However, as I look at other parts of the police response to this case, it's almost like the LAPD went out of its way to sort of validate some of the concerns that apparently pushed Droner over the edge in the first place--i.e., that the LAPD routinely engages in the use of excessive force and takes a generally sloppy approach to police work.
Two incidents in particular stand out for being almost comically outrageous.
First, early last Thursday morning two Hispanic women in a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup were delivering newspapers. Reports had been that Dorner was driving a gray Nissan Titan pickup. Apparently, police saw this blue Toyota Tacoma pickup in the same neighborhood as one of the LAPD officers who Dorner mentioned in his manifesto, and even though it was a different make, model and color from the vehicle Dorner was supposed to be driving and it was occupied by two Hispanic women instead of one black man, at least seven officers simply opened fire on the truck, hitting one of the women twice in the back and injuring the second woman with flying glass. It looks like they fired 30 rounds or so, hitting their target with two of those rounds.
Link to storyLaw enforcement sources told The Times that at least seven officers opened fire. On Friday, the area was pockmarked with bullet holes in cars, trees, garage doors and roofs.
It was around 5 a.m. in Torrance on Thursday and police from nearby El Segundo had seen a pickup truck exit a freeway and head in the general direction of the Redbeam Avenue residence of a high-ranking Los Angeles police official, which was being guarded by a group of LAPD officers.
A radio call warned that Dorner might be on his way.
A few minutes later, a truck slowly rolled down the quiet residential street.
As the vehicle approached the house, officers opened fire, unloading a barrage of bullets into the back of the truck. When the shooting stopped, they quickly realized their mistake.
Residents said they wanted to know what happened.
"How do you mistake two Hispanic women, one who is 71, for a large black male?" said Richard Goo, 62, who counted five bullet holes in the entryway to his house.
Here is a picture of the rear of the truck after the police shooting:
It looks like the LAPD response so far has been to offer to buy the ladies a new truck (I'm not making this up). Read more about the new truck offer [url=http://]here[/url].
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The second incident also happened early last Thursday when a white man driving another pickup that was not silver and not a Nissan also had police simply open fire on his vehicle with no warning.
Link to storyDavid Perdue was on his way to sneak in some surfing before work Thursday morning when police flagged him down. They asked who he was and where he was headed, then sent him on his way.
Seconds later, Perdue's attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue.
His pickup, police later explained, matched the description of the one belonging to Christopher Jordan Dorner — the ex-cop who has evaded authorities after allegedly killing three and wounding two more. But the pickups were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner: He's several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black.
"I don't want to use the word buffoonery but it really is unbridled police lawlessness," said Robert Sheahen, Perdue's attorney. "These people need training and they need restraint."
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Do these stories strike anyone else as bizarre? What kind of cops open fire on a vehicle that doesn't match the description of the vehicle they are looking for and without even identifying who is in the car in the first place? It's almost like it was the police who were on a vigilante mission to take out Dorner, which makes the whole thing look more like an intra-gang vendetta spilling out into the streets rather than a piece of professional police work focused on trying to locate and apprehend a murderer.
Of course, when they found him the police radio traffic included the comment: "burn this motherfucker" shortly before the cabin burned down, and now the police are saying that they did not intend to burn down the cabin. Really? That's crazy. How can they say such a thing when their own radio traffic is talking about their clear intention to burn the cabin. Do they think people are that stupid?
Why not just come out and tell the truth and say: "Our officers were REALLY pissed off at this guy, and everyone knew he would never be taken into custody alive. We just decided at the scene that burning him alive would be the best way to make him suffer for what he did to us. Apparently he shot himself in the head before he could suffer in the flames, but we did our best to make him suffer. We hoped he would suffer. Maybe he did suffer a little before he died."In a separate clip carried by a local news channel, police are heard to say, “Fucking burn this motherfucker,”? and “burn that fucking house down.”? This audio appears to be from earlier in the siege following the initial shootout between Dorner and cops.
Link to story
Very strange and sad story overall. Dorner was clearly a murderer who needed to be stopped, but I think that the LAPD is probably going to need to do more than buy a new truck for an old woman who was shot in the back to smooth over the reckless aggressiveness of their overall response. That's my perspective on this, anyway.
