Does Anybody Really Care?

UPDATE VIII: Compare the Steen case and video (below), to the case of a bycyclist pushed to the ground by a New York City police office, for seemingly no reason. That officer was prosecuted and convicted of lying to cover-up the incident. Read The New York Times, Ex-Officer Guilty in Shove of Bicyclist. Here is the video of that incident:




UPDATE VII: An internal review of the actions of the officer that caused the death of 17-year-old Victor Steen stated:

"After reviewing the video evidence in this incident, I believe that the pursuit did expose the subject to unreasonable risk of harm or injury. At times in the pursuit, Officer Ard drove his cruiser so close to the suspect’s bike that it would have been difficult if not impossible for him to stop if the suspect fell from the bike. I also found it disturbing that Officer Ard attempted to tase the suspect on a bike as he rode next to him. If this action would have been successful, it is very possible that the suspect would have sustained serious injuries from the fall."

Why was this review not discussed during the corner's inquest, or mentioned in the court's ruling?

Sounds like adequate evidence to find probable cause to charge the officer with manslaughter (Sec. 782.07, Fla. Stat.)? Or vehicular homicide (Sec. 782.071)?

Can you say whitewash.


UPDATE VII: Seems that the police officer's actions were a violation of the Pensacola Police Department policy. As a result of Steen's death, the officer was suspended for 80 hours without pay. Read Rick's Blog, Official PPD statement on Officer Ard.

Was the policy violation discussed during the corner's inquest, or mentioned in the ruling?


UPDATE VI: The verdict of the Coroner’s inquest is in. His death the result of over zealous enforcement of a statute making it a non-criminal traffic offense to ride a bike at night without a light. Read it and decide for yourself whether the outcome was justified:




UPDATE V: History teaches everything, including the future.

What does history teach about the Steen case. Read the Independent News, A Cycle of Injustice? A 1974 Death Reflects Present-Day Frustrations with Steen Case.


UPDATE IV: Yes people care -- if a dog is killed. Read the Pensacola News Journal, Marine's arraignment set March 31 in dog strangulation.

People even protested at his first appearance in court on Wednesday.


UPDATE III: For more on the Steen case, read the Independent News, The Pursuit Of Justice.

So what was the purpose of a coroner’s inquest. It is "a political shield."

"[S]ince 1988 at least 12 coroner’s inquests have been conducted in Escambia County in cases involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Two of those 12 cases resulted in a finding that officers contributed to the victim’s death. However, the state attorney did not initiate a prosecution in either case."

Read The Voyager, ACLU: Coroner’s inquest system flawed.


UPDATE II: Today's inquest testimony is the the officer didn't have time to stop. So does that mean that it is not his fault, or that he was following too closely? Read the Pensacola News Journal, Investigator: Ard could not have stopped.

If you hit the car ahead of you, would the excuse "I didn't have time to stop" exonerate you?

Time will tell if this inquest is a .


UPDATE: A gun was found in the pocket of the kid. According to an article in the Pensacola News Journal, Teen's final moments shown in videos:

An "investigator cut the pocket and removed a. 380 caliber handgun that was not registered to Steen, nor was it reported stolen.

Tracy Love, an FDLE fingerprint analyst, said that after a battery of five tests, she was unable to recover a single fingerprint from the gun, the magazine or the bullets.

The gun had seven bullets in the magazine and one in the chamber."How you get a gun in the pocket without getting fingerprints on it is a question we all wish to seek the answer to," Watson said after the hearing. "I'm not going to argue about the gun because, like I said in the beginning, what happened after the fact is not relevant. What we're concerned about is what happened before he was killed.""

(Watson is the Steen family attorney.)

How does a gun get into a pocket without getting fingerprints on it?

After Hurricane Katrina, near tha Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans, five people were "walking to get food and supplies, and . . . two [others] were on their way to a family member’s dentistry office when they were fired upon by police officers. Four were seriously injured." Two were killed. It was immediately apparent that the shooting was unjustified. Moments later a police Lieutenant arrived at the scene and "he and the other officers began to plot a cover-up, planting a gun near the site to make the shootings appear justified."

I hope there has been further investigation of the 'clean' gun issue.

One dead black kid after the police use deadly force without justification. Watch the video:



Running from the police is not justification for using deadly force. And the officer used deadly force twice. The second use was hitting the kid with the vehicle, which was likely unintentional. But the first use was firing the taser at a person riding a bicycle.

Although there is no reason to believe that the officer intended to kill the kid, it seems that the risk of serious injury or death is likely where the police use a taser on someone riding a bicycle. And it appears that nothing the office knew during the chase justified the use of deadly force.

Should the officer be charged with manslaughter (Sec. 782.07, Fla. Stat.)? Or vehicular homicide (Sec. 782.071)?

Of course, no one really cares cause he was just a black kid.