Trouble in Berkeley, Missouri

berkeley12Another seemingly justified police shooting near Ferguson, MO briefly followed a sadly predictable script. In nearby Berkeley, a white police officer, aged 34, fired three shots, killing black American Antonio Martin, aged 18. The officer was responding to a report of stealing at a Mobil on the Run gas station. Martin allegedly pulled a 9mm handgun on the six-year veteran, who stumbled backwards as he fired, striking Martin once. “He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career,” said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, referring to the unidentified officer. “There are no winners here.”

Unfortunately, there were plenty of losers. Despite the efforts of Mayor Theodore Hoskins, who explained the shooting had been captured on a surveillance camera and a weapon was recovered on the scene, between 200 and 300 protesters gathered there and began fighting with police officers. One of three explosive devices (possible fireworks) tossed near gas pumps sent one officer to the hospital with injuries to his leg, while another sustained facial lacerations as a result of bricks thrown at the officers by the mob. Several police cars were also damaged by rocks protesters brought to the area. Four people were arrested for assault.

Belmar said he understood why a crowd would gather, but he noted that “to come there armed with explosive devices is certainly something that is not safe for our community, is not safe for our businesses and is certainly not safe for our officers.” He also addressed questions from the crowd as to why the officer couldn’t have used pepper spray or a Taser to subdue the victim. He characterized that response as “unreasonable.” “We had somebody who was pointing a gun at a police officer,” he explained. “With not a lot of time, I would imagine that most of us would feel like we were in imminent danger of losing our lives at that point. And I think the officer responded with what he thought was commensurate force at the time.”

“I understand the emotions and I understand these young people are looking for something, but I think we have to understand the context of what happens down there with these kinds of situations,” he added.

The incident occurred at approximately 11:15 p.m. Tuesday night.  The officer encountered two men at the parking lot in the 6800 block of North Hanley Road and began talking to them. Belmar said one of the men approached the drivers side of the police vehicle. According to the police officer’s attorney, Brian Millikan, the other man kept wandering away despite the officer’s commands to remain close by.

One of the two men “produced a pistol with his arm straight out, pointing it straight at the officer kind of from across the hood,” Belmar said, further noting the police officer had a flashlight in his left hand and was near his driver’s side door while the armed man stood near the headlights on the passenger side of the vehicle. The officer proceeded to get his handgun “and fired what we think is three shots,” Belmar said. One struck Martin, one struck a tire on the police car, and the third shot remains unaccounted for.

After the shooting the officer was placed on administrative leave. Belmar revealed the suspect’s “defaced” 9 mm gun “had five rounds in the chamber and one round in the magazine.” He further revealed Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, as well as charges for armed robbery, armed criminal action and  multiple unlawful uses of a weapon.

Millikan recounted further details provided to him by the officer hours after the shooting “The other guy was doing the talking, and as the cop starts talking, the suspect starts walking away again,” Millikan said. “At that point, the cop says, ‘Hey, come back here,’ and he turns around, pulls a gun from his left pant pocket. He’s trying to process all of this, and the suspect raises it, points it at him. The cop pulls his weapon and starts backpedaling and fired three or four shots. It happened that quickly. He doesn’t understand why the suspect’s gun didn’t fire. I’m not sure if he tried to pull the trigger and it jammed,” he added.

Millikan who further characterized the behavior of the two suspects as “bizarre” speculated that his client might have been set up for an ambush because the suspects remained at the scene after store employees called 911. “Their behavior is certainly bizarre, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all, in the environment we are in, that’s for sure,” he contended.

Belmar noted the officer dropped his flashlight when he stumbled while backpedaling, with Mayor Hoskins characterizing that as a blessing in disguise that may have saved the officer’s life. The officer had been given a body camera at the beginning of his shift, but wasn’t wearing it. Belmar said the officer was doing something else when it was handed out and simply forgot to put it on. The police car’s dashboard camera was also inoperative at the time because the car’s emergency lights were not on, Belmar explained.

All three men were relieved the incident was captured by surveillance cameras. Only the part prior to the shooting has been released so far. “The video goes on; there’s no reason for the family of this young man to have to see the rest of the video,” Belmar said, adding the department would be distributing more video from the scene, including footage of the officer retreating, to provide transparency.

According to Belmar, the officer was involved in a similar incident in 2011 or 2012, during which he and a suspect struggled for the officer’s gun. To prevent the suspect from using it, the officer purposefully dropped the magazine out of the weapon and fired the chambered round into the floor.

Martin’s family, who couldn’t be located initially, finally emerged. And while his mother admitted he had problems, it “doesn’t make any sense for them to kill my son like this,” Toni Martin-Green contended.

Belmar expressed condolence for both families. “These are nothing but tragedies,” he said. “This is a family right now that, regardless of the decisions that this individual made, are without a family member this Christmas season. This is also a tragedy for the police officer. He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career. This really underscores the task that our police officers across the nation have to deal with day in and day out as they answer these calls in our community,” he added.

