{"id":8697,"date":"2016-03-11T16:21:17","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T00:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=8697"},"modified":"2018-02-07T23:02:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T07:02:06","slug":"police-investigation-into-the-shooting-death-of-lavoy-finicum-concludes-that-the-use-of-deadly-force-was-justified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/police-investigation-into-the-shooting-death-of-lavoy-finicum-concludes-that-the-use-of-deadly-force-was-justified\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Investigation into Shooting Death of Lavoy Finicum Concludes that the Use of Deadly Force was Justified"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Internal Report\u00a0Whitewashes\u00a0over Police Use of Deadly Force\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Federal\u00a0Occupation of Twelve\u00a0States Continues<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By Scott Michael Rohter<\/p>\n

Originally Published March 2016\u00a0 –\u00a0 Updated January 2018<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many Americans\u00a0were\u00a0outraged at the sight of an innocent\u00a0man\u00a0being shot in the back\u00a0by\u00a0police while his hands up in the air.\u00a0\u00a0Some\u00a0of us\u00a0listened to the eyewitness account\u00a0of Victoria Sharp<\/a>\u00a0and Shawna Cox who were passengers in Lavoy Finicum’s\u00a0truck\u00a0at the time\u00a0he was murdered by the police. An internal\u00a0police investigation into the use of deadly force<\/a>\u00a0against Mr. Finicum concluded that the use of deadly force by officers of the law was justified.\u00a0\u00a0Authorities also released additional audio from the cell phone of Shawna Cox as\u00a0Lavoy Finicum’s \u00a0truck sped toward\u00a0a police roadblock. They also released\u00a0aerial surveillance photography\u00a0from overhead drones\u00a0in order to\u00a0piece together\u00a0a\u00a0complete picture of the events as they occurred. The police\u00a0investigation into the shooting death of\u00a0Lavoy Finicum\u00a0concluded\u00a0that\u00a0the use of deadly force against Lavoy Finicum was justified. I disagree.\u00a0\u00a0 The police news conference can be viewed here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Since when\u00a0is it\u00a0okay to shoot\u00a0an innocent\u00a0man\u00a0in the back? It’s even worse when the victim has his hands up in the air and the police are the ones doing the shooting.\u00a0\u00a0 We are\u00a0presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.\u00a0When did\u00a0a police officer’s badge become a license to commit murder?\u00a0 It wasn’t too long ago that\u00a0a person who shot someone else in the back\u00a0was lucky if he even got a trial. They\u00a0were usually\u00a0taken out back and hung from the nearest tree….\u00a0but today police officers are exonerated after shooting someone in the back.\u00a0\u00a0Police investigators call it\u00a0a justifiable use of deadly force. Let me tell you something… There is never any reason to shoot someone in the back, and even less when his hands are up in the air and he poses no threat to anyone. I don’t\u00a0 care what he is accused of doing…\u00a0\u00a0How can any rational human being\u00a0ever\u00a0justify such a thing?<\/p>\n

Lavoy Finicum was not a murderer.\u00a0\u00a0He didn’t commit a violent crime. He had no history of violence. In fact he\u00a0didn’t\u00a0even have a police record. He didn\u2019t\u00a0have\u00a0so much\u00a0as a speeding ticket. He was engaged in an act of civil disobedience against the Federal government and police officers just shot him in the back while his hands were clearly up in the air, and now they are trying to whitewash over what they have done.<\/p>\n

Lavoy Finicum was a family man. He was a husband. He was a father, and he was a grandfather. He left behind twenty-five grandchildren… That’s right, twenty-five! \u00a0He was a leader in his church. He was well respected in his community.\u00a0Lavoy Finicum was killed by Oregon State Police officers while he was\u00a0participating in an\u00a0act of civil disobedience against a lawless Federal government which does not even\u00a0pretend\u00a0to follow the United States Constitution anymore.\u00a0He was protesting the Federal government\u2019s unconstitutional occupation of\u00a0more\u00a0than one-half\u00a0of the land in twelve Western States. While he was doing this…. while he was exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right to petition the government for a redress of grievances… while he was exercising his constitutionally\u00a0guaranteed right to freedom of speech, and his constitutionally\u00a0guaranteed right to freedom of assembly\u00a0Mr. Finicum was brutally\u00a0gunned down\u00a0in cold blood by\u00a0 police\u00a0officers and\u00a0he was\u00a0just left to die\u00a0where they shot him on the side of the road. It took\u00a0police officers\u00a0\u00a0more \u00a0than ten minutes to even check on him after they shot him, and by\u00a0that time he\u00a0was probably already dead. If he wasn’t then what\u00a0law enforcement officials did next\u00a0made sure that he was. They\u00a0just left\u00a0his body\u00a0there on the side of the road where they shot him until the next morning when he was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.<\/p>\n

