The man who shot Ashley Babbitt
His name is Michael Byrd. NBC recently interviewed him:
We may recall that Ashley Babbitt was a 35 year old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter, who came to Washington to protest the certification of the presidential Electoral College results and stormed into the Capitol when security lines collapsed. She had no criminal record but clearly she was tresspassing and ignoring police instructions on January 6th.
The question remains, why did an unarmed trespasser deserve to die?
There are rules & procedures governing the use of police force in such situations. Those rules seemed to be ignored in orther to clear Byrd. The law says that lethal force must be used only against someone who is "an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and ... is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight." Here is what Byrd said: “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are.”
Clearly, Byrd admitted he did not see a weapon or an immediate threat from Babbitt beyond her trying to enter through the window. None of the other police officers in the room shot anyone. As a matter of fact, none of the officers at the Capitol that day shot anyone. Under the standard Byrd is using they could have. Under the standard Byrd is using police officers in cities such as Seattle or Portland, Ore., Chicago, and New York City could have killed hundreds of violent protesters who tried to burn courthouses, took over city halls or occupied police stations during last summer’s widespread rioting.
The NBC interview has confirmed, for many, our worst suspicions about the shooting and raised serious questions the integrity of the investigations/reviews by the Department of Justice.
Not many Police officers would have done what Lt Michael Byrd did.
A man wouldn't do it!
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It looks like Lt Michael Byrd just couldn't help himself.
He decided to do an interview and now we know the truth.
... at least somebody took the initiative in dealing with an insurrectionist mob.
So shooting an unarmed woman is OK with you?
What if she had been a black woman?
What kind of person bashes in a locked and barricaded door? A peaceful, reasonable person? Or a "soldier" ?
The door was closed, the window was barely large enough to climb through
The window was part of the door and they bashed in the window.
Immaterial. His own words would convict him in court; “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are.”
There was NO imminent threat of not only death, but harm to him or anyone else.
So if someone broke through your front door while you were demanding they stop with gun in hand and your family behind you, would you have waited for them to climb through the broken door to see whether they had a gun or what their "intentions" were before you fired?
This tired defense of Ashli Babbitt is nothing but disgusting conservative hypocrisy as they have defended the shooting of dozens and dozens of unarmed black men who were refusing to comply with an officers orders, many even being shot in the back as they tried to flee. But here they are circling their wagons for their fellow right wing conservative who was literally bashing in the doors of the capital and trying to gain access to restricted areas after being told dozens of times to comply with capital police commands. Right wing conservative hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.
A lot of people bashed doors and broke windows and did a lot of rioting and looting in cities all across the country that was far worse than that event and those people were not shot.
So he went straight to shooting. Dozens of other actions and peckerhead decides to shoot first. These aren't the actions of a hero. These are the actions of a coward and somebody that should be in prison for murder.
Correct!
We kind of knew it when it happened!
Maybe he should have called 911.
There's an idea. Maybe somebody with 1/2 a brain would have shown up.
Funny how I've never heard that kind of statement coming from conservatives in any of the 135 fatal shootings of unarmed black men and women since 2015. I've heard "They should have listened to the officers commands, it was their own fault for not complying" but when it's a black officer and a white conservative refusing to comply some bigots will choose to just call him names and blame him for using deadly force. I suppose we really shouldn't expect anything else from conservative hypocrites steeped in decades of prejudice.
Racism and bigotry are in full display on this seed
Maybe you should pay closer attention.
The racists like BLM are suddenly quiet.
So with a screaming mob acting like animals (I saw the videos) are racing towards him and he's expected to say nicely, "Come on folks, calm down."
It's one thing for a cop to say I thought they had a gun and I felt threatened, it's another to say “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are.”
Do you understand what he has told us? I'm not sure he did, but I'm sure those who tried to protect him and those who know better and are strangely silent understand.
Racing towards him? Having to climb through a window is racing towards him?
None of the other officers in the area reacted. None of the other officers discharged their weapon. In fact the SWAT team that was entering the building had to stop when they heard the shot as they weren't sure who fired. Neither were the officers that were in the area. Considering how tightly everyone was packed together- if he misses he would have hit one of his fellow officers; or one of the other rioters that hadn't made it through the window.
Using the standards this idiot set forth; both BLM and Antifa should be scared shitless. They are the poster children for arson; looting; destruction of federal property; and assaulting officers with Molotov Cocktails, concrete milk shakes, bats, chains, and knives. Of course the left would demand every officer be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
All this is another great example of the two tier justice system in the US under Merrick Garland.
my source in DC tells me that when DHS officials were watching in real time the attempted insurrection, the calls for "shoot to kill" were very audible and numerous.
"Your source in DC"
Veering off into Biden's alternate reality again. There was no insurrection as per the FBI report.
Which is the reason only one scared little moron that never should have had a badge fired and killed an unarmed rioter that was climbing through a window; and couldn't have hurt him in any way in the process.
