K.Duffy, unless you are in possession of information that has not been made public, or your source of news/media is saying things others are not, we don't know if there aren't pictures. We don't know if the suspect was cleaned up before he was placed in the patrol car. So asking the question is valid, but assuming how the incident went down based upon not knowing the true answers and some grainy video footage is not.
Denise, no one has said that the victim didn't have the opportunity to defend himself. Maybe he was one who "brought a knife to a gun fight". We still don't if the suspect was attacked first. Maybe while looking for the victim the suspect was ambushed by the victim, and the struggle ensued. Sure we have the statement of the girlfriend on the phone that says the victim was "just walking home", but she wouldn't be anywhere near the first witness that lied to protect someone (or a victim's reputation). But we don't know anything else but what has been reported in the news.
We have armed citizens everywhere! To believe anything else is moranic

. The problems are the ones who carry them with ill intent, aka the people you refer to. Lumping them all into a group as people who are slinging guns "without challange" is not fair to the rest of the people.
Your statement "deciding of their own accord who is guilty and who is not" is again playing up on the emotions of the situation. This statement is not based upon anything that is available to any of us.
You are right. It was not a fair fight. And the victim did have the right to be scared. And he should have fought for his life. But the conjecture stops there. We don't KNOW anything else. Every one of us takes the risk of a confrontation with a better armed or prepared person in high risk situations.
Until we know for sure how it all went down, its all guessing. We have facts, and we have what we believe to be true. Only the facts count.
My whole point is that you all are stirred up based upon few facts and a lot of emotion. If the FACTS show that it went down exactly as you all believe it did, I will be right with you in saying he deserves to be found guilty. But until we know the facts (and the public may never know ALL the facts), it is unfair and against the whole basis of the justice system to
assume anything.
Jeff, again, you have totally made an ASSUMPTION. You have no idea of what the surroundings were based upon the information available. Your statements do nothing to find the truth, only add fuel to the fire. Again, the "order to stand down" was nothing but advice from a dispatcher - who has no true authority to
tell you to do ANYTHING. They can only make suggestions. It's the same concept as telling a child that isn't yours to stop doing something. You have no control over them if they tell you to procreate yourself!
[This message has been edited by Cory Cutting (4/11/2012)]