Early Friday morning on August 3rd at around 0200 hours, a teenager was shot by Riverside Police because he brandished a replica firearm outside the Denny’s on University and Iowa after an altercation outside the Denny’s restaurant. He was only wounded and is recovering.
Now the teenager’s family is filing a complaint for a wrongful shooting.
In my opinion, this kid is an idiot for many reasons. First of all, he was carrying a fake/replica firearm for the sole purpose of using it to intimidate others. According to the Press Enterprise article, he cited the reason for carrying a fake gun is because of the “racially movitated violence” in his neighborhood. No one carries a fake gun for ‘protection’. You carry a fake gun to brandish in situations where you know it can be used to intimidate others who are unlikely to carry a real firearm. Thus, if you carry a fake gun around, you don’t have good intentions for doing it.
Second of all, he brandished said fake gun after he left the scene of an altercation. The teenager proceeded to his car to retrieve said fake gun and came back to the scene. Why would you leave an altercation (fight) to go get a fake gun from your car after and come back to the scene? Protection? No, if you left the scene of the altercation, then you are no longer in danger and there’s no reason to come back. He was intending to go back to the scene of the altercation to brandish the fake gun and portray power and intimidation.
Third, when police come, you drop the gun, fake or real when ordered to. He claims he didn’t have time, but witnesses stated he was given the order to drop his firearm three times before he was shot by a police officer.
This kid needs to admit he’s a moron and deserved to be shot. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning on a Friday and you’re getting into fights at a Denny’s restaurant after a fight broke out at a club you were at and they dispersed the crowd. Then you proceed to further the incident at Denny’s by going to your vehicle to retrieve a replica firearm. For what? I don’t care what answer can be given. It’s simply not going to justify the act. Instead of being out on a Thursday night / Friday morning, he should have been home sleeping so he can go to his job the next day (or already be at work running the graveyard shift).
The PE article it also states how the teenager had intended to apply to the Riverside Police Department academy. I don’t want any person becoming a police officer if he thinks it’s a good idea to carry around a replica firearm with the full intent of portraying that he has a real gun. That shows a complete lack of common sense and good judgement. I doubt this kid could pass the psych exam even if he did pass the written applicant exam.
The teen claims his ‘dream’ of being a police officer is ‘shaken’, but still wants to go into law enforcement. I hope to God they don’t let him in any law enforcement agency.
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