man killed for cleaning airsoft gun in carwash

[TwistedKarma]

http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/Man-shot-by-Yakima-police-was-holding-an-Airsoft-gun--238986161.html

YPD said the officer shot and killed Rocendo Arias because he saw him holding a gun in his car. Arias took a bullet to the head

   strange to be cleaning a gun at that time of day?

[Adrenolin]

Another trigger happy cop. If he had noticed the guy sitting there for an hour he should have called for backup, waited, then proceed by pulling up and demanding the deceased to step out of the vehicle. Common sense! Whose training these idiots these days?

[jstgsn]

Another trigger happy cop. If he had noticed the guy sitting there for an hour he should have called for backup, waited, then proceed by pulling up and demanding the deceased to step out of the vehicle. Common sense! Whose training these idiots these days?

Are you saying "the police acted stupidly!"?  Perhaps you should have a beer summit with the officer.  Having been on patrol at night and having been in similar situations, I'm not so quick to condemn the officer.  It would be impracticable to call for back up every time you see something suspicious.  (Do you know how many parked vehicles are found to contain drunks, druggies, and others ie newspaper delivery men, night watchmen, night owls, as well as murderers, rapist, and robbers?)  So the officer walks up to the passenger side, then to the driver's side and opens the door and finds a man with a handgun (with finger on trigger).  How many times has it been debated on sites such as ours about reaction time to a man with a knife and how close do you allow him before drawing and firing?  Here you blame a cop for defending himself against a perceived threat of a handgun at a distance of 4-6 feet. 
My suggestion is be aware of your surroundings, and if a uniform cop approaches you, don’t have a gun (toy or otherwise) in your hand.  It could end poorly.

[ESPMan]

Another trigger happy cop. If he had noticed the guy sitting there for an hour he should have called for backup, waited, then proceed by pulling up and demanding the deceased to step out of the vehicle. Common sense! Whose training these idiots these days?

Are you saying "the police acted stupidly!"?  Perhaps you should have a beer summit with the officer.  Having been on patrol at night and having been in similar situations, I'm not so quick to condemn the officer.  It would be impracticable to call for back up every time you see something suspicious.  (Do you know how many parked vehicles are found to contain drunks, druggies, and others ie newspaper delivery men, night watchmen, night owls, as well as murderers, rapist, and robbers?)  So the officer walks up to the passenger side, then to the driver's side and opens the door and finds a man with a handgun (with finger on trigger).  How many times has it been debated on sites such as ours about reaction time to a man with a knife and how close do you allow him before drawing and firing?  Here you blame a cop for defending himself against a perceived threat of a handgun at a distance of 4-6 feet. 
My suggestion is be aware of your surroundings, and if a uniform cop approaches you, don’t have a gun (toy or otherwise) in your hand.  It could end poorly.

+1

[Adrenolin]

Are you saying "the police acted stupidly!"?  Perhaps you should have a beer summit with the officer.  Having been on patrol at night and having been in similar situations, I'm not so quick to condemn the officer.  It would be impracticable to call for back up every time you see something suspicious.  (Do you know how many parked vehicles are found to contain drunks, druggies, and others ie newspaper delivery men, night watchmen, night owls, as well as murderers, rapist, and robbers?)  So the officer walks up to the passenger side, then to the driver's side and opens the door and finds a man with a handgun (with finger on trigger).  How many times has it been debated on sites such as ours about reaction time to a man with a knife and how close do you allow him before drawing and firing?  Here you blame a cop for defending himself against a perceived threat of a handgun at a distance of 4-6 feet. 
My suggestion is be aware of your surroundings, and if a uniform cop approaches you, don’t have a gun (toy or otherwise) in your hand.  It could end poorly.

No not all police.. but yes this officer acted stupidly and reckless. Perhaps trigger happy wasn't the correct phrase I'll agree. However, is a parked car in a parking lot at 3am suspicious? No. Thats insane and cops would be looking at 1000s of cars every night. A parked car in a parking lot at 3am with a person inside is suspicious. The reason he approached is because he said he saw a suspicious vehicle. Also to correct you, the officer approached from the drivers side first then he went to the passengers side where he opened the door. If looking inside a vehicle on the drivers side the first thing you're going to look at is the front drivers seat to see if anyone is there. Common sense here says he saw someone in the seat.. if not the officer made a mistake. If he saw the guy he should have demanded he step out or he himself should have stepped back, called for backup and used his loud speaker. If the officer didn't see him why didn't he attempt to open the drivers door instead of going around to the passengers side? Its in a parking lot, not a busy highway or street where a risk of being hit would have been an issue. If viability due to lighting, tinted windows, etc didn't allow him to see inside he should never have opened a door.

By calling backup, putting his headlights on the suspicious car, using his loud speaker to demand anyone inside step out, etc he would not have put himself in as much danger nor would he have had to shoot the guy. Cops are NOT alone out there and assistance is a quick call away for any of them.

