Amber Guyger, white female, is the name of the Dallas policewoman who shot and killed black male Botham Jean Thursday night.
There are conflicting public statements as to how Guyger ended up at Jean's apartment door and what happened then. Of the three scenarios noted here previously,
1. Guyger's key didn't work in Jean's door.
2. The door was already open.
3. Guyger had a master key.
#1 and #2 have been publicly reported, #1 by a Fox reporter who spoke to investigating officers, #2 by the Dallas mayor. According to the Fox reporter Guyger was on the wrong floor, at the wrong door, and "shooting happened shortly after resident opened the door." CNN interviewed a resident who said that all of the apartment doors look alike but that Mr. Jean had a bright red mat in front of his.
I hope that some Fourth Estater asks the Dallas P.D. chief why they took Guyger's blood for drug/alcohol testing. I bet that slipped right past the Wretches and they assumed it was s.o.p. It isn't. It's considered so "intrusive" a "seizure" of evidence that absent consent, you gotta get a damned warrant to take someone's blood. You have to put in that warrant facts and circumstances that indicate impairment to overcome the expectation of privacy. What were those reasons?
On the manslaughter warrant for Guyger's arrest, Dallas P.D. called in the Texas Rangers to investigate so as to avoid the appearance of impropriety in the subject officer being investigated by her own department. This was announced at the Chief's first press conference on the case. That is good. However, and this is natural, the Rangers asked DPD to hold off on the warrant since they are now the investigating agency and want to make that call.
Some of us have been in a position similar to that of Ofcr. Guyger before, right? I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the wrong car in the parking lot. One time put my key in the lock. Just a few months ago I went to the wrong door--they all look alike--of a hotel room. Put my swipe card in the slot and it flashed "no entry" red.
This is where those (I hope) fairly common occurrences are drastically dissimilar with Guyger's. Not once was there another person in the car or hotel room that I mistook for my own. If there had been I would about have had a heart attack. Now, the other person, the real owner of the car or the real occupant of the room, might have been so startled and angry that (s)he would have pulled a gun on me! But see Guyger's position was the opposite: she was in the wrong, she was at the wrong door, yet she was the one who pulled the gun AND SHOT AND KILLED the real owner/occupant! To make the situations precise, my own a few months ago and Ofcr. Guyger's, I went like the moron I am to the wrong hotel room door, tried my swipe card, no work, the real occupant heard the clicking sounds at his door, opened the door to check and I SHOT AND KILLED him!
The Rangers investigation should not take long. There is no way out for the police officer.
There are conflicting public statements as to how Guyger ended up at Jean's apartment door and what happened then. Of the three scenarios noted here previously,
1. Guyger's key didn't work in Jean's door.
2. The door was already open.
3. Guyger had a master key.
#1 and #2 have been publicly reported, #1 by a Fox reporter who spoke to investigating officers, #2 by the Dallas mayor. According to the Fox reporter Guyger was on the wrong floor, at the wrong door, and "shooting happened shortly after resident opened the door." CNN interviewed a resident who said that all of the apartment doors look alike but that Mr. Jean had a bright red mat in front of his.
I hope that some Fourth Estater asks the Dallas P.D. chief why they took Guyger's blood for drug/alcohol testing. I bet that slipped right past the Wretches and they assumed it was s.o.p. It isn't. It's considered so "intrusive" a "seizure" of evidence that absent consent, you gotta get a damned warrant to take someone's blood. You have to put in that warrant facts and circumstances that indicate impairment to overcome the expectation of privacy. What were those reasons?
On the manslaughter warrant for Guyger's arrest, Dallas P.D. called in the Texas Rangers to investigate so as to avoid the appearance of impropriety in the subject officer being investigated by her own department. This was announced at the Chief's first press conference on the case. That is good. However, and this is natural, the Rangers asked DPD to hold off on the warrant since they are now the investigating agency and want to make that call.
Some of us have been in a position similar to that of Ofcr. Guyger before, right? I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the wrong car in the parking lot. One time put my key in the lock. Just a few months ago I went to the wrong door--they all look alike--of a hotel room. Put my swipe card in the slot and it flashed "no entry" red.
This is where those (I hope) fairly common occurrences are drastically dissimilar with Guyger's. Not once was there another person in the car or hotel room that I mistook for my own. If there had been I would about have had a heart attack. Now, the other person, the real owner of the car or the real occupant of the room, might have been so startled and angry that (s)he would have pulled a gun on me! But see Guyger's position was the opposite: she was in the wrong, she was at the wrong door, yet she was the one who pulled the gun AND SHOT AND KILLED the real owner/occupant! To make the situations precise, my own a few months ago and Ofcr. Guyger's, I went like the moron I am to the wrong hotel room door, tried my swipe card, no work, the real occupant heard the clicking sounds at his door, opened the door to check and I SHOT AND KILLED him!
The Rangers investigation should not take long. There is no way out for the police officer.
