NYPD Kill Hostage Who Escaped Armed Standoff -- Marks Second Killing Of Hostage by Police In One Week

Chris | InformationLiberation
Sep. 08, 2012

Last Friday, police in Minnesota shot and killed a hostage who fled from an armed gunman in a standoff in a motel. Just one week later, this Friday police in New York shot and killed another hostage who fled a standoff with armed robbers at a Bronx Bodega store. Additionally, an NYPD officer responding to the scene crashed into a random SUV driver, the driver was reportedly sitting at a red light when the speeding police officer careened into him.

NBCNY reports the driver "was treated and released, but the NYPD officer remains hospitalized at Lincoln Hospital in critical but stable condition."

In both of these cases, the criminals themselves were captured but escaped physically unharmed, yet their hostages who managed to flee were killed by police.

Via NBCNY:

Reynaldo Cuevas, a 20-year-old employee of a Bronx bodega, was shot and killed outside of the store Friday morning.

By Kat Creag, Brynn Gingrass and Lori Bordonaro, NBCNY.comA Bronx, N.Y., bodega worker may have been mistakenly shot and killed by police responding to a standoff with armed robbers inside the store early Friday morning, according to a law enforcement source and witness accounts.

Police say at least three men entered the bodega at 631 East 168th Street at 2 a.m. Friday and barricaded themselves inside when cops arrived.

A short time later, Reynaldo Cuevas, a 20-year-old bodega employee, exited the store and was shot dead by cops, according to a relative of the slain youth. The victim's cousin Jose Garcia said he witnessed the scene and that Cuevas, a nephew of the store's owner, did not have his hands raised as he left the store and cops opened fire on him.

"I saw the police shoot him," Garcia told NBC 4 New York. "He came up, but he didn't put his hands up. And he tripped or something and when he fell on the floor, they shot him."

A law enforcement source did confirm that Cuevas may have been mistakenly shot by police officers responding to the chaotic scene.

"Basically he was trying to get away from the robber and he was shot, " said Arjelis Duval, who also witnessed the shooting.

Three people are in custody. Drugs and a gun were recovered from the scene, the police source said.

Maria Acevado, a friend of Cuevas', said she remembered his great sense of humor.

"He was funny," she said. " He was nice to us, just hanging with us on the corner."

It's become more apparent by the day armed criminals are less of a threat than the police who are allegedly supposed to protect us. Lysander Spooner observed this to be the case almost 200 years ago, it still rings true today.

UPDATE: Video of the shooting has been released, the cop apparently shot the man point blank.

The AP reports:

Investigators believe the impact of Cuevas running into the officer caused him to fire one round, striking the 20-year-old victim in the left shoulder, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference. Cuevas died later at a hospital.

Though the death appeared to be an accident, the officer was placed on desk duty pending an investigation, a routine practice for all New York Police Department shootings. Officials refused to release the name of the seven-year veteran of the police force.

There was no sign that the shooter and other officers at the scene mishandled the situation, Kelly said.

"The tragedy here of course was that Mr. Cuevas was shot, but I see nothing wrong with the procedure," he said.

The cop should not have had his finger on the trigger if he was not intending to shoot the man, guns do not just misfire without the trigger being pulled. NYPD use special glocks which require a 12 pound trigger pull weight, double the standard 5.5 pounds, the cop either shot the man purposefully or failed to use gun safety 101.

The "tragedy here" is police incompetence and New York's restrictive gun laws which forbid citizens from protecting themselves, leaving them at the mercy of criminals, and the NYPD, but I repeat myself.
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Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.