This has nothing to do with reaction times, proximity, etc. I agree that we should be aware of our surroundings however there is no law that says we have to and lets be honest.. 99% of people don't. They walk around in their own worlds without a worry to their immediate safety. That shouldn't make it right for a cop to sneak up, scare someone and shoot them because he scared them and in turn he got scared and reacted. Unfortunately, in this case we will never really know the truth unless a security camera or witness comes to light. I stand by what I said in regards to this officer. If evidence comes to light proving me wrong, fine I'll fess up, however I'd like to know exactly what the officer thought was suspicious about a parked car in a parking lot, regardless of the time.


btw.. I've worked as an EMT and first responder for a number of years in Canada and 1.5 years in Saudi Arabia back in the 90s. I relied on local Law Enforcement and the military every single day overseas. I've also worked with the FEDs on more then a few occasions over the years. I respect LEOs as much as the military and know they have a darn hard and stressful job. I also know what they deal with daily. They have hauled my butt outta trouble a few times and I've also told them to back the F off so I could do my job on occasion when they're pulling their superiority BS. I'm not bashing LEOs here just stating my opinion on this case from what I read. They do make mistakes however. If he had acted with a bit more caution and called for backup the kid may still be alive and the officer wouldn't have to live with the fact he killed someone. Note also I've always maintained that officers should patrol with a partner and should never be on their own.

[jstgsn]

I emphatically agree with almost everything you said except for the stuff I don't agree with.  I'm glad we reached this agreement! 
I believe arguing about things reported by a newspaper can sometimes be based on half truths, faulty reporting, misunderstandings, past personal experiences, and "leaps to conclusions".  It is good we agree on so much of this.   
It always concerned me people would take a news report, digest it, run it through their personal fiats, and come out with a slanted version.  Thankfully I have never done that, but still worry I someday may.  As far as this situation is concerned thankfully we discussed it and both agree you can not prove your point as you were wrong from the very get go.     
KIDDING!
Seriously, I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened.  I was in that situation a bunch of times and luckily didn't pull the trigger.  On the other hand I went home afterward.  I truly hope this officer was justified and they judge it that way.  Yes I side toward the officers as I was one once, and now one of my sons is a NCCPD officer, and I pray he never has to be judged because of a similar situation.   It saddens me people are so quick to find fault with those who are putting their lives on the line for us. 
OMG got me into rant mode so quickly.
Seriously. A guy is sitting outside a closed business at 3 in the morning working on a toy gun, and when a uniformed PO walks up to his car he keeps the gun in his hand with the finger on the trigger and.............
sorry, got carried away. 
but please?

[groundgrid]

Corollary‎ to the standard gun safety rules:

-Transport all firearm so that they are not visible to anyone casually looking into the vehicle.

-Clean and repair firearms only in a secure, private location (unless doing so as a group at a gun club, range etc.)

-If it looks like a gun, it is a gun until proven otherwise

If everyone had some common sense, things like this would not happen.
Over the weekend I reminded my 9 year old not to leave his loaded Nerf gun on the kitchen table. Rules are rules, if they are ingrained into you
when young, you will never forget them.

I have 2 airsoft pistols that I use for target practice in my garage. (HK USP Compact & a Beretta 92) Both are the exact size of the originals. If unable to see the red tips or look at them closely, anyone can mistake them for real guns.

[Cbmarine]

Following on with the inferred assumptions that these were the actions of rational people as reported by a Fair Witness media, the occupant of the car would have observed the officer approaching, rolled down his window and said hello. But little seems rational here.  Why didn't the officer see the occupant through the driver's side window? Tinted? Was he deliberately hiding? Why? Intended robbery or paranoid occupant? Why point a gun at a uniformed individual (assuming that this is actually what happened). I'll parrot the response of a liberal defending a liberal (not a conservative): let's wait till all the facts are in. As a non-govie, I don't want to have to buy the beer.

[Adrenolin]

Jstgsn..   it's just different views, the way one person reads a story as compared to another. Ones mood quite often plays things different from one day to another. I feel I jumped a bit harshly. It's been a busy day here and I've caught this darn cold again! 10 weeks I had it, felt better for 2 days and boom.. Sick again. Kid started back at daycare last week, go figure. It's past wearing me out.

I do feel for the cop. He now has to live with this for the rest of his life. Hopefully they do find it to be an honest shoot and he is cleared. I also feel sorry for the kid and his family. Remember, we carry, we know many of the laws, we know we should be aware.. Most people don't. Air soft guns are not firearms regardless of how they look. Most kids and many adults really don't see the danger of this. I've seen at least half a dozen people walk outta Walmart and sit in their cars opening air soft guns. They don't see the danger in this.

LEOs are also supposed to be trained to recognize situations like this and look for the orange tips. At least they used to. I hope they still are. The fact is that there are a lot of quickdraw cops out there for whatever reason.. Trigger happy, an initiation (its happened), stressed out and edgy or simply paranoid.

Btw.. that's part of the problem and its nothing against you personally but as you said.. You side with the officer because you were once one. I understand why.. but it is wrong.

Either way.. It's sad that it happened. I hope the family can continue on after they grieve and I hope the officer is cleared and this doesn't affect him to much.

[Adrenolin]

Cb.. Heck I'll buy the first round anytime

[jstgsn]

I'll buy the next two rounds.  However first things first.  I just went through a three week "cold".  In desperation I went to the doctor and he gave me a 5 day dose of Azithromycin 500 mg, and told me to take zyrtic (allergy pills) and musicnex along with prescription Nasonex spray.  In two days I felt much better.  (I also took doses of green tea with honey and of course at night VO oorange juice and ginger ale. )  good luck.

[Adrenolin]

I think yesterday was a short relapse. Wife is sick as all get out. Kid is fine aside from a slight runny noise.  I'm actually feeling much better today. I've quarantined them to certain areas and neither are permitted near me  like that's at all possible.