arrest. People v. Bailey, 108 Ill.App.3d 392, 398 (1982).
After the officer uses excessive, unlawful force-but not before (see People v. Haynes, 408 Ill.App.3d 684, 691 (2011))-the arrestee’s own use of force is instead governed by section 7-1(a), the general self-defense statute, which states, “[a] person is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force.” 720 ILCS 5/7-1(a) (West 2022). Section 7-1 is limited in turn by section 7-4, which provides that a person’s use of force is generally not justified if he is the aggressor, except in certain specific circumstances. Id. § 7-4.
Therefore, the use of excessive force by a police officer in Illinois invokes the arrestee’s right of self defense, just like any other situation where someone is using unlawful force. A jury assessing this would consider the following factors:
“In order to instruct the jury on self- defense, the defendant must establish some evidence of each of the following elements: (1) force is threatened against a person; (2) the person threatened is not the aggressor; (3) the danger of harm was imminent; (4) the threatened force was unlawful; (5) he actually and subjectively believed a danger existed which required the use of the force applied; and (6) his beliefs were objectively reasonable.” People v. Jeffries, 164 Ill.2d 104, 127-28 (1995).
Here’s the general Illinois self defense law that applies when police officers use excessive force and lose the protections of Illinois law authorizing police use of force:
“A person is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, he is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or another, or the commission of a forcible felony.” 720 ILCS 5/7-1 (West 2002).
But, self defense is not available as an affirmative defense to an assailant who:
(c) [I]nitially provokes the use of force against himself, unless:
(1) Such force is so great that he reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that he has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(2) In good faith, he withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.” 720 ILCS 5/7-4(c) (West 2002).
Here, former-deputy Grayson is forced to assert the Illinois general self defense statute, which prohibits him from doing so, if he was the initial aggressor. Or, I suppose he could contest the application of the police use of force statute by arguing that he did not use excessive force. Either way, he faces some difficult legal hurdles.
A federal lawsuit was filed after a man was shot and killed by a Princeton (West Virginia) Police Officer inside his own house, following allegations from his neighbor that he had been riding his ATV through the neighbor’s yard. The officers were captured on bodycam footage engaging in an investigation within the curtilage of the man’s yard, and ultimately kicking in the door and shooting him. The officer who shot and killed the man claimed that the man had a baseball bat and refused to drop it. Conveniently however, he wasn’t wearing a bodycam, despite a department policy mandating that he do so. Some of the shooting was captured on another officer’s bodycam. It was recently released by the family’s lawyers.
This footage comes from Rancho Grande, California, where the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office responded to a set of 911 calls regarding a woman with a knife who was looking for her dog, which she believed to have been stolen. The woman was reported to have a butcher knife. When the cops found her, she was sitting in her driveway in her muscle car. She refused to get out of her car and attempted to speed away. However, the two cops collectively fired ten rounds at her.
A LaSalle, Colorado police officer has been charged with second degree murder after he shot a man in a dollar store parking lot, during an investigation about a car’s suspicious paint job. It was the officer’s third day of training with that police department. Can a police officer shoot a man attempting to flee a suspicious paint job investigation?
There’s a huge update to the case where my client, Darius Lester, was shot by a SWAT team, while trying to sleep in his home. As explained previously, he had no criminal record and had committed no crime. The West Virginia State Police was executing a search warrant for that residence that was entirely unrelated to Darius. They claimed that Darius confronted them and came at them with a hammer, for which they charged him with a felony. That charge has now been to court….
The family of Christian Glass, who was shot and killed by police last year after calling for help from the side of the road, will receive $19 million from the state of Colorado and local authorities as part of a settlement, making it the largest police settlement paid by the state and one of the largest in the country.
