http://www.youngcons.com/shocking-video-shows-oregon-protestor-being-shot-from-inside-vehicle/
New video from inside the truck....
New video from inside the truck....
The agent that appears to be jumping in front of Finnicums truck, in my mind, was bailing from behind his truck, thinking Finnicum was going to plow into it. Either way, he was not jumping in front of Finnicums truck for shits and giggles.
Agreed. But that wasn't the LEO that emerged from the tree line as Finnicum exited and went to the rear of the vehicle.
Bottom line is that he ran from the Leo's, he set the tone right there.
Yes he did. No disagreement there.
The way I see it, he had 2 chances to live to tell the tail. Get out and surrender at the first point of contact. 2. When he exited the truck at the road block, if he stood still and put his arms up, and stopped moving around arradically, he would still be alive.
One would hope and think. Remaining in the vehicle wasn't a guarantee of survival though. Especially while taking fire. And they were from hearing the in-car video/audio.
To be perfectly honest, in knowing how bullets will travel through a vehicle, Finnicum may have been trying to retreat to get as far away from the gunfire as possible, and thus moving to the rear of the truck in order to take better cover to keep from being shot. He may not have known which direction the gunfire was coming from and only saw the other officer coming at him with a weapon pointed at him. Neither of us know that for sure.
I don't want to second guess either. I can only judge from what I saw, and heard.
It is easy to 2nd guess all that has taken place, but we were not there, adrenaline is pumping, it was a high speed chase with people known to have weapons, Finnicum stated he would die before going to jail many times prior on video. If you were the Leo, would you have waited longer when Finnicum reached into his jacket ?
You cannot shoot someone without physically seeing a weapon in their hand. End of story. Otherwise there would be CCW and OC law abiding citizens being shot all the time. This much I know for sure. The last thing anyone (especially agency) wants to do is shoot someone trying to get their cellphone, which may have well been what he was reaching for all we know. It would be a media nightmare for the agency to have an officer shoot someone who was unarmed. Not only is that bad publicity, that is criminal.
I can not say one way or another regarding the supposed shots from the FBI prior to the death, but in the video. Taking shots at a truck approaching the road block at a high rate of speed does not seem unreasonable to me.
It is excessive in my opinion. There were other alternatives than opening fire.
Gunfire should be the last resort. Not the first.
I didn't see any spike strip deployment, even the chase vehicle was staying well back, which does indicate that there was activity ahead. They weren't out running the cruiser. The Cruiser was intentionally staying back far enough to keep contact, but not to overtake their pickup and to be in radio contact with the road block keeping them updated of the situation.
I don't think Finnicum was a bad man, I watched some of his videos and found them intersting and educational, he seemed like a smart articulate compassionate hardworking man. But he made choices that day that led to his death. Maybe he wanted to die as a marter for the cause, I don't know.
All in all, this was a bad deal from the get go, it was not planned to accomplish anything but for all these men to go to jail or to meet there maker.
Charges are still pending against them in their family case though.
Lisa Maxfield, who represented Wampler, came out of the courthouse, holding up her fists. She said she has never seen "anything like this happen,'' where multiple defendants in a federal trial were all acquitted.