Robert Dotson, 52, was shot and killed by officers who arrived at the wrong address in April 2023.
Authorities in New Mexico will not seek charges against three police officers involved in a fatal shooting after arriving at the wrong house last year.
Officers in the town of Farmington fired dozens of shots and killed Robert Dotson, 52, because he appeared at the door of his home holding a gun.
At the time, the officers were responding to a domestic violence call from a house across the street.
The Dotson family filed a lawsuit against the department last year.
According to a complaint filed by the family in court, police arrived at the Dotson residence late on 5 April, 2023 and "parked down the street and did not have their lights on".
When Mr Dotson opened his front door holding a weapon, police immediately opened fire, striking him 12 times. Another 19 shots were fired at his wife Kimberly, who was unharmed during the incident. Police later said she opened fire on officers with a pistol.
disarm the police. they do not need to be armed their entire shifts. if they approached this house without lethal weapons, how many people would be dead right now?
Having a gun on your person while opening the door is not brandishing. Also, there are countless other examples of people getting shot by the police simply for possessing a weapon.
There is also zero reason to believe that this man was aware the people at his house were police.
It's fucked up the pizza delivery people are more professional than cops but here we are. It's sadly a more dangerous job than being a police officer, too. At least, on average.
They apparently were supposed to be responding the domestic dispute but not only did they shoot him 12 fucking times they fired 19 bullets at the supposed victim?
Why the fuck are they not being charged again?
They just straight up murder people now with consequences. And like other's have said if they can shoot you for having a gun then we have no right to bare arms and they violent the second amendment.
I can do you better. There was a high profile police, er, "shooting" in my town back in the early 2000's that made front page in the papers because four cops fired 204 shots at some guys -- for those keeping score at home, that's four Barney Fifes with three complete magazines, two reloads each out of their issued Glock 17's -- and hit no one.
So they succeeded in doing nothing but putting holes in a bunch of people's cars, a couple of rowhouses, lampposts, mailboxes, etc., and failed to even so much as wing any of the multiple alleged perps. I mean, they didn't manage to nail any innocent bystanders or people sleeping in their beds or anything for once, either. Ludicrous levels of wanton and irresponsible property damage and potential injury or death dealt to anyone within a radius of who knows how many blocks, not a single care given, for no benefit whatsoever. You know, just business as usual.
To this day I wonder if there actually were any perps, or if some cops just decided they wanted to shoot up a poor inner city neighborhood for yuks and get away with it.
A more reasonable use for a firearm has never been stated. Random people roll up to your house and murder your husband. Clearest case of self defense there has ever been.
I've been woken up in the middle of the night by angry police who showed up at the wrong house and it's fucking terrifying, but it's a really bad idea to ever answer your door with a gun in your hand. If you feel like you need a gun to open your door you shouldn't be opening the door.
Not opening the door wouldn't save you. There was a no-knock warrant where a man was woken up when the police had kicked in his door and shined a light in his face. He had a gun next to his bed (I can't remember if he was even holding it). He had been awake something like less than 8 seconds before the cops shot him because they saw the gun.
Sleeping next to a gun sounds like a bad idea too. Unless you're being hunted by assassins or something along those lines. Not that it's that guys fault, because reaching for a weapon when you are startled awake is a completely natural response, but just from a safety perspective that feels like a really terrible place to keep a gun.
I won't open the door anyway. The cops have no legitimate reason to be banging on my door, ever, so they can go pack sand. The only two possible reasons for doing so are a wrong address or deliberate fuckery on their part. So I'd rather let them come to me. Preferably to the 3rd story bedroom, the one up the rickety narrow stairs. (Yay for 1920's redneck architecture. For once.)
Despite all the yelling and threats and bluster they'll inevitably do, if they ain't got a warrant you are not obligated to let them in or even acknowledge their presence. Fuck 'em.
Yeah but, yeah but see, see though the thing is though, but see he was white this time. So. Y'know. Might make the news. Oh, wait it did.
Member that time they found all those unmarked graves of people reported missing behind the Jackson Mississippi police station? Member that? Got less coverage than the Star Wars Holiday Special.
If you're gonna open a door with a gun in your hand while either not knowing who is on the other side, or knowing that it's cops, you get no sympathy from me. That's incredibly irresponsible.
In a country full of completely unjustified police shootings, this just takes away from real tragedies.