We've been following this story but waiting for a bit more information. No need to rush to judgment.
So, last year, Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order pursuant to the Executive Law that would allow the Executive Branch jurisdiction over police shootings that involved unarmed suspects.....Whether District Attorneys like this or not, it is lawful. Governor Pataki issued a similar order giving the Executive the ability to step-in and take over death penalty cases. District Attorneys were not pleased with Pataki.
Pataki's order was directly related to a number of DA's that publicly stated they would not seek the death penalty. That, of course, was their prerogative. Cuomo's order was a political response to pressure from the black community following a number of questionable incidents in New York City. While legislation drafted in response to political pressure is typically flawed (see The Safe Act), it is a law.
As an aside, many DA's like this order, whether they'll say it or not. Perhaps not in smaller cities and rural areas but certainly in large urban areas. It essentially removes them from a lose-lose situation. If the officer is cleared, DA's are often accused of bias in favor of the police. If the officer is indicted, the DA can incur the wrath of an agency they need to work with every day.
With Officer French, it is inconceivable that a grand jury would indict. French could very well be dead or paralyzed if he had not acted.*
All that aside, after the Crist incident, the Reid incident and now after reading The Record article and the Times Union article: Is Abelove up to the job? You can read the petition here. The story also made the New York Times but we have not yet read that article.
Whatever the outcome, we hope that the Grand Jury's decision stands at that French is not subject to further proceedings. It would seem unfair to leave such a matter hanging over the officer's head due to the actions of the District Attorney.
*While we would make the argument that the decedent was, indeed, 'armed', that is not our call. Or Abelove's.
47 comments:
Now that we have established Abelove is a liar, harken back to when he told us he never had the Reid file.
test case
Time to get serious. No prosecutor ever presents a police shooting case to a Grand Jury within days - and no professional DA ever should. In all likelihood this was a justified shooting, but the version of events so far is totally based on accounts from police. It is doubtful that there is even a completed autopsy, and bo chance of a toxicology result for another week or so. An accident reconstructionist should have been used to determine if the police account matches the crime scene. Are there any brake, skid or yaw marks? Is it even possible to stop a car feet away by shooting the driver (foot would not hit the brake so it would keep going)? Every car now has an EDR (event data recorder) which upon a proper forensic engineering exam would disclose the vector (direction), and acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle - this however takes weeks. This was definitively "a rush to judgment" by Abelove in order to preempt the AG - may or may not be a good political move. It was however a remarkably amateurish job...
It can only be a test case if it is challenged ethically and legally. Here Abelove violated the law and illegally convened a Grand Jury. When questioned, he lied about it. He is toast!
If someone who was behind the wheel of a vehicle that you were standing in front of, why in the hell would you shoot them?! They would lose control of the car and you would be in the way and duh, guess what? This shooting was wrong. 8 shots was anger. We are not stupid TPD.
Harken back to before that, when he dropped charges against his campaign consultant and Republican operative within weeks after taking office.
Robert, thank you for resurfacing. please call Monica at city hall. She needs advice on what to do next at 1 Monument Square and she also has an apartment for you on River Street.
If it's not Abelove's call as to whether or not the suspect was armed then who's call is it? Schneiderman's? Cuomo's?
I would assume that the NY Penal Law definitions would trump anyone's opinions, right?
NY Penal Law Article 10:
11. "Deadly physical force" means physical force which, under the
circumstances in which it is used, is readily capable of causing death
or other serious physical injury.
12. "Deadly weapon" means any loaded weapon from which a shot, readily
capable of producing death or other serious physical injury, may be
discharged, or a switchblade knife, gravity knife, pilum ballistic
knife, metal knuckle knife, dagger, billy, blackjack, plastic knuckles,
or metal knuckles.
13. "Dangerous instrument" means any instrument, article or substance,
including a "vehicle" as that term is defined in this section, which,
under the circumstances in which it is used, attempted to be used or
threatened to be used, is readily capable of causing death or other
serious physical injury.