Why are certain comments locked?
It's that glitch again that we had some weeks back. If you refresh they unlock. I'm having the same thing again as well as a few other issues.
Ahh...Thank you sir
Right wing extremists do not respect government. That is why they see no problem with a violent mob entering the chamber of the national legislature, which would have happened about five seconds after they got past the door Byrd was guarding.
That's a dangerous idea isn't it? If we start deciding which protests are moral and which are not we'll have the same kind of abuses coming from the right when they take power in 2022.
Or do you really think this double standard will go on indefinitely?
Your comment is not a reply to what I said at all.
You are saying something that Sandy introduced - that we each get to decide which protests are good and which are bad.
I say that's a dangerous idea. It leads to the James Comey/J Edgar Hoover types taking action
One was a protest, the other was a violent mob attempt to enter a restricted area of the national government. That cop didnt know that there were no representatives who would be in danger if Babbitt and her friends got past him.
Who was Heyer threatening?
Your attempt to say they were similar protests is lame.
One was a violent anti-protest, was it not? Who was given the right to protest in Charlottesville?
Do you see it yet, John?
You are not good at this Vic. The white supremacists came to the Charlottesville rally with homemade weapons. They are the ones who actually started the violence.
Way too good it would seem.
The white supremacists came to the Charlottesville rally with homemade weapons.
So did fucking antifa. The pro statue group could have had their protest and gone home. The counter protest meant there would be bloodshed.
I guarantee it! All we needed was those nice radical policies the moron in the White House and the radical in the House pushed through. You are going to lose the congress big time next year.
As usual , you dont know what you are talking about. The people who held the rally permit were "Unite The Right" , a conglomeration of white supremacist groups. Defending the statue was nothing but a veneer. Why dont you try reading something some time Vic?
Actually I seem to know a great deal more than you do - as usual!!!
You seem to have forgotten how many times you told us that. Do you understand what you are saying? The group calling itself "Unite The Right" had the permit. The counter protestors did not. Think about it John. If the Governor had any common sense he wouldn't have let any other groups in. No violence - GET IT?
So you wanted an openly racist and anti-semitic protest to go on without ANY counter protesters. That is very revealing Vic.
If we are still both here come the 2022 midterms, I'll be sure to remind you.
Two wrongs never made a right!
You already have, personally and as a group her on NT. Your continuing and provable conflation of the BLM movement daytime protests with the riots that occurred at night to tar them all as criminal speaks directly to that point. You claim double standards and double speak, but seem blind to the apparition of these in your own writings as you defend the rights of some to destroy parts of the very thing that guarantees your right to pontificate.
Woof!
Neither do left wing extremists. But somehow they get a constant hard pass from the left on their violence and destruction.
Which is why leftist extremists don't give a shit about destruction of federal property, assaulting federal officers, looting, and arson.
Funny how leftist hypocrites call their hard core extremists "mostly peaceful protesters"; even when they are proven repeatedly wrong.
Of course the left love Byrd, he shot and killed someone they hate. The fact he was the only one to discharge his weapon means nothing to the Democrats. They have an agenda to uphold; and if someone has to die so be it- so long as it isn't one of their own. Switch the positions and have it be a white female officer shoot a BLM member trying to gain entrance through force; and the officer would already be charged, the media and Democrats calling for immediate conviction, and for the officer to accept her fate. The amount of hypocrisy on the left is staggering.
It’s so nice reading this and finding out that conservatives have a soft side. Now we know that if a mentally unstable conspiracy theorist Biden supporter leading a violent mob breaks through a window and enters Congress under the protection of clearly armed security, then they will be safe from harm.
Or shall we take the precedent of the left and gun them down?
Them all? Who is them? List, please.
The protestors you are speculating about. Go back and read your own words in post 7
Post 7 is 100% sarcasm. I’m asking you for the list of Trump supporters that have met the same fate as Ashley Babbitt. You called gunning down protesters a precedent set by the left. List, please.
I think he's trying to say that the cop is a leftist.
... a judgement likely based on face value.
It's hard to follow your twisted logic. As I pointed out in the article, which you apparently did not read, Lt Michael Byrd set a standard by which police officers in cities such as Seattle or Portland, Ore., Chicago, and New York City could have killed hundreds of violent protesters who tried to burn courthouses, took over city halls or occupied police stations during last summer’s widespread rioting.
Obviously, the Byrd standard, which ignores police protocols will not be used on violent leftist protestors is reserved for the right and he could easily have gunned down another 50 protestors at the capitol that day, by his simple standard that I didn't know if they were armed, but they were advancing.
He did have a little history. Remember I told you about the officer who left his gun in the men's room?
And as an alternative to truth they seek the last word.
Should I let her have it?
Damn it, I'm always too good to the women. (It's been my downfall!)
