Saw a bunch of flashing lights and a couple of police cruisers while I was coming in this morning so, naturally, I had to go check it out. Found this at about 7:30 this morning:
Pretty clear what happened here, isn’t it? Should be obvious to even the untrained eye: the police shot that tree.
We all know how these things happen: someone reported a tall, dark figure lingering suspiciously on the corner of Couch and Naito in the wee hours of the night, and the police hanging out at the nearby Voodoo Doughnut shop responded within minutes.
After arriving on the scene, the officers involved ordered the figure to put it’s hands where they could see them and get on the ground. It failed to comply with their orders.
The officers repeated the command and warned it that they would open fire if it didn’t get on the fucking ground. It again refused to follow their instructions and, as it was flailing wildly in the breeze, the officers feared for their own safety.
They opened fire, hitting the perp 493 times before it fell to the ground. The suspect turned out to be unarmed.
The officers on the scene declined to comment on the incident (or at least I’m sure they would have, had I actually asked them for one), and those involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
Like I said, the picture tells the whole story.
I’m sure the AP and Reuters will be picking up this story momentarily…