DISAbelove! Uncle Fester is THE worst D A ...ever! No progress on the North Grenbush stabbing, nor on the girl in the trunk. What DOES THIS guy do? Calling Laquidera, then next election cannot come soon enough...and, enough is enough.
....Hull Cogan
Gotta love the Troy Republicans, rotten to the core!
9:24, were you there?
Rush to judgment or cover-up?
It can be argued that the car used to intentionally pin and/or attempt to crush the Troy PD Officer is a deadly weapon. It is a clear case of self defense on the part of the police officer. What is unfortunate is that the police officer and the grand jury play is now being caught in the political world of conflict between a local DA and the AG.
Watching 16 candles while chilling in my sanctuary. Will fry up some flank steak and canned potatoes later.
The DA made it political by his rush to cover up. Morphing stories along the way illustrate the scramble to devise a cover up BS story.
Me thinks that there are going to be many people eating crow after the state AG gets through with this investigation. Seems like most commenters have assumed that because the guy was black and being stopped by a cop at 3:15 AM he was guilty. All these same people feel that the cop was justified in firing 8 times, 4 times in his head alone. Won't we all be surprised.
7:02, I agree there will be some eating crow. DA Abelove has not issued a statement. Check out his schedule and Phreet's schedule this week.
Ok tough guy.
Stalk my Facebook page a little more, you would have a better idea what your talking about. I don't check up on people I don't like, the fact you dislike me so much yet stalk my Facebook page tells me all I need to know. It tells me your a creepy, bored Obsessed idiot. Creep some more, you are obviously fascinated by my life. Good thing I keep my romantic life off my page or you'd be stalking my girl too. Oh wait, you already know all about her somehow. You are a creepy fool. I suggest you get a life
Abelove was a disaster from day one and now he's making a laughingstock of Rensselaer County. Watch this become a national news story. Joel is finished politically. He'll be lucky to finish out his term.
Joel has taken on the most hated politician in upstate NY, Coumo. He may be your next senator.
Abeloves actions and Sgt French's actions are completely separate narratives.
Abelove should have just included the AG's office, or at least kept them informed. There was no rush to cover the officer's actions up. Sgt French was in between 2 cars- a stopped car (his), and another car that was ramming the car behind it, and then rammed the car ahead of it catching Sgt French as he tried to get out of the way. Thevenin may have been an alter boy most any other time, but that night he was twice the legal limit drunk, and refused to willingly submit to his arrest. He would have run Sgt French over given the opportunity but fortunately he was trapped between two police cars.
This is being tried in the media and you all should be ashamed of yourselves. You have NO facts because most of the facts have not been released to the public. Its nice to hear from those of you who feel so superior in their opinion that they feel qualified to condemn another's quick actions as he was being crushed. Should Sgt French allow a complete drunk get onto the highway? That situation would have only ended badly some place else, and those circumstances may have included very high speeds and maybe more innocent lives placed in jeopardy.
Any hero who thinks they could have handled this any better, please feel free to get between two cars and give it a try. I will happily nominate you for the Darwin award. But if you aren't willing to actually try that experiment, at least shut your ignorant ass up until all of the facts are released.
WRGB reporting!
6:41 - Not aware that toxicology report on Blood Alcohol Level was publicly available yet - but am sure it wasn't ready at time of GJ presentation. Since you present yourself as knowledgable, you know Police are trained not to place themselves in front of a vehicle during a car stop, and that shooting the driver of car moving in your direction will not stop it. Quiet likely that Sgt. French did act out of fear for his life and was therefore legally justified, but the incident deserves a full investigation - both for the sake of the victim's family and the public.
4:35 LOL. It's so cute when the Troy GOP gets upset
If only cops and firefighters worked as hard at their jobs as they do on whiny blog posts
@6:41- Toxicology was presented to the Grand Jury- .19 BAC, and I agree, a full investigation is needed for the benefit of the officer, the family of the deceased, and for the benefit of citizens of Troy so that they can continue to have confidence in their public safety. Abelove and Chief Tedesco were the two individuals who picked a fight with the AG's office and in doing so have turned this into a media feeding frenzy. Stupid!