Let me ask you a question. What is worse\u2026 occupying a Federal Wildlife Refuge for\u00a0less than\u00a0a month in order to draw attention to a serious violation of the United States Constitution, or occupying 700 million acres of\u00a0 land in twelve Western States for\u00a0more than\u00a0150 years?… That was what Mr. Finicum was doing. He was protesting the illegal occupation of Stand land by the federal government. That is what the United States Government is guilty of doing. Since 1850 when California became the first Western State to enter the Union the federal government thru various\u00a0Enabling Acts of Congress has seized\u00a0almost half of the land\u00a0west of the Rocky Mountains.\u00a0Lavoy Finicum was only guilty of\u00a0drawing attention to that fact and seeking an equitable\u00a0resolution. At the very worst he was only guilty of trespassing on so called Federal property, but as he frequently\u00a0said it really\u00a0isn’t Federal property. It is State land.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0Mr. Finicum\u00a0carried a gun at the time he was shot\u00a0he had\u00a0a legal right to carry that weapon. If it was in his pocket that is precisely where it was supposed\u00a0 to be because Oregon\u00a0is a concealed carry state.\u00a0 It had to be concealed. There was nothing illegal about it.\u00a0 The important point is that he never had\u00a0a gun\u00a0in his hands. I\u00a0watched the\u00a0 police videos. I\u00a0 listened to the audio and I heard the eye witness testimony. I\u00a0considered the conclusion of the police investigation into his death, and\u00a0I reviewed the\u00a0evidence, and\u00a0I have arrived at a\u00a0 different conclusion than the internal police report. It is my informed opinion that\u00a0the police\u00a0investigation into the use of deadly force against Lavoy Finicum is a total whitewash of the facts. \u00a0It was not an investigation at all.. It\u00a0was a police cover-up.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the report\u00a0there were a total of nine shots fired by law enforcement on that day. One shot was fired\u00a0at the vehicle at the initial traffic stop\u2026 That was when Ryan Payne got out of the\u00a0truck and surrendered to\u00a0authorities. That left three\u00a0people still in the vehicle with Lavoy Finicum\u2026 In the backseat were Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox and a\u00a0young girl named Victoria Sharp<\/a>. She was not one of the protestors who were occupying the Refuge.\u00a0 She was\u00a0just accompanying the others to an event\u00a0where they were scheduled to speak to a\u00a0group of local ranchers.\u00a0Miss Sharp was\u00a0supposed to sing and provide\u00a0music.<\/p>\n

After Mr. Finicum decided to ignore police commands and drove away from the traffic stop eight more shots were fired by law enforcement personnel, but not a single shot was ever fired back at police by anyone in the vehicle.\u00a0\u00a0 As the\u00a0truck\u00a0approached\u00a0a police roadblock a mile or so down the road two Oregon State Police officers fired three more shots into the vehicle. None of those shots\u00a0were justified because no one in the vehicle was firing at them. In fact no one in the vehicle even had their hands on a weapon. The police report\u00a0found that\u00a0officers were justified in shooting at the vehicle because they feared for their lives.\u00a0 The report states that the speeding vehicle\u00a0represented a deadly threat.\u00a0That is\u00a0nonsense.\u00a0The report\u00a0does not mention the fact that there was an underage adolescent sitting in the backseat of the vehicle who\u00a0had nothing at all to do with the protest at the Refuge. It fails to mention that their random\u00a0gunfire into the vehicle could have killed or injured her.\u00a0The report\u00a0fails to mention that if police officers manning the roadblock had merely gotten out of the way of the oncoming vehicle then they would not have perceived the vehicle as any threat.\u00a0\u00a0The report\u00a0goes on to\u00a0state\u00a0that one of the shots fired at the vehicle hit the passenger side mirror. Another\u00a0shot hit the engine. They\u00a0don\u2019t say\u00a0where a third bullet hit. Maybe they\u00a0should ask Ryan Bundy who was\u00a0 in the back seat. He still has a bullet lodged in his shoulder.\u00a0 The internal police\u00a0investigation concluded that\u00a0the use of deadly force by police officers was justified, but as I\u00a0have noted,\u00a0deadly force was not justified because no one in the vehicle was shooting at them.<\/p>\n

Then FBI agents positioned along the road fired two more shots at the vehicle. According to the\u00a0report they did not hit anything. However one FBI agent did not report that he\u00a0had fired his weapon\u00a0and so a separate investigation into that officer was conducted. The result of this investigation was that the officer\u00a0was convicted of lying under oath. That leaves just three more shots to explain. Those were the\u00a0shots that\u00a0were fired into\u00a0the back of \u00a0Lavoy Finicum.<\/p>\n