Belmar also praised Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall for helping to calm the protests that dissipated by 3 a.m., noting he had ordered his commanders to “let this emotion vent. Let this happen.” Hoskins was also adamant, “You can’t compare this to Ferguson or the Garner case in New York,” he said emphasizing the videotape showed Martin pointing a gun at the officer. Nonetheless, he promised an investigation would be conducted in addition to the one by the St. Louis County Police.

The Mayor also illuminated the racial breakdown of the department. Out of 31 officers, 17 or 18 are African-American, and approximately 75 percent of the command staff are black, along with the the mayor, police chief and other city officials. The community itself is just over 9,000 residents, 80 percent of whom are black American.

Hoskins made one stumble. “At this point, our review indicates that the police did not initiate this, like Ferguson,” he stated. Considering the Ferguson grand jury’s findings, that statement is disingenuous at best, and self-serving at worst. However, the Mayor did stand strong when his press conference was interrupted by black Baptist minister Jason Keith Coleman, who characterized the shooting as another act of aggression by “trigger happy” police officers. “Everybody don’t die the same,” Hoskins snapped back. “Some people die because they initiate it, and at this point, our review suggests police did not initiate it.”

Earlier that evening Belmar addressed equally spurious assertions, noting that he had “already seen through social media that this officer stopped (Martin), questioned him, frisked him and then killed him in cold blood — well, that’s not what you’re going to see when you see the video.”

Considering what has, and continues to transpire in New York and other hotspots around the nation, one might be forgiven for wondering whether it matters. Despite the successful efforts of local officials, a leftist agenda, replete with false narratives, continues to widen the divide between police and the communities they serve. It is driven by those for whom police officers will forever be “ trigger happy,” irrespective of evidence, because a divided America, along with the eternal victimization of black Americans, is the only thing that separates the racial arsonists from the irrelevance they so richly deserve. That includes our feckless president, who chooses to remain on the golf course in Hawaii while Vice President Joe Biden has been dispatched to attend the one of the two funerals of the two minority officers slain in New York City.

President Obama could have sent a powerful message with his attendance. Instead, he sends an equally powerful message with his absence. There is no political mileage to be gained by standing with police officers, even as his ideological fellow travelers stand against them, all of their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. Like his execrable Attorney General Eric Holder, Obama prefers the company of uber race-baiter Al Sharpton. It is this trio of men, along with New York’s equally feckless Mayor, Bill de Blasio, who have cultivated the “us against them”mentality they see as a vehicle for the “fundamental transformation” of America.

Ultimately, Berkeley, MO may prove that such a transformation is far from inevitable. We are a far better nation than the American left would have us believe, and the bet here is most Americans are finally beginning to realize it, one in their face, over the top, cop-bashing—and killing—moment after another.

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  • cheechakos

    They are still protesting at Midnight Dec 24th.
    Interstate 170 shutdown by protesters in St. Louis.
    Arrest made after beauty supply broken into by looters.
    Berkeley shooting protesters damage some stores
    http://fox2now.com/2014/12/24/berkeley-shooting-protesters-damage-some-stores/

    Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMK6eOueKNk

  • scruffyleon

    I’ll say it if no one else will: The Blacks enjoy these kinds of opportunities so they can loot and pillage. They will exaggerate and lie to get others to join in their gang riots. This is like Christmas for them, free merchandise, take what you want. Then blame it all on Whitey.

    • BS77

      Last evening on the news I watched as a mob of morons and idiots went on a vandalism spree, tearing apart a Christmas tree, smashing windows in Jack London square Oakland CA….where were the cops???? I d like to hear that clown Sharpton telling the rioters to go back to school, get an education, take care of their kids, go to work, obey the law and the police, be a moral person…..but NOOOOO…he t ells them they are victims and must be excused for their horrible behavior.

      • scruffyleon

        All of these riots are being organized by ANSWER, the Communist Org. funded by George Soros. Al Sharpton works for him.

  • JayWye

    Comrade Obama WANTS more incidents like these,he wants black people angry and inflamed. it’s part of the blackmail,”give us what we want,or else”.
    Then they are easier to stampede or manipulate. then they aren’t looking at their very high unemployment or illegals taking the jobs that they might have had. It’s also a huge diversion for Comrade Obama’s many other scandals and high crimes.

    • Pete

      Could be.

      I’ll live in a Hispanic neighborhood and speak Spanish rather than give into Obama and his ilk. I lived south of th

      • Sheik Yerbouti

        The Obama machine isn’t importing more Hispanic democrats to benefit blacks. Democrats are finished with blacks in the US. With his pen Obama will have nearly all of the Black Vote replaced, probably before 2016, but certainly before 2020.