And it is not my place to judge Sgt French. I'm not sure what option he had other than to discharge his weapon into the driver. Shooting him did prevent him from continuing to hit his accelerator as he tried to ram the car behind him, and then ahead of him. And as far as his training, yes, Police Officers are taught to not put themselves in between two cars. They are taught that to hopefully prevent the very thing that occurred. But to be fair to the officers involved, when Thevenin collided with the median, his car stopped, and they thought it was temporarily disabled. It was a bad situation in case you haven't figured it out for yourself yet.
@8:20- You are a douche!
I think it started badly to begin with....if I recall correctly, Tedesco said they hadn't had a chance to speak to the officer yet, but he had been discharged and 2 days had already passed, so why the delay? Then we learn the cameras at that intersection were not functional either (per Tedesco), that only fuels speculation that it's a cover up somehow (which it may not be), then we learn 8 shots....which seems excessive on its face, but hard to say not being in this officers position. Here's the thing though....there are any number of drunks/druggies out there on any given night, not in their right mind, behind the wheel or not, and potentially not stopping when they should.....there has to be another answer besides shooting them. Could the officer have pulled his car where he did, in front of the victims car to stop them and waited for backup to approach from the rear? Or exited and gone to the front of his vehicle rather than in between? Seems the officer may have placed himself in a vulnerable position between the two vehicles, which led to the eventual shooting out of either fear the suspect had a gun, or because he was in fact pinned. I just hope we don't hear down the road that the cameras were in fact functional....where does that video feed to? What a mess....Police Officers put their lives on the line everyday, and I am thankful for that, but possibly more training is required so that this doesn't happen again. (and yes I get the guy should have stopped, etc etc).
I appreciate your argument, but again question why anyone assumes Schneiderman will provide a fair and impartial investigation? He is anxious to run for Gov, and if he can appeal to Sharpton and the other race hustlers and pimps by crucifying an upstate cop, he would not think twice.
I don't pretend to know the legal details about jurisdiction, but is it not possible that Abelove did this to protect French(and if he can get some PR playing against a dubious power probably played a role) and stand up to the clowns pandering to the BLM losers?
Check the EXECUTIVE LAW and the COUNTY LAW.
The Penal Law won't give any insight into Abelove's latest fuck up.
This county has 2 heinous murders that happened within the last 6 months where both supposedly had suspects in custody. Where do they stand? Where is the grand jury for those 2 cases? Also just last year when Brian Gross made the TPD proud by throwing a monkey wrench into the AG's drug investigation, why did it take almost a year between his arrest and the resolution? Seems that this DA's got a real problem with timing.
Abelove has been a catastrophe. County taxpayers can't afford to bail him out and why should we? He was elected to prosecute lawbreakers, not get a free defense on our dime because he keeps screwing up. It's time for him to resign.
Calling Mr. Lacquidera!
.....Wolf T. Flywheel
Umm, that drivers license issue was 2 govs ago, get your stories straight.Love home....
Pat McGroyne.
D.A's coming for you next.
Nope just the DA.
Coop, these has beens sure have a hard on for you! They must not realize how petty and stupid you are making them look. I love it, keep it up!
I believe the DA has more important things to worry about than Randy. Like keeping his job. But with that group, you never know. Randy, you should consider running for office, you seem like a no nonsense, no bs kind of guy and your easy on the eyes. I think you would do well. People like you
Don't do the crime if you cant do the time.
Never said Harry was coming to get you...guilty conscience??
Uhhh, yeah you did loser, you said Harry gotva job at collections for child support, and he was coming to arrest me, I told him to bring it on!!!!!! The entire bunch of you are big pussys too scared to put their name to their words. 559 ,3rd Ave
Mr. Drewcoop, reading this blog it is you who do the threatening. I dont know you and only know Harry from the news when he was mayor and I dont get the feeling he threatens.
As someone may have told you that, it wasn't me. But it may not be far from the truth.
You want proof that Lansingburgh has attracted every lowlife criminal deadbeat?
That's where Mr. 911 lives ain't it?
@9:36 Got it. You slipped that one by the flock. LOL
Make the news lately??
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