Oklahoma Police Kill 5-Year Old Boy While Shooting at Snake - Page 3 - FaunaClassifieds
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Herps In The News Local or national articles where reptiles or amphibians have made it into the news media. Please cite sources.

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Old 08-09-2007, 05:24 PM   #21
monkeywrench133
Quote:
It's a pronouncement of guilt before an investigation has concluded, before an arraignment happens, before a plea is entered one way or the other and before the outcome of a trial, if it comes to it.
No, that's a statement of my opinion based on common sense. One person fires a weapon in a secluded area without regard to firearms safety, and another person is struck in the head by a bullet and dies. Common sense tells me that the two events are connected. And since I am not a participant in a court of law, I don't need an arraignment, pleas of guilt or innocence, or the verdict of a jury to arrive at that conclusion. Nor do I, or anyone else, need anyones permission to state that opinion.

Quote:
That was pretty much it, yeah. I've seen this story reported on about five different sites that I frequent and the responses have ranged from "It's a tradgedy, he does deserve to be charged if the facts bear out though." to some of the rabid internet warriors making their own threats of physical violance or passing moral judgements on an act which didn't have any moral motivation.
I agree, calls for violence against this officer are completely unwarranted. This officer made a tremendous error in judgement, which he will have to live with for the rest of his life. However, I think that its completely appropriate that he face a court of law to determine if his actions rose to the level of criminality, and what, if any, punishment he deserves.

Quote:
And while, should the evidence all come in solidly to verify that the initial media sensationalist halfassed reporting is accurate, the above is true... I don't see any specific act which made the reported action particularly reprehensible. Given the nature of the extremely rural and secluded area and his intention of hitting a target he was standing next to... There was no act which I can qualify as maliciously negligent, as there would have been firing in an urban area or in the case of say... drunk driving homicides.
Honestly Seamus, I haven't seen any other media coverage besides the original story Kelli posted. And I don't consider that very "sensational" at all.
But I don't see anyone saying that the act WAS malicious, no one with a shred of common sense would think it was. But just because it wasn't malicious, doesn't absolve this officer of any of the responsibility for ending that 5 year olds life.

Quote:
That bothers me.
which part? The fact that I think the cop's bullet is the one that caused the child's death? or the part about the cop being held responsible?

If you don't like my opinion, I'm sorry, deal with it.

If you don't think that cop should be held responsible, I don't agree with you, but that's OK, I can handle people not agreeing with me.

And as far as the story about the Irish press, I could care less what they do or how they act. The rules here are completely different. The Irish press isn't protected by a Constitution, and is in fact subject to government censorship at the government's whim. So how they do or do not report on criminal events is completely besides the point since the government CAN tell them what, when and how to report.

You may not like Freedom of the Press, and some days I do not either, because it truly is a two edged sword. However, I would much rather have media that can and will report on any story it wants without the government controlling the content.
 
Old 08-09-2007, 05:26 PM   #22
kmurphy
Safe Gun Handling 101 - Don't discharge your firearm up in the air. Make sure of your target and what is behind it; and I am sure for officers; Is the shooting justified?

I agree with Jim, this was extremely negligent for someone supposedly trained in firearm safety.
 
Old 08-09-2007, 09:22 PM   #23
Seamus Haley
Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeywrench133
And as far as the story about the Irish press, I could care less what they do or how they act. The rules here are completely different. The Irish press isn't protected by a Constitution, and is in fact subject to government censorship at the government's whim. So how they do or do not report on criminal events is completely besides the point since the government CAN tell them what, when and how to report.

You may not like Freedom of the Press, and some days I do not either, because it truly is a two edged sword. However, I would much rather have media that can and will report on any story it wants without the government controlling the content.
It's not a question of the government controlling the press- they have the same freedoms of the press that we do and, these days, their reporting looks a lot more like ours...

It's a question of journalistic integrity. Our press used to be the same way, once. A clear and specific effort was made to aim for impartiality and truth, with a distinct seperation between "reporting" and "editorializing" With the competition between various sources, we seem to have lost a great deal of that; all the effort is put into getting events reported first (even without fact checking or accuracy, first and wrong is seen as being better than second but accurate) and getting them reported in a way that's interesting, regardless of how it twists things or pushes them out of perspective. They *wouldn't* report in a manner that condemned or exhonerated an individual because that was the designated purpose of the court system, not the press.

