MsFacetious
What a Kerfuffle...
- Joined
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Man shot from behind by police, family says; prosecutors: he lunged with sword
To hear prosecutors tell it, Darrien Hunt lunged at officers with a "samurai-type sword" before he was killed.
To hear his family tell it, police shot the 22-year-old several times while he was running away.
An independent autopsy proves he was shot from behind, his family's attorney said.
And while there's no consensus about what happened last Wednesday morning, the Utah case is already drawing comparisons to the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Hunt's mother said she believes race played a role in her son's death.
"They killed my son because he's black," Susan Hunt told CNN affiliate KSL.
"No white boy with a little sword would they shoot while he's running away."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/justice/utah-samurai-sword-police-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
'They killed my son because he's black,' Saratoga Springs mom says
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There have been differing witness accounts about Hunt's demeanor prior to the shooting.
While all agree he stood out with his 3-foot sword strapped to his back, some have described him as "distressed" while others said he was "totally calm."
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A witness later sent Susan Hunt a photo of police confronting her son outside the bank just prior to shots being fired.
In the picture, two officers are standing on either side of Darrien. The sword is not visible in the picture.
The family believes, based on the limited information they've been given, that at some point during that confrontation, a shot was fired by police.
Susan Hunt doesn't know if that shot hit her son or not. But she believes he then ran toward the Panda Express, where she believes multiple shots were fired and he was struck and killed.
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Hunt described her son as a boy in a man's body who loved everybody and was deeply concerned about travesties in other parts of the world, particularly Africa.
"He wanted to make a difference," she said. "His potential was amazing."
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=31536612&nid=148
Hunt is black and comes from a mixed race family who believes his race played a role in his death.
Saratoga Springs police and prosecutors have denied those assertions.
An attorney representing the family says an independent autopsy shows that Hunt was shot six times from behind, making it difficult to understand how police shot him while he lunged at them with the sword.
The family has since been demanding answers about what transpired between police and Hunt and why the confrontation at the bank ended with Hunt being shot dead 200 yards away at the restaurant.
The family has launched a petition for a citizen's review board to investigate the case.
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=31577121&ni...uring-investigation-of-shooting&s_cid=queue-9
To hear prosecutors tell it, Darrien Hunt lunged at officers with a "samurai-type sword" before he was killed.
To hear his family tell it, police shot the 22-year-old several times while he was running away.
An independent autopsy proves he was shot from behind, his family's attorney said.
And while there's no consensus about what happened last Wednesday morning, the Utah case is already drawing comparisons to the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Hunt's mother said she believes race played a role in her son's death.
"They killed my son because he's black," Susan Hunt told CNN affiliate KSL.
"No white boy with a little sword would they shoot while he's running away."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/justice/utah-samurai-sword-police-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
'They killed my son because he's black,' Saratoga Springs mom says
-----------------------------
There have been differing witness accounts about Hunt's demeanor prior to the shooting.
While all agree he stood out with his 3-foot sword strapped to his back, some have described him as "distressed" while others said he was "totally calm."
---------------------------
A witness later sent Susan Hunt a photo of police confronting her son outside the bank just prior to shots being fired.
In the picture, two officers are standing on either side of Darrien. The sword is not visible in the picture.
The family believes, based on the limited information they've been given, that at some point during that confrontation, a shot was fired by police.
Susan Hunt doesn't know if that shot hit her son or not. But she believes he then ran toward the Panda Express, where she believes multiple shots were fired and he was struck and killed.
---------------------------
Hunt described her son as a boy in a man's body who loved everybody and was deeply concerned about travesties in other parts of the world, particularly Africa.
"He wanted to make a difference," she said. "His potential was amazing."
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=31536612&nid=148
Hunt is black and comes from a mixed race family who believes his race played a role in his death.
Saratoga Springs police and prosecutors have denied those assertions.
An attorney representing the family says an independent autopsy shows that Hunt was shot six times from behind, making it difficult to understand how police shot him while he lunged at them with the sword.
The family has since been demanding answers about what transpired between police and Hunt and why the confrontation at the bank ended with Hunt being shot dead 200 yards away at the restaurant.
The family has launched a petition for a citizen's review board to investigate the case.
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=31577121&ni...uring-investigation-of-shooting&s_cid=queue-9