When the vehicle hit the snow bank and came to a\u00a0stop Mr. Finicum immediately exited the vehicle shouting\u00a0 “shoot me, shoot me.”<\/em> He was trying to draw\u00a0police gunfire away from the passengers in\u00a0the vehicle.\u00a0It was an act of selfless heroism. He held his\u00a0hands\u00a0up in the air\u00a0as he stumbled around in snow up to his knees. \u00a0The report states that police officers told him to get down on the ground. I couldn’t\u00a0hear\u00a0that on the video, and with all that was probably going on in Lavoy’s mind at the time I\u00a0doubt that he could have heard it either,\u00a0however there is no mistaking that\u00a0his hands were clearly up\u00a0in the air in a sign of surrender which could not have been mistaken by\u00a0the police\u00a0as a threat, especially the two\u00a0officers who shot him from behind.\u00a0\u00a0After being hit once by what was either a bullet or a tazer\u00a0Mr. Finicum’s\u00a0lowered his arms slightly. As they went down his entire\u00a0body bent over at the waist. Most people didn’t notice this, but you don\u2019t bend over at the waist to reach for a gun in your pocket.\u00a0Mr. Finicum was not reaching for a gun. He was reacting to being hit by one.<\/p>\n

The FBI and the Oregon State Police could have let him wander off in the snow. There was\u00a0no where really for him to go..\u00a0 and he couldn’t have gotten very far even if he wanted to. The snow was\u00a0up to his knees. \u00a0They\u00a0could have waited him out and talked him into surrendering, but they\u00a0didn’t\u00a0exhibit any\u00a0inclination\u00a0to do that. Instead they chose to fire their weapons at a man that posed no threat to them.\u00a0Lavoy was\u00a0shot three times\u00a0in the back and\u00a0left to\u00a0bleed to death\u00a0in the snow. Law enforcement officials were wearing bullet proof vests. Even if they had allowed Mr Finnicum to reach for\u00a0a gun which they claimed was in his pocket\u00a0… the chances that he could have been able to hurt\u00a0any of them\u00a0on the first shot as he was stumbling around in knee deep snow was almost impossible.<\/p>\n

In conclusion Lavoy Finicum was shot from behind by\u00a0two people he didn’t even see. There was no way that\u00a0either of the Oregon State Police Officers who shot Lavoy Finicum could have felt threatened by him.\u00a0 They\u00a0claimed\u00a0he was reaching for a gun, but there is no way\u00a0they could have known what he was actually doing with his hands…\u00a0whether he was\u00a0really reaching for a gun or just reacting to being\u00a0struck by one or perhaps\u00a0reacting to\u00a0being hit by a tazer. The only thing those two police officers\u00a0could see was his back. One bullet entered\u00a0Mr. Finicum’s\u00a0right shoulder blade at the back and another\u00a0near lower down near the back of the waist.. Neither of those wounds\u00a0would have normally been fatal, but\u00a0officers did not\u00a0provide medical assistance to save his life. They\u00a0allowed him to continue to bleed until his body went into shock and cardiac arrest. Instead of providing\u00a0medical assistance they began\u00a0an\u00a0assault on the\u00a0other passengers in\u00a0his vehicle.\u00a0They fired flash bangs and tear gas into the truck in order\u00a0to get them to surrender. After it was all over the police\u00a0returned to Mr. Finicum who was\u00a0probably dead by them. His\u00a0body\u00a0was left there over night and taken to a local hospital the next morning where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

Lavoy Finicum was not a murderer.\u00a0He was not a violent\u00a0man. It wasn’t necessary to use deadly force in order to apprehend him. He was\u00a0twice\u00a0the victim of government wrongdoing…\u00a0first by\u00a0Federal government overreach and second\u00a0by FBI and State law enforcement over reaction.\u00a0 Mr. Finicum was\u00a0 engaged in\u00a0an\u00a0act of civil disobedience. He was exercising his constitutional rights\u00a0to\u00a0freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and\u00a0his constitutional\u00a0right to keep and bear arms. If he was mad at the government\u00a0then he had a right to be mad. I am mad.\u00a0Just because\u00a0he dared\u00a0police officers to shoot him doesn’t\u00a0give any police officer the right to do it.\u00a0Police officers \u00a0are supposed to be professionals and you don’t shoot\u00a0someone\u00a0just because\u00a0he asks to be shot.<\/p>\n

Please share this article with your friends, and read and sign the Petition to transfer\u00a0the Administration of Federal Lands to State control<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Many Americans were outraged at the sight of an innocent man being shot in the back by the police while his hands up in the air. Some of them listened to the eyewitness account of Victoria Sharp and Shawna Cox who were passengers in Lavoy Finicum’s truck at the time he was murdered by police. An internal police investigation into the use of deadly force against Mr. Finicum concluded that the use of deadly force was justified…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,6],"tags":[726,727,721,725,724],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8697"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10489,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8697\/revisions\/10489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}