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

[Sully]

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....

You said equal but opposite.

Do you know what equal means?

[BigRichard]

Man, I am surprised this thread has made it this long in the lounge. Good job at being civil everyone...

[Brock]

Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave

He should not have been shot, that is on the cop.

That's all that really needs to be said.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

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.

I never said that it justified being shot.

[Fish]

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 can totally agree that there should be some personal responsibility on the part of citizens. But if an otherwise nonthreating person should for some reason not show that desired personal responsibility, it shouldn't result in their death.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Fish

I can totally agree that there should be some personal responsibility on the part of citizens. But if an otherwise nonthreating person should for some reason not show that desired personal responsibility, it shouldn't result in their death.

But

[Sully]

It's so silly to say, "The guy has some responsibility, too." IMO.

If I walk out of the door, and a bird flies into my face, causing me to fall down the stairs, at the bottom of which I try to get up, slip on a banana peel, slide down the driveway into traffic, dodge all the cars, only to fall over the curb across the street into a hot dog cart, falling face first into the scalding hot water, which eventually infects a razor cut I had, which kills me, I only have slightly less responsibility for my death than this guy.

Unless you argue that we should reasonably expect that all cops are violent animals who will shoot at anything running, then (while a moron) this guy should have had no expectation that by running he would be shot.

Now... I would argue that all cops aren't violent animals, who are going to fire their guns at anyone who is running. I would argue that this guy, who was (according to the story) showing no aggression, had every reason to believe he would be caught and arrested. But that he had some responsibility for his shooting? I don't think that he did, to any significant level.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Sully

It's so silly to say, "The guy has some responsibility, too." IMO.

If I walk out of the door, and a bird flies into my face, causing me to fall down the stairs, at the bottom of which I try to get up, slip on a banana peel, slide down the driveway into traffic, dodge all the cars, only to fall over the curb across the street into a hot dog cart, falling face first into the scalding hot water, which eventually infects a razor cut I had, which kills me, I only have slightly less responsibility for my death than this guy.

Unless you argue that we should reasonably expect that all cops are violent animals who will shoot at anything running, then (while a moron) this guy should have had no expectation that by running he would be shot.

Now... I would argue that all cops aren't violent animals, who are going to fire their guns at anyone who is running. I would argue that this guy, who was (according to the story) showing no aggression, had every reason to believe he would be caught and arrested. But that he had some responsibility for his shooting? I don't think that he did, to any significant level.

No, he has no responsibility other than the pesky little fact that it was his decision to run that led to the chain of events that resulted in his death.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

No, he has no responsibility other than the pesky little fact that it was his decision to run that led to the chain of events that resulted in his death.

Just like in my story above, my decision to walk out the door led to the chain of events that led to my death.

I mean, I guess you could argue,

A) No matter what bad thing happens to us, we are partially responsible. But that renders that whole discussion of this person, or any person's responsibility pretty meaningless.

or

B) Cops are dangerous human beings who you should expect to use lethal force if you do the slightest thing wrong.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave

GTFO You're ****ing stupid if you truly believe this.

IF HE DOESN'T FLEE, THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN.

I've already said what should happen to her, but his action is partly to blame for his death.

So if you break any law then you deserve to die?


Just hand cops bazookas and been done with it then.


Jaywalking ....... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM


no need for tickets or courts for anything then ... save the country some money

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

No, he has no responsibility other than the pesky little fact that it was his decision to run that led to the chain of events that resulted in his death.

yes and he deserved to go to jail and pay a fine or whatever, not get executed

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

So if you break any law then you deserve to die?


Just hand cops bazookas and been done with it then.


Jaywalking ....... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM


no need for tickets or courts for anything then ... save the country some money

Yeah, exactly this...

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Dicky McElephant

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

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/p...orist-29872076

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/us/pen...icer-arrested/

[Mr. Laz]

"'The emissions sticker on David Kassick's car was expired.

That's what first caught the attention of Lisa Mearkle, a police officer in Hummelstown Borough, Pennsylvania"

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/us/pen...icer-arrested/

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by BigMeatballDave

Yeah, exactly this...

hey, if they choose to break the law then whatever happens,happens

Mad Max time