The reports are in on the shooting of Michael Forest Reinoehl, the ‘antifa-adjacent’ who shot a “patriot prayer” streetfighter and was gunned down in return several days later.
[opb]
According to the Thurston County investigators reviewing the case, Reinoehl “initiated” an exchange of gunfire with officers before he was killed.
That’s an interesting assessment, because witnesses said that the police walked up to the car where Reinoehl was sitting, didn’t identify themselves or anything, and just opened fire. The police in question were federal marshalls:
[guard]
A witness, Garrett Louis, told the New York Times he watched the shooting begin while trying to get his eight-year-old son out of the way. He said the officers began shooting so suddenly that he initially assumed they were criminals gunning down an enemy, not police. “There was no, ‘Get out of the car!’ There was no, ‘Stop!’ … They just got out of the car and started shooting.”
There were multiple witnesses to the shooting, only one of them said the police said anything. The marshals couldn’t decide on their own story: one said that Reinoehl raised his hand, two others said he didn’t react at all. 30 bullets were fired by the marshals, because they didn’t have a pintle-mounted heavy machine-gun or something that could really put some lead in the air. Oh, did I write what I was thinking? Strike that part.
Then there is the matter of the alleged casing from Reinoehl supposedly firing at the police:
The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab matched a .380 casing found in Reinoehl’s vehicle after the police shooting to the .380 pistol in his possession. Reinoehl was the only person with a .380 caliber weapon on the scene, according to the investigator managing the case, Lt. Cameron Simper.
“The casing to that was found inside his vehicle in a position that would be consistent with him firing out that window,” Simper said.
[Simper. Who names their kid “Simper”? And how do they grow up to become a spokesperson?] Note the careful construction of those sentences. There was a casing found in the car but … it could have been in the gun, unfired. It could be that the cops are talking about that the head-stamps on the cartridge were the same as the ones on the gun used in the earlier killing. But the police are being careful to mention that there was a “casing found in the car” because that creates an impression that Reinoehl fired first. The “pistol in his possession” is also carefully crafted.
Here’s why: the .380 automatic Reinoehl was carrying was in his pocket and was fully loaded. So, the police would have you believe that they were walking silently up on this guy’s car, preparatory to blowing his ass away – but they had all forgotten to put on or turn on their body cameras – then Reinoehl makes the impression of firing a shot and they rain death and fire on him. The story the marshals are trying to promote would have Reinoehl, in the split second before he was blown to pieces, produce his gun, fire a shot, then reload it and put it back in his pocket. All while being filled with holes.
Portland murder suspect Michael Reinoehl likely fired off a single round from a handgun before four officers unleashed the barrage of gunfire that killed him in Thurston County last September, according to new information released Wednesday.
That’s the key takeaway in a 10-point public summary of findings from a six-month probe into the U.S. Marshal-led task force’s Sept. 3 fatal shooting of Reinoehl, a 48-year-old Oregon man suspected of killing a pro-Trump protester in Portland five days earlier.
Well, that’s cut and dried, isn’t it? Reinoehl drew his gun, fired a shot, broke the gun down and cleaned it, carefully swabbing the barrel with Hoppe’s bore cleaner, and returned it to his pocket – all while the marshals were shooting him to bits. Oh, and the casing from his shot may or may not have been found. My guess is, as I said above, that the casing found was in the gun.
One eyewitness, Chad Smith, initially told The Seattle Times that he saw the suspect get out of his car, pull out his gun and shoot toward officers as he walked backward. But Smith later changed his account in an interview with Vice, saying he did not see Reinoehl pull a weapon at all.
Other witnesses, including 21 people interviewed by The New York Times, said they did not hear officers identify themselves or give commands before opening fire. Another resident of the apartments told The Seattle Times she saw officers jump out of unmarked cars with guns, and one later told her the suspect had shot first, “so that’s why they shot back.”
Oh, the cop told her Reinoehl shot first. I guess that makes it so.
Then there is:
A spent shell casing of that caliber was found in Reinoehl’s station wagon and an AR-15-style .22-caliber rifle was located in the front seat, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The serial number on the rifle had been removed. The Sheriff’s Office declined to say where the handgun was recovered.
Wait, an AR-15-style .22? That’s a “plinking rifle”. It’s capable of causing damage to a rabbit but to hurt a cop in body armor you’d have to hit them in the eye or something. (Their tiny brains are right behind their eyes) And the sheriff’s office declined to say where the handgun was, because there is that awkward question of why he’d pull it, wave it around until he was dead, and put it back in his pocket. Another police story is that Reinoehl’s hands were “on or near the gun” – which makes sense because, if a gun is in your pocket, it’s on your body and your arms and hands are attached to your body.
Why can’t they say, “we lit that guy up like the 4th of July” and be done with it? It’s not like he was trying to pass counterfeit money or something really dangerous like that.
