Two deputies killed by a soldier they were trying arrest for beating his wife exchanged multiple rounds with the man who began shooting while on the ground after he was shocked with a stun gun, authorities said Sunday, a day after the men were killed.
"When that Taser released after five seconds, he came up shooting," Interim Okaloosa County Sheriff Edward Spooner said. "He went from just being disagreeable to using deadly force in a matter of seconds. It was a very aggressive move with a concealed weapon on his part."
Spooner said that between 30 and 40 rounds were exchanged between Cartwright and the two deputies. Investigators were working to determine the extent of 28-year-old Joshua Cartwright's military and militia weapons training, Spooner said. Cartwright was killed by deputies in a neighboring county after he fled a shooting range parking lot near Crestview where he killed deputies Burt Lopez and Warren "Skip" York.
Cartwright's truck flipped on its side after the tires were punctured by spikes at a roadblock.
"When he had his crash, the truck flipped upside down, nose first and he came out of the backside of the truck firing immediately and using the truck for cover," Spooner said. Investigators say Cartwright and deputies exchanged about 60 rounds in 30 to 40 seconds before he was shot and killed. They are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether either of the slain deputies struck Cartwright before they died.
Destiny Harder lived next door to the Cartwrights at their Fort Walton Beach apartment complex.
Harder said she was often disturbed by their loud arguments and had banged on the wall between the two apartments Saturday morning after she was awakened by their fighting.
via The Associated Press: Sheriff: Man killed 2 deputies after being stunned.
Two deputies killed by a soldier they were trying arrest for beating his wife exchanged multiple rounds with the man who began shooting while on the ground after he was shocked with a stun gun, authorities said Sunday, a day after the men were killed.
I don't know if he saw combat or not, but I figure in Cartwright mind's, what he did was self defense. He was physically attacked so he responded with deadly force.
Tasers do kill some people. They are extremely painful. One tased reporter described the 50,000 volt jolt this way: , "It's like having nail guns applied to your hands and feet while you're being dunked in a vat of boiling water."
Police need better tools. How about we develop non-painful ways to immobilize people!? Nets, glue, foam, etc. How about a gun that makes people relax, feel happy and laugh?!
While feeling bad for the slain police, some consider Cartwright a hero who would not simply submit to the physical abuse of being electrocuted. He paid with his life for not submitting to authority. Was it worth it Joshua? Tragic.
The problem is, things can escalate quickly. The charge "resisting arrest" is highly abused. Why do Police seem amazed that people “resist” having a knee on their head, in their backs, or having their arms twisted up behind them until they are yelling in pain? Resisting arrest in many cases is really just being human and attempting to avoid pain caused by a hyped up cop. Like, no shit(!), if you hurt someone, they will resist being hurt. And then comes the taser. And then the guns. Total lack of understanding that the cops can cause the escalation which they then respond to with increasing force.
Some times it seems like just a power trip. Even an innocent harmless women who does not resist at can be taken to jail, then pinned down in a cell, video taped, and completely stripped by multiple female and male officers with no consequences. I know 98 lb woman who had a similar "attack" on her happen in the form of a "forced blood draw" after a supposed DUI stop. The emotional trauma you get from being gang forced to do anything is similar to a rape.
Any cop(s) taking physical control of a person when the person is not a CLEAR threat to him/herself or others is violating that person's human right to be treated with dignity.
As I've said before, I have a cop in my family, and I have a great respect for the job they do. We usually only hear about the bad cops, not the majority, who every day are making good decisions, keeping the peace, and risking their lives to keep citizens safe from people like Cartwright who have a screw loose for one reason or another.
3 comments:
Xeno, do you ever wonder if people's surprise at stories like this are an indication of their just not understanding the full horror of war?
Soldiers come back with PTSD!
Soldiers return to abuse their spouses!
Soldiers committing suicide!
Soldiers committing acts of violence!
Yeah, well. It's like drawing a bucket back up from hell and expressing surprise about how hot the water is.
Yes, in my experience most people who support war do not understand the reality. They talk abstractly about supporting what "our boys are doing over there", but they do not want to hear the facts about what actually happens on the ground.
Have you noticed the multi-year media black out of the Iraq war? I watched the first Gulf war on TV as it happened. We have the technology to watch the whole thing real time in living color, but if that were available, the war would have been over in the first year, IMHO.
1. Why would cops go to a gun range to arrest a man. This seems like the worst idea ever.
2. The cops said “He went from just being disagreeable to using deadly force in a matter of seconds. It was a very aggressive move with a concealed weapon on his part.”...
Does using a stun gun on a man for being "disagreeable" not fall into the definition of aggressive?
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