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Surveillance video of man's death in Roslindale parking lot released
By adamg on Mon, 06/08/2015 - 2:08pm
The Suffolk County District today released two versions of the Burger King surveillance video that shows the incident that led to Usaama Rahim's death in a parking lot on Washington Street in Roslindale last week - the original, above, and a zoomed in version:
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Comments
More questions
He definitely advances on them with something, of course we can't tell what it is. But what would cause four or five officers to all back off at once...probably a huge knife. The angle makes it tough to tell but from the look of it he advances quickly at one of the officers just before being shot and going down.
Are you implying something is
Are you implying something is up? Maybe it was a pencil and they planted the knife on him?
It is quite possible
That he had extremely bad breath or was breathing fire like a dragon.
I see no visual evidence of a "something"
He never moves quickly or suddenly, he never raises his hands above his waist level. The officers all seem to be at least ten feet away from him when he drops, and only one is clearly backing away from him at that moment - the two to the left are advancing, and it's unclear because of perspective whether the one closest to the camera is moving towards or away from him.
In the meantime, a car leaves the immediate area mere seconds before the shots were fired, traffic flows by on busy Washington, and a school bus passes between the camera and the individuals in the video (pulling around the BK).
I find the video far from reassuring.
He never moves quickly or
I agree.
Also, after he walks from the street at deliberate, measured pace with officers guns trained on him, (4 or 5 officers--we were told there were 2), he stops moving and stands still. I don't think he's moving at all when he's shot. The press reported repeatedly that the officers fired when he lunged at them with a 'serrated blade' or a 'machete.' I don't see the lunge. I'm not saying he didn't, I'm saying I don;t see it.
We still don't know why, if they heard his 5AM phone call threatening to kill police, they approached him for questioning instead of with a warrant for arrest.
I saw a lunge
I also see 2 guys approach him at first. I guess the poor quality of the video gives us all wiggle room.
The utter normalness of everything else strikes me. I got on a bus at 7:30 at Roslindale Square that morning. Some of the other passengers were griping about how slow the driver was. They most likely went by the crime scene.
not normal
Police are not supposed to shoot and kill suspects unless they are truly in danger. They may have been but nothing I see here in the video provides evidence they were.
Last Tuesday, journalists reported that the police said they did not have probable cause of a crime so they were going to approach Usamma Rahim to QUESTION him. Today, Rep Stephen Lynch said the 5 officers in this patrol were under order to not let Usamma Rahim on the bus, which would leave a thoughtful, informed person to ask, Did they have probable cause of a crime to detain him?
Nothing about this homicide is normal from the surveillance including wiretapping to planes overheard to the person of interest to killing him because he has a knife.
Scene normal, except for the incident in the background
Nice way to turn that around, though. But no, there is nothing about any homicide that should be considered normal, even when the shooting might be justified.
Now, before you decide to completely rewrite history, feel free to visit this very website and discover the difference between probable cause for approaching him and probable cause for arresting him. If you read the affidavit Adam posted, you will see law enforcement heard in a telephone call 2 hours earlier that Rahim was planning on killing that day. In an alternate universe, the 2 LEOs would have approached Rahim, searched him, found the knife, and arrested him based on the plot. Then again, I am not law enforcement, but one of our resident police here did note that arresting him at that point might not have been in the best interest of the case.
A bit over 2 years ago, 2 Britons of Nigerian descent beheaded a guy in London. Do you think the family of Lee Rigby would have been okay if the Met had done the same thing the JTTF had done here last week?
You had more time to write
You had more time to write this Monday Morning Quarterback critique then those officers had to decide whether or not to use lethal force on someone.
Let that sink in for a minute. (A minute longer then they got).
Incorrect
According to many statements from officials they had this guy under 24-hour surveillance - perhaps for years. They were listening in on his phone, soc media