My twisted logic? In order for something to be considered a precedent, it must be replicated under similar circumstances. Comparing an insurgency on the nation’s Capitol to the tiny fraction of the millions of civil rights protesters who damaged property is twisted. The insurgents were chanting Hang Mike Pence and conveniently had a gallows erected for said purpose - regardless of your inability to hear the words that everyone else could hear plain as day. They were advocating for the murder of members of US Congress, and one of their most rabid insurrectionists got herself killed at a key moment when their plans were hinging on a successful outcome. Ashley Babbitt’s name will go down in infamy, because she got exactly what she deserved.
Keep trying to suggest Babbitt was just an enthusiastic tourist who was just looking for a vending machine so she could by some candy. Ignore the locked door and the furniture used as a barricade. It wasnt really meant to keep HER out. She was a good person who just wanted some M&M's.
In case anyone forgot who this lunatic that committed suicide by cop was:
It looks like she was doing about 50 driving down that road. She could have easily killed somebody.
Oh ya, she needed to be killed/s
She wasnt killed because she made a hysterical video while driving down a highway.
When she jumped through a broken window separating a violent mob from members of Congress and challenged an official with a gun she committed suicide by cop. Good riddance.
The right doesnt want to face reality. The door she climbed through was BARRICADED, albeit it in a makeshift way. That should have told the moron mob right then and there that this was a serious location.
Babbitt got carried away by her own fanaticism.
She was killed because she was an unarmed protestor of the wrong kind.
THAT IS A LIE
As I recall, the original video is at least twice this long. She goes on for a while.
I don’t even have the stomach to watch more than 20 seconds of her madness.
Let a cop of ANY color use that excuse when he/she drops a thug in any city and that cop will be prosecuted for murder. It is that simple and correct to do.
I don't understand why this cop is being protected, other than a political narrative.
I have the exact same view of Ashley Babbit as I do of Heather Heyer or Anthony Huber.
If you go looking for violence, you should not be surprised when you find it.
Then perhaps you need glasses. Heather Heyer was peacefully protesting on the street and had every right to be there but a vile piece of shit right wing white nationalist violently and illegally rammed his car into the crowd maiming dozens and killing Heather. Ashley Babbitt was a violent right wing conservative who attacked the capital, broke through doors and windows of our nations legislative body and attempted to stop elected officials from doing their constitutional duty of certifying an election and put both legislators and capital police officers lives at risk and was shot by an officer protecting those legislators. If you view them as the same then you have some serious retinopathy.
I'm sure you'd like to think so.
That's utter horseshit. Literally every part of that is wrong.
She had been participating in an unlawful riot for several hours and was half a mile from anywhere her group had a permit to be she was killed.
She went looking for violent interaction with a bunch of armed thugs, and she found it.
And Heather Heyer was a violent left-wing liberal.
You want to pretend there is some sort of distinction because one was on Team Blue State and the other was not. But they were both actively involved in violent illegal activity.
But the facts are that both women were extremists looking for violence and met their ends when they found it.
And Heather Heyer was a violent left-wing liberal.
I'd like to know where you got that idea.
The paralegal and Charlottesville native was killed after a car rammed into a group of protesters near a "Unite the Right" rally in the city on Saturday.
Her mother told the Huffington Post she wanted her daughter's death to be "a rallying cry for justice and equality".
"Heather was about stopping hatred," she said of the 32-year-old.
"She was there with her friends, and she was trying to simply cross the street as the movement was breaking up that day, and she was ploughed down by a young man who was intent on spreading hate and thought hate would fix the world," she told NBC .
It's blatantly obvious by your comments.
You have exactly ZERO facts on your side. The utter horse shit is your gross mischaracterization of a woman who did nothing but peacefully protest by all accounts.
More total bullshit. You have no evidence she participated in anything violent, the violence came from the right wing white nationalist piece of shit who ran her down.
At least you characterize the right wing pieces of shit and fucking worthless white nationalists and Nazi's as "armed thugs", but that's about the only shred of truth you've presented.
And the evidence to back up your spurious claim? I won't bother waiting for it since I already know none exists. All you've got are vile lies in an attempt to shift responsibility from your fellow violent white nationalists.
You have provide no evidence of any violent illegal activity for Heather Heyer while we all saw the violent illegal activity Babbitt was participating in. The two couldn't be more different.
Just more useless fact-less horse shit. Yes, Babbitt was a violent extremists as is apparent. Please provide the video footage of Heather Heyer doing anything violent or illegal. If you can't then your claims against Heather are proven bullshit and you should be ashamed of yourself for making such a vile false equivalency.
It really doesn't matter what her mother says.
She was participating in a riot. That's a fact.
I'm sure you're very desperate to believe that.
Many liberals want very much to believe she's some sort of martyr, slain by a terrorist group they revile more than Al-Queda, ISIS and the Taliban combined.
You hate the group she opposed so much you're willing to excuse any behavior opposing it, to the point of denying reality itself.
However....the facts are.....
The facts undermine your blind bias.