re: Here's A Crazy Thought: Why Don't Black People Simply Obey Law Enforcement?

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According to a police report, Shaver had been staying at a Mesa La Quinta Inn & Suites on business.[10] He invited two acquaintances, Monique Portillo and Luis Nunez, to his room for drinks. There he showed them a scoped air rifle he was using to exterminate birds inside grocery stores. At one point, the gun was pointed outside his fifth-floor window, prompting a witness to notify the hotel receptionist; the police were immediately called.[3][11]

Nunez left the hotel room shortly before police arrived at about 9:20 p.m.[9] When police arrived at the hotel, they ordered Shaver and Portillo to exit the room. Six officers in the hotel corridor pointed weapons at them and gave them orders for several minutes with frequent warnings that failing to comply with them would get them shot.[12] Portillo was taken into custody unharmed.[13]

Police Sergeant Charles Langley then ordered Shaver, who was lying prone, to cross his legs. Moments later, he ordered Shaver to push himself "up to a kneeling position". While complying with the order to kneel, Shaver uncrossed his legs and Langley shouted that Shaver needed to keep his legs crossed. Startled, Shaver then put his hands behind his back and was again warned by Langley to keep his hands in the air. Langley yelled at Shaver that if he deviated from police instructions again, they would shoot him. Sergeant Langley told Shaver not to put his hands down for any reason. Shaver said, "Please don't shoot me". Upon being instructed to crawl, Shaver put his hands down and crawled on all fours. While crawling towards the officers, Shaver paused and moved his right hand towards his waistband. Officer Philip Brailsford, who later testified he believed that Shaver was reaching for a weapon, then opened fire with his AR-15 rifle, striking Shaver five times and killing him almost instantly. Shaver was unarmed, and may have been attempting to prevent his shorts from slipping down.[14][15][16][17] An autopsy report found that Shaver was intoxicated (with a blood-alcohol level over three times the legal driving limit), which police stated may have contributed to his confused response to their commands.

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Later that month, the Mesa Police Department fired Brailsford, citing several policy violations and unsatisfactory performance.[27] An internal investigation report revealed that Brailsford had violated department weapon policy by engraving his patrol rifle with the phrases "You're fricked" and "Molon labe" (a Greek expression meaning "come and take them").[28][29] Brailsford had also previously been investigated for body slamming a teenager during an arrest.[30]

In the official police report of the incident, Brailsford defended his actions, saying that Shaver crawling towards the officers was Shaver "trying to gain a position of advantage in order to gain a better firing position on us". Shaver had indeed crawled towards the officers after one of them instructed him to. The report stated: "Shaver was co-operative, but sometimes confused by the commands and because of his possible intoxication".[31]

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