 |
| Image credit: TomTingle Arizona Republic via AP |
The opening image for this post - with the cop looking back over his shoulder - is taken from the first of a number of articles used in this report.
He Killed an Unarmed Man, Then Claimed Disability
The latest twist in the police shooting of Daniel Shaver
City leaders in Mesa, Arizona, operate a municipality where the interests of police officers are valued more highly than ordinary citizens, including those the police have wronged.
11 July 2019
OUTRAGEOUS: Just "Another Deal" from City Manager Chris Brady
Posted: 6:39 PM, Jul 10, 2019
"Two years after he shot an unarmed man and was fired, former police officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford was rehired by the City of Mesa in order to obtain a special pension. Now, Brailsford is considered medically retired, not fired, according to a Mesa city spokesman. . . < The Spokesman: City Manager Chris Brady
READ and see video from another local news source > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2019/07
"Two years ago, I wrote about Daniel Shaver, an unarmed 26-year-old who in 2016 was shot to death in a hotel hallway while begging for his life.
> The killer, Mesa Police Officer Philip Brailsford, was put on trial for murder.
> Jurors were not allowed to know that he had scratched “You’re fucked” into his service weapon.
BLOGGER NOTE: There are more details in related content farther down in this post
He was acquitted of murder and manslaughter, despite video of as chilling and egregious a police killing as I’ve ever seen. . . "
Conor Friedersdorf is a California-based staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
How the Police State
Made a Mormon Missionary a Cold-Blooded Killer
Philip Brailsford went from spreading love in the Mormon church to gunning down an unarmed innocent father of two for no reason.
What happened?
The Free Thought Project has been given photos and background on Philip Brailsford—the cop acquitted for murdering an unarmed innocent father of two—which paint a much different picture than a cold-blooded killer. . .
Before Brailsford embarked on a career that would come to an end after he shot Daniel Shaver five times with his AR-15—enscribed with the words, “You’re Fucked”—he would devote years of his life to helping others.
In 2010, Brailsford, like many of the Mormon missionaries before him, would travel to Ecuador to help people and to spread his faith
BLOGGER NOTE: Missions usually last for two years.
Brailsford became a rookie cop in 2013
. . . While TFTP will not pretend to have psychoanalyzed Philip Brailsford, this is not necessary to grasp the alarming trend among police that has been increasing over time.Policing in the United States metamorphosed drastically over the last few decades after the NDAA in 1990 allowed departments to obtain surplus military equipment free of charge. With the weapons and gear of war likewise came the warrior ethos. Though unprepared to handle accouterments of the battlefield, hapless American police waged war on the very communities in their charge — an epidemic level of violence by law enforcement has since erupted.
And the military-industrial complex is still making a killing (literally and figuratively) at taxpayer expense from the transformation of small-town police forces—“kitted out with Marine-issue camouflage and military-grade body armor, toting short-barreled assault rifles, and rolling around in armored vehicles”—into extensions of the military.
Plain and simple, police are being trained to see the people they serve as the enemy >
This mindset, coupled with the fact that officer safety is paramount above all other things—including innocent children—has produced countless Philip Brailsfords.
> There are hundreds if not thousands of cops in departments across the country who are just like Philip Brailsford.
> There are hundreds if not thousands of cops in departments across the country who are just like Philip Brailsford.
> They are taught, through rigorous training and years of propaganda that a cop can do no wrong.
Sadly, this is the main problem and it is evident in Brailsford’s acquittal and the countless other killer cops who are never held accountable for their murderous actions. . .
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
As TFTP has previously reported, the Salt Lake City PD saw this violent tendency and sought out to change it. They are now proud of their new de-escalation program, even offering officers incentives and awards for deescalating encounters with citizens / / /
As TFTP previously noted, the state of Utah had an epidemic of officer-involved shootings —“deadly force by police surpassed even violence between spouses and dating partners.”
_______________________________________________________________________
As TFTP has previously reported, the Salt Lake City PD saw this violent tendency and sought out to change it. They are now proud of their new de-escalation program, even offering officers incentives and awards for deescalating encounters with citizens / / /
As TFTP previously noted, the state of Utah had an epidemic of officer-involved shootings —“deadly force by police surpassed even violence between spouses and dating partners.”
