this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
426 points (99.1% liked)

News

32002 readers
3288 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

BOISE — The Idaho Attorney General’s Office will not file charges against four Pocatello police officers who shot a teenager with developmental disabilities this spring.

The officers fired 14 times in fewer than two seconds, with 12 of the bullets hitting 17-year-old Victor Perez. The police were called to his home on April 5 for a report of a disturbance. The teenager died a week later after doctors amputated his leg and he was clinically declared brain dead.

The shooting garnered attention from around the world. Cell phone video of the incident has been viewed millions of times, and protests have been held across the state with participants demanding justice for Perez. Members of the community expressed outrage at City Council meetings and demanded the officers be arrested and charged.

The Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigated the shooting, and Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney Ian Johnson asked the office of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.

In a 12-page letter sent to Johnson on Wednesday morning, Idaho Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye acknowledged the shooting was a tragedy and explained why the officers will not be charged.

“The State would be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the four officers who discharged their weapons were not justified in using deadly force,” Nye wrote. “We will thus not file criminal charges against the officers.”

all 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Gaja0@lemmy.zip 124 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Not being to prove beyond reasonable doubt does not appear to stop the government from going after everyday citizens

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 54 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Some pigs are more equal than others.

[–] AlexLost@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago

Some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

🎵🎶Some pigs' mothers are more equal than other pigs' mothers...🎵🎶

Er wait... Wrong reference...

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah I don't see how this wouldn't be grounds to not place most murder charges. We don't think we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they didn't pose a threat to the shooters well being, and thus it was their legal right to defend themselves so we aren't bringing charges.

No jury, the people have no say

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Usually they use a grand jury to determine that

Yeah, it doesnt sound like a grand jury decided that here, which is why I was saying it sounds like a double standard.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 68 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The 911 dispatcher requested that four officers respond, more than usual for a typical disturbance. The only information the officers had was what was relayed to them from the dispatcher. They did not hear the actual 911 call and were unaware of Perez’s disabilities or age.

None of the officers were given an address for the disturbance prior to arriving at the scene, according to Nye, and dispatch was working off the information provided by the 911 caller who said the address was “behind 702 North Main.” Perez’s residence was on North Harrison.

Officers from the Pocatello Police Department had responded to Perez’s home in the past, but none of them were present at the time of the shooting. Nye said AG investigators learned during the follow-up investigation that the Pocatello Police Department does not flag residences for mental health issues. Even though police had responded to calls involving Perez and his mental health before April 5, the home was not flagged in a system.

One of the cops had a bean bag gun. Instead of giving that a try before the deadly hail of gunfire, they all unloaded simultaneously.

I don’t want to play this shitty game anymore. Is there anywhere else to go?

[–] HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 13 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

If I was American, I'd absolutely, positively be pulling all nighters to find a way to emigrate.

Being in Canada, I'm already working on plans to leave. I'm not getting stuck here if absolute power seeking dude who talks about taking Canada and Greenland (and gets caught trying to take Greenland) gets absolute power. Fuck that shit, I give it 12 months once Trump crosses the rubicon before hen uses his sharpie to move the border.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 19 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

If only it were that easy. Many of us have family we help take care of (and who wouldn't move because they are to old). And children who would suffer greatly by such a drastic move (mine has special needs, so moving means new doctors and schools...). Then there is the issue of a job.

Those in power have done a great job making it hard for people to just up and move.

[–] LordCrom@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

I am in the same boat. I'm ready to up and leave for almost anywhere else ...but I can't leave my family here. And they don't want to move or can't move

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Oh come on! Canada IS my escape plan! I just finished step 1 and bought a house 20 miles from the border in Maine!

[–] HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 3 points 16 hours ago

Escape to Canada only works if Trump is prevented from consolidating power and you just want to get away from the people who elected him.

Still a big upgrade from the US, just saying that it might only be temporary.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Move to europe, same exact shit but with putin.

Only place to escape is maybe Australia.

[–] HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 hours ago

Not quite. I can put a good number of countries and militaries between myself and Putin there.

I'm literally in a spot where the US military would set up on day 1 if things went that way.

So yes, point taken but it's really apples and oranges. For now.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 17 hours ago

“Following the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigation, the Attorney General’s Office conducted 15 additional interviews. The officers involved in the shooting spoke with the task force but declined to be interviewed by AG investigators.

“Instead, they provided audio recordings and transcripts of interviews they completed with a third party,” Nye wrote.”

Well I hope if I’m ever involved in a controversial shooting and the AG asks to interview me I can just be like “no thanks bro, here’s a tape of my friend asking me about it” and that’s the end of it

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 48 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

The State would be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the four officers who discharged their weapons were not justified in using deadly force,” Nye wrote.

Could you just maybe try though? Just try?

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 30 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like it's backwards. surely they should prove firing their weapons was justified and needed?

[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

What really pisses me off is that even if we accept that, due to a series of procedural and communications failures, the limited information they had justified their actions... there's almost zero chance that they will make any meaningful changes to try and prevent something like this from happening again.

[–] Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago

I'm pretty sure it's the job of the jury to decide that.

[–] seathru@lemmy.sdf.org 41 points 19 hours ago

“The State would be unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the four officers who discharged their weapons were not justified in using deadly force,”

Shouldn't that be up to a jury to decide?

[–] Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 10 hours ago

"Police performed life-saving measures..."

Yeah sure, first unload your guns and then try to resurrect him?

90% of this article is justifying the cops behaviour. Media keeps backing the cops and blaming victims, this needs to stop.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 33 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

When legal justice fails, vigilantism becomes the only alternative.

[–] SoloCritical@lemmy.world 14 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I look forward to reading about your heroic acts.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago

Don't worry. It will be on Faux News but the talking points will be different.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 29 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Murder. No question. They had several ways to deescalate and preserve the lives of everyone and they maximized the probability of someone getting shot by rushing in, not assessing the situation, getting within feet of the suspect, not applying any non-lethal force, and not backing away when the suspect would've been stopped by a chainlink fence.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 16 points 17 hours ago

yeah but have you considered that they wanted to feel powerful?

it's a crime to deny a cop their right to exercise that

[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 28 points 14 hours ago
[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 18 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

A TV show where vampires are real, so the cops are all scared, but the public doesn't know. The cops keep shooting people dead thinking they're vampires (so to the viewer the force seems justified).

During the final few episodes, it becomes more obvious that the vampires were never real. They were just gossip.

One season long.

Show title: Harvest Season.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

Sounds like American Horror Story material right there.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

I think i know a dude in Nashville and another in Napa who'd be down so that's four of us

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Between RFK Jr's people fueling anti-Autism hysterics and police afforded virtually unlimited latitude to killed the physically and mentally impaired, America is outright embracing eugenics of anyone the state leadership considers unprofitable.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 hours ago

Not just anti-autism, but the anti-vax shit as well. I literally cannot think of any other reason beyond wanting poor and "undesirable" people to die.

[–] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 14 points 2 hours ago

Holy shit, this is horrible. I feel so bad for that kid and his family, gunned down for existing.

There needs to be more police accountability. Every time they refuse to charge officers for the crimes they DEFINITELY committed, it makes other cops feel safer that they can also murder an innocent person and get away with it.

Cops must have a reason to do better, but currently, they have zero reason to do better since they can do whatever they want without consequence.

[–] AshMan85@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago

Then let him face mob justice. String him up outside his precinct as a warning to the others.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 4 points 2 hours ago

As an autistic adult myself shit like this terrifies me.