        I can’t feel sorry for racist black Americans even though I don’t want to see a wave of Hispanic peasants displace so many Americans. Few of these imported problem people plans to actually become an American.

        They live in ethnic enclaves and only assimilate enough to take advantage of government systems. But again, black racists are about to get a serious wakeup call. And “The KKK” won’t be around, just Obama’s people.

        • Pete

          I have lived in Latin America. Their are good things about the culture and bad things. However, we are getting the destitute. So we will get more minuses than pluses. Still Hispanics will be better than living in the Fergusons created by the Left.

          • Sheik Yerbouti

            Yes, they’re generally more intelligent and self-sufficient than black Americans who couldn’t even distill water during Katrina with the means to do so surrounding them. So we’ll soon see black Americans whining about “Hispanic Supremacy” which will fall on deaf ears.

            I almost think both peoples would be better off if they swapped places. Black Americans would be better suited to their own lands in Central America, far from the vestiges of American “White Supremacy” and “Institutional Racism”. Central American people are better suited for the kind of working life needed to succeed in the US. Sure, they have a lot of peasants who will need constant guidance and monitoring, for their own good. But most will assimilate more successfully than blacks as they have for generations already.

          • Pete

            “which will fall on deaf ears.”
            In a Hispanic majority nation the whole multicultural racket swill go away.

          • http://www.dilbert.com scook84

            Nah.. Then it will be the Guatemalans, protesting the El Salvadorians, protesting the Hondurans, protesting the Cubans, with everyone protesting the Mexicans..

            “Don’t taco me, braugh!”

            <3 Muah!

          • Pete

            Back in the 19th century Chinese were not Chinese until they came to America. They identified Cantonese of Fujian province or even some small geographical unit.
            Not until they face discrimination such as getting dynamited did they band together.
            I expect some of what you say. It is the truth.
            But there are 2 tends among people, fragmentation and blending. What happens depends on the strength of the one relative to the other.

          • http://www.dilbert.com scook84

            Nay, my friend.. It, like beauty, is all in the eye of the beholder.

            It is, because someone says it is..

            It is a warped analogy to Voltaire’s “I think, therefore I am”.

            Look up Binder’s labeling theory. We identify with the label others have given.

            <3 Muah!

          • Pete

            Jerry Doyle often talks about pilot induced oscillations. Politicians like to complain about capitalism and the like.

            They want to blame anybody but themselves. Their tinkering and avariciousness are what is causing the inequalities and lack of growth. They do not have degrees in economics, accounting or engineering.

            Politicians are not much worse than the disease. They are the disease.
            Government Policy Induced Oscillations

  • kiwi41

    This piece of ni qq er scheiss was 18 and had the following police record;

    ” He further revealed Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, as well as charges for armed robbery, armed criminal action and multiple unlawful uses of a weapon. ”

    Someone correct me , but are those not felony convictions ? All with mandatory, multi year, jail time sentences. It should still have been incarcerated !

    A prime candidate for the ” three strikes and you’re out ” law. Now another cop will have his life fcuked over by the left, just for doing his job.

    • cree

      Discipline kiwi. Lose the words that are hated and will be taken as incitement justification against us. Otherwise, glad you’re on our side.

      • Pete

        Exactly

        • dwayne roberson

          Kiwi can win the argument without any baggage.

    • Pete

      Charges are not the same as convictions.

      I am not saying that he did not do it. I am sure he did. But the system is broken, if he was not actually convicted.

      Leftists will gleefully and by rote repeat “He is innocent until proven guilty.

      • kiwi41

        I saw on another site that it did two 30 day stretches……
        Yeah, the system is more than broken………..

        • Pete

          He not it.

          But yeah the system is broken. Police and courts cannot fix it by themselves. Parents have to be part of it. Mr. Martin calls in a fake robbery, plans to ambush a cop, and points a gun a him and all his mother can do is join the protest movement of the LEFT. Mr Martin’s mother failed him.

          Pure and simple.

          • kiwi41

            ” He ” refers to a human.
            It is not (or rather “was not “) a human.

      • keithbreedlove

        Sorry, that’s innocent even if proven guilty.

  • mobuyus

    obama wants the U.S.A.to look like South-Africa

  • http://www.clarespark.com/ Clare Spark

    NPR discussed this incident briefly, noting that the gas station video “appeared” to show a gun being drawn, thus casting doubt on the official version of this event.

    • Sheik Yerbouti

      Yes, the use of “appeared” is put in as a disqualifier the same was “alleged” is so often used. To most people with a high school education this can be easily understood. But the press is banking on a lower element. They know that blacks are generally not as educated as whites, plenty of proof exists. So the press, in order to generate click bait and spin-off or copycat stories, uses a tactic that takes a racist advantage of lesser intelligent blacks.