_______________________________________________________________________
BLOGGER INSERT:
> Arizona and Phoenix police shootings at record levels
https://www.azcentral.com/.../arizona.../arizona...police-shootings-officers.../3029860...
> Maricopa County finishes off record-breaking year of police shootings
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/.../maricopa...police-shootings/2444677002/
Jan 1, 2019 - There were 110 shootings involving law enforcement in Arizona in 2018, ... Police work the scene of an officer-involved shooting that left the ...
_______________________________________________________________________
That was then.
This is now.
After their training in de-escalation, the department went from being one of the deadliest departments in the county to going on a record string without killing anyone.
Until we realize that Philip Brailsford is not the exception but, instead, the rule—we will continue to see things get worse. If we really want police to stop killing people, we need to stop teaching police to be killers.
The Free Thought Project 16 Dec 2017
The Free Thought Project 16 Dec 2017
_________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME SEE TO THIS VIDEO - Be warned it is shocking to see.
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME SEE TO THIS VIDEO - Be warned it is shocking to see.
Full video of Daniel Shaver shooting
Published on Dec 15, 2017
Views: 20,171
Comments: 116
_________________________________________________________________________
Brailsford was at least fired from his job as a police officer. But that isn’t how the story ends. . .
A former Mesa, Arizona, police officer has been charged with second-degree murder in the January 2016 shooting death of an unarmed man.
Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, 25, was charged with murder on March 4 in the shooting death of Daniel Shaver, a 26-year-old husband and father of two from Texas, KNXV-TV reports.
Shaver was fatally shot on January 18 at about 9 p.m. at the La Quinta Inn.
Officers had been called to the hotel after a report that a man was pointing a gun out of a window. Two pellet guns were found in Shaver’s room, and police said they were related to his pest control job. Shaver had been drinking with a woman and a man on the night of the shooting, police said.
Officers had been called to the hotel after a report that a man was pointing a gun out of a window. Two pellet guns were found in Shaver’s room, and police said they were related to his pest control job. Shaver had been drinking with a woman and a man on the night of the shooting, police said.
Brailsford, who had previously been accused of using inappropriate force during an arrest just weeks before the shooting, was fired by the Mesa Police Department after he was charged.
He made his first court appearance on March 15 and pleaded not guilty. He was released without bail.
He made his first court appearance on March 15 and pleaded not guilty. He was released without bail.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Shaver Begged ‘Please Don’t Shoot Me’ Before He Was Killed, a Witness Says
2. Brailsford Was One of the Department’s First Officers to Wear a Body Camera – But the Footage From the Shooting Hasn’t Been Released
Brailsford was one of the first Mesa Police officers to be given a body camera, which he received as a rookie in 2013.
Brailsford shot Shaver with a personal AR-15 rifle, which he was allowed to use, according to police reports.
The gun was inscribed with the phrase “you’re f*cked,” Tucson News Now reports.
The inscription on the gun was a violation of department policy, which was one of the reasons Brailsford was fired.
Brailsford’s father, also named Philip Brailsford, left the Mesa Police Department last year to join a local law firm.
He was a lieutenant and had worked in the department’s Internal Affairs Unit.
He was a lieutenant and had worked in the department’s Internal Affairs Unit.
According to a press release from the law firm where he now works, Fennemore Craig, the elder Brailsford was a police officer for 19 years, and also served in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army.
He graduated from Arizona State’s law school.
Brailsford previously sought acting jobs before he became a police officer, according to a profile on Casting360.com.
He listed his interests as “motorcycle riding, football, hunting, target shooting,” said he is a guitar player with experience in a band, and is an Eagle Scout.. .
“He is not a danger to the community,” his attorney, Craig Mehrens, told reporters after his first court appearance. “He has honorably served the community as a Mesa police officer and he was honorably serving the day he received the call [to the shooting scene].”
Mehrens previously said Brailsford was “in shock” after he was charged with murder and believes he did nothing wrong, according to the Arizona Republic.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
We want to hear what you think about this article.