Think Walter Cronkite versus Chris Hansen or Katie Couric.

Our press has had this issue before in our history, if you're not familiar with it, check into Yellow Journalism during the spanish american war and the inevitable blowback that created the attitude of integrity and honest that lasted until... it slipped away again.
 
Old 08-09-2007, 10:39 PM   #24
monkeywrench133
I absolutely agree with you that "journalistic integrity" has become an oxymoron and the level of reporting these days is in many ways similiar to the Yellow Journalism period. The solution will be the same as it was then. People will vote with their pocket books and stop buying those newpapers, watching those broadcasts etc. I see an increasing number of people getting their news from alternative sources, mainly news sites on the net.

However, none of that changes the fact that a tragic error happened in this case. Really, two lives have been ruined here, the little boy's and the cop's.
 
Old 08-09-2007, 11:57 PM   #25
Tim Cole
Thumbs down The

snake was identified as a Black Rat Snake. Big surprise. I would like to see the woman that called the police and the officers held accountable for this tragedy.
 
Old 09-10-2007, 03:35 AM   #26
Clay Davenport
Update

Oklahoma Police Officers Charged In Death Of Boy

Noble, OK (AHN) - Two police officers in Noble, Oklahoma were charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy. More than a month ago, one of the officers fired a gun at a snake and the bullet ricocheted and hit the boy in the head.

The two officers, Brad Rogers and Shawn Richardson, were charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Austin Haley. They could face up to four years in prison.

After an investigation, the officers were found to have not taken reasonable care by firing the shots in an open area.

According to police reports, the officers responded to a report of a snake in a birdhouse on Aug. 3. Austin and his grandfather were fishing in a pond near the area when the first shot hit the water near the pair. The second shot killed the snake, but also hit Austin in the head.

The snake, which was thought to have been a rattlesnake, turned out to be a non-poisonous rat snake. The two officers have been on administrative leave from the force since the shooting.

http://tinyurl.com/2n226b
 
Old 09-10-2007, 07:41 AM   #27
monkeywrench133
I'm glad to see that the officers are being charged. Hopefully that'll bring the little boy's family some closure.

Does anyone know if Ok's legal system allows for non-jury trials? ie: the defendants waive the right of trial by jury, and the judge hears the case and decides guilt or innocence himself.
 
Old 10-12-2007, 09:40 PM   #28
lilkeezy
just only 4 years? the man killed a boy, mistake or not, he should face life in jail, shaken my head!
 
Old 10-12-2007, 11:32 PM   #29
Seamus Haley
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilkeezy
just only 4 years? the man killed a boy, mistake or not, he should face life in jail, shaken my head!
Why should he face life in jail?

Our legal system uses prison sentances for three primary reasons. Incarceration of individuals who have shown through their actions that they represent a continued danger to the public. Rehabilitation, to varying degrees depending on the offense and area. Deterance, since it's known that illegal acts can have consequences.

The cop who fired the shot was not some gun toting liquor store robbing hopped up on methamphetamines threat to public safety. Doesn't present a danger to the public. They didn't make a *decision* to shoot a kid, it was a tragic accident. There's no point to rehabilitation. They're not remotely about to make the same mistake again, nor would any other individuals who were in the same situation make it to begin with, there's nothing to deter.

There's a difference between negligence and malicious negligence. A mistake... and a mistake that was brought forth through an act which can be legally or morally condemned.
 
Old 10-17-2007, 01:19 PM   #30
kmurphy
Quote:
The cop who fired the shot was not some gun toting liquor store robbing hopped up on methamphetamines threat to public safety. Doesn't present a danger to the public. They didn't make a *decision* to shoot a kid, it was a tragic accident. There's no point to rehabilitation. They're not remotely about to make the same mistake again, nor would any other individuals who were in the same situation make it to begin with, there's nothing to deter.

There's a difference between negligence and malicious negligence. A mistake... and a mistake that was brought forth through an act which can be legally or morally condemned.
I agree Seamus. I am not sure that sending him to jail is anyone's best interest. If convicted, he's going to be a felon which keeps him from continuing any police work, and a lots of other jobs. He had to live with the fact that his stupid act killed a kid. I realize the child is dead but his life is ruined also. Tragic all around.
 

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