Chase,Taser,Shoot

[Mr. Laz]

Cop Arrested After Video Shows Her Shoot Unarmed Man in Back Lying Face Down in the Snow
By Cassandra Fairbanks on March 25, 2015

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Harrisburg, PA– Hummelstown police Officer, Lisa J. Mearkle was charged with criminal homicide on Tuesday in the shooting death of 59-year-old David Kassick on February 2.

Mearkle shot Kassick as he laid face down on the ground in the snow, unarmed, during a routine traffic stop gone awry.

Mearkle had attempted to pull Kassick over for an expired inspection sticker, but the situation escalated when Kassick attempted to flee from the officer.

Eventually Mearkle caught up to the motorist close to his sister’s home where he was staying, but Kassick got out of the vehicle and fled on foot. As he was attempting to run away, he was incapacitated by the officer’s taser which she held in her left hand. With her right hand, she unnecessarily pulled out her service gun and shot the unarmed man twice in the back as he lay face-down on the ground.

The 36-year-old officer claims that she shot the unarmed man because he would not show his hands and she was concerned he may have been reaching in his jacket for a weapon, but the recording from the deployed taser paints a different picture.

District Attorney Ed Marsico has stated that it appeared from the recording that Kassick was simply trying to remove the stun gun probes from his back before his life was taken.

“At the time Officer Mearkle fires both rounds from her pistol, the video clearly depicts Kassick lying on the snow covered lawn with his face toward the ground, furthermore, at the time the rounds are fired nothing can be seen in either of Kassick’s hands, nor does he point or direct anything toward Officer Mearkle,” the arrest affidavit reads.

A syringe was found near his body, and there were unspecified drugs as well as alcohol in his system when he died. His family has admitted that he has struggled with addiction, a personal problem which should not have cost him his life.

“Mr. Kassick is now dead as a result of a traffic stop, a routine traffic stop,” one of the family’s attorneys, Christopher Slusser, told the press. “He should not be dead. He should not have died as a result of that traffic stop. And the manner in which he was shot — you can infer from that what you will.”

Mearkle is currently free on $250,000 bail. She faces potential charges ranging from misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter to felony first-degree murder depending on what the prosecution decides when she is formally arraigned.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/pa-...v0jtryAGBAF.99

[philfree]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Pay no attention to the fact that nearly every one of these incidents involves someone who is resisting/fleeing. No need to hold criminals accountable for their actions... it's all on the cops.

It is when the cop shoots a guy in the back while he's face down in the snow and helpless because he was already tazed.

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by KC native

No.

He's dead because a cop tazed him and then shot him to death while he was incapacitated.

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. I'm not saying what she did was right but c'mon there has to be some personal responsibilty on the part of citizens to follow basic directions of law enforcement.

If he had got run over by a semi while running away there would still be people blaming the police....

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by DenverChief

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. I'm not saying what she did was right but c'mon there has to be some personal responsibilty on the part of citizens to follow basic directions of law enforcement.

If he had got run over by a semi while running away there would still be people blaming the police....

She shot him in the back when he was lying face down in the snow, post-taze, and making no hostile act.

This is 100% on the cop.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

She shot him in the back when he was lying face down in the snow, post-taze, and making no hostile act.

This is 100% on the cop.

I would say that it's 100 percent on the cop and 100 percent on the guy who caused the chase.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Pay no attention to the fact that nearly every one of these incidents involves someone who is resisting/fleeing. No need to hold criminals accountable for their actions... it's all on the cops.

The justice system holds them accountable for resisting/fleeing. Unless they are murdered by the police first.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by DenverChief

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. I'm not saying what she did was right but c'mon there has to be some personal responsibilty on the part of citizens to follow basic directions of law enforcement.

If he had got run over by a semi while running away there would still be people blaming the police....

I've never run from the cops. Consequently, I've never had one beat/taze/shoot me. Coincidence or just white privilege?

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I've never run from the cops. Consequently, I've never had one beat/taze/shoot me. Coincidence or just white privilege?

He made a poor decision to run, that doesn't justify being shot, especially after already being caught.

If the story in the OP is accurate, there is simply no way to justify it. Zero. Zilch. Natha. Nothing.

[Jim Lahey]

Wait...was the victim white?

If so, "unarmed white man" should be in the title.

Or does that shit only apply to cops that assault blacks?

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Jim Lahey

Wait...was the victim white?

If so, "unarmed white man" should be in the title.

Or does that shit only apply to cops that assault blacks?

Yep....white guy.

[ModSocks]

Oh, he's white?



No wonder this is the first i've heard about it.

Now i understand....yup....white people riot time. You guys should go burn down a Starbucks or something.

[The Franchise]

Funny....I don't see this on ANY major news site right now.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Oh, he's white?



No wonder this is the first i've heard about it.

Now i understand....yup....white people riot time. You guys should go burn down a Starbucks or something.

Hot Topic is gonna BURN FOR THIS!!!

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

She shot him in the back when he was lying face down in the snow, post-taze, and making no hostile act.

This is 100% on the cop.

Is trying to remove the tazer probes a hostile act?

Ultimately if the cop goes to jail and the low-life drug addict is dead, everybody wins.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by KC native

Happy? No.

Another example of ****ed up policing that reinforces the argument that cops suck these days? Ab-so-****inglutely.

The guy didn't deserve to die, and she should be charged with something, but that dipshit contributed to his own death.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave

...that dipshit contributed to his own death.

That kind of thinking is a huge part of the problem in this country. Assuming the story is correct, at no time did the 'dipshit' do anything that warranted lethal force being used against him.