The real question I have after researching all of this is: what kind of dipshits believe testimony from a cop?
Fuck “defund the police” how about “throw out every case involving testimony from a cop who didn’t have their camera on, or who gave false testimony on any other case”?
Since it’s his surname, someone named Simper does.
The simple and therefore impossible solution is to remove any immunities or protections from cops who fail to record their actions with bodycams and the likes. You forgot to turn your bodycam on? You kid was playing in the closet and taped over your badge number again? Forgot to mention you’re a cop at the start of your interaction? Well, then you’re not and all the cop stuff doesn’t apply to you. It makes you look like you’re “criminals gunning down an enemy, not police.” We’ll have to charge you with murder, property damage, endangering the public, disturbing the peace, criminal negligence in the execution of your duties,
…
…
…
and littering.
What would need to happen next, of course, is for the case to be prosecuted by some far-away prosecutors and judges to avoid the usual conflict of interest you have when trying to convict the people who are usually your allies and play a vital role in your work. As I suggested some time ago, the fact that zoom courts are now a thing should make that much simpler, at least in theory.
If nothing else, you could make all suspensions unpaid.* My opinion of cops is low enough to think that this alone should motivate some of them to start bringing checklists to work. Or, more likely, lie and cheat more creatively. (“Bazaar monkey stole my camera. If we ever find it the footage will prove me right.”)
*At the very least this ought to trigger a police strike and make the streets safer. Am I being too cynical yet?
komarov@#2:
Am I being too cynical yet?
If you manage to drag F-35s into policing then maybe you’ve gotten too cynical. I think you’re fine for now but keep your hands in view and move slowly.
Actual testimony heard from a cop in a grand jury session:
“I counted the money, and when I was done counting the money it came to 6000 dollars.”
The obvious question, which no one asked: “How much money was there when you started counting?
Reginald Selkirk @4:
Not sure you thought that one through.
Me @5: Not sure I thought it through. Never mind.
Nick Simper was the original bassist for Deep Purple.
“If you manage to drag F-35s into policing then maybe you’ve gotten too cynical.”
Well, if surplus MRAPs the military doesn’t want anymore go to the police…
It’s just a matter of time. There might even already be a small and very discrete interest group quietly lobbying for VTOL jet fighters and bombers simply because, one day, the Backwaterville PD of Smallcounty in Nowhere Alatexas would have a much easier time with their new equipment if they didn’t have to build a runway first.
(You did say maybe)
Simple and effective. Which is why the police unions will never allow it.
I’ve asked before, but here in the UK we used to like unions – we still have about one in four working adults in a union, down from WAY more in the seventies. The police here, meanwhile, are legally barred from having unions and legally barred from striking. It’s just not allowed, because it’s obviously a terrible idea. Whereas in the way more union-averse US, the most powerful unions are those representing law enforcement. It’s weird.
The surname Simper is a variation of St Pierre. See also Sinclair (St Clair), Beecham (Beauchamps).
Apropos “Am I being too cynical yet?”:
Akela Lacy/The Intercept: “Pro-Cop PAC Tried to Fundraise by Blaming George Floyd for His Own Death“
It seems pretty obvious that Reinoehl didn’t shoot first, or at all, and the idea he did and then shoved his gun in his pants pocket as he was being shot thirty times is just a tad underdone. But are you exaggerating about the fully loaded and cleaned part? Because I haven’t seen that and would like a link if it’s out there.
But are you exaggerating about the fully loaded and cleaned part?
The cleaned part I was joking about. There was never any information about whether they swabbed the gun or his hand to see if had been fired. I can’t imagine how they forgot to do that.
My wife is a registered nurse. If she exhibited a comparable level of gross professional negligence in her job, she’d not only be fired, she’d be barred from ever practicing as a nurse again AND likely prosecuted. It seems odd we hold healthcare workers to a higher standard than you Yanks do the armed criminal gang that runs your country. Some accountability for those people – just for negligence in not doing simple procedural stuff like this, never mind accountability for, y’know, killing civilians who pose no threat – would probably focus minds wonderfully.
Where do you get a .22 with a serial number removed, other than a police evidence locker?
If he could pull out a gun, fire it, reload it and put it back in his pocket while being riddled with bullets, he must have been one hell of a man. Even John Wayne couldn’t do that. No wonder the cops were afraid of him.
Most AR-15-style rifles use 5.56mm (.223 Remington) ammo, which does in fact use .22 caliber bullets. Caliber refers only to the bullet diameter*. So if that’s your only metric, your “plinking rifle” and an AR-15 are equivalent.
*”Diameter” may or may not include the lubricant. A .38 Special for example, has a .357 inch bullet, as this spec was standardized for lead bullets. Lead can foul your bore, so lubricant is applied.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/boston-police-knew-for-decades-union-leader-was-child-molester-2021-4?r=US&IR=T