  • mdemetrius

    “had five rounds in the chamber and one round in the magazine”

    Now stop and think about this. Entirely impossible, as anyone who knows the first thing about handguns knows. Must be a poorly edited sentence.

    PEOPLE! If you point a gun at an armed opponent, particularly a trained opponent, you can expect to be shot. LESSON:don’t point guns at police. They will probably shoot you, and you will probably be killed.

    • keithbreedlove

      And yeah, the cop executed this kid, right? He fired 3 rounds, only 1 striking him, 1 hitting a tire(?), and 1 unlocated. It sounds to me like he expected to be shot if he didn’t shoot first. Good for him!!!

      • mdemetrius

        Evidently, as far as we know now, either the pistol misfired, or was not double action and was not cocked. If it had fired, would the policeman have been shot?

        If you get six rounds in the chamber, does that cause a misfire?

        • keithbreedlove

          Check out this review. It may explain why the gun didn’t fire. If this is the case, then in the Army we would have called this operator head-space and timing (i.e., incompetence).

          http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/05/benjamin-t-shotzberger/gun-review-hi-point-c9-9mm-pistol/

          Regards,

          Keith

          • 95Theses

            Read the article. Here’s the most memorable metaphor:

            “Hi-Point calls it the ‘quick on/off thumb safety.’ Operating the switch is about as fast as a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter uphill. In January.”

  • Pete

    The U.S.. military will have to pull out of Lambert Air field. All the personnel who train at the national guard base adjacent to the field will have to train somewhere or not at all

  • Mo86

    Another violent thug who can no longer do any harm to anyone. Glad the officer was not killed!

    And now watch the lawless savages defend not the officer, but the criminal.

  • Hard Little Machine

    I’m not even a fan of the cops and I think they should walk off the job in Missouri for a month.

  • cjkcjk

    Listen to this craven ‘chief’. First he says there are no winners? Excuse me but every law abiding citizen wins when this kind of scum is eliminated. Second, The idiot says he understands why a crowd would gather! I understand too, but they are gathering for wicked, racist reasons! Please! I am so damn tired of this kow-towing to these animals. Third, he expresses condolence for the family that raised this POS! What are we supposed to wait till he murders and rapes a few people before his elimination is justified?
    This is the F@CKING Twilight Zone.

    • Daniel

      You’re 100% right. Nothing except for a shooting war with both the criminals and their political enablers will change the current status quo.

  • M2000

    Leftists defending black criminals whom want to target police again.

  • Pericles

    I’m black, you’re white,
    I’m gonna kill me a pig tonight.

    The police must die,
    This is eye-for-eye.

    I will kill whoever I will,
    Just to get me a thrill.

    I’m black and I’m mean,
    A tougher dude you never seen.

    The police better not mess with me,
    Or their kids they’ll never see.

    I am invincible and black.
    Around me just watch your back.

    –Ode by a Poet and a Cop Hater

  • keithbreedlove

    Having read comments elsewhere by the mother of the deceased, where was she when he was growing up? What guidance did she give him. And his father, or should I just call him a sperm donor? This kid had a VIOLENT police record. He’d already been arrested for ARMED assaults. Because of where he lived my guess is that he wasn’t assaulting whites. So why was he on the streets? Why did he have a gun? Why is it alright for thugs to get away with this — threatening his community — just because he’s black?

    Just like in Ferguson, where Michael Brown was a thug and robbed a store (we all saw it on video unless our lying eyes were deceiving us), and he’s made into some kind of martyr by protesters. And how many black businesses were destroyed/looted there? All for the death of a thug?

    How quickly do you think the crime rate will increase in NYC if the NYPD stands down in the precincts that need them the most because of the protests? Since Giuliani and Bloomberg and their policing policies, homicides are down by 80% there. I bet they’ll start creeping up with De Blasio, and it won’t be in the white precincts. And yet the racial demagogues will continue to blame the police.

  • hitz

    Defend the right of cops of all racial groups to shoot violent criminals of all racial groups! Hands Down! Do Shoot!

  • citizenrich

    I can’t really blame blacks for their pent up anger. It’s really frustrating to live in a society where you’re expected to be able to do simple things like, er, um…read? The average IQ for male sub Saharan Africans in America is right around 80 placing them in the retarded spectrum. It’s an incredible fact that blacks are for the most part, retards.

  • Ray Burke

    Once again stoking the embers !!!

  • verneoz

    “…his mother admitted he had problems, it “doesn’t make any sense for them to kill my son like this…” His mom knew he had problems, nothing was done about them. In all 3 of these cases (Berkley, Ferguson, NYC), the black decedents resisted arrest, or attacked the officer, or pulled a gun and aimed it at the officer. In order to have these responses to police orders, it appears these responses (disobeying of a lawful order, attacking, cursing, and pulling a weapon) are being somehow programmed or trained into young black men when they have encounters with cops. That is where most of this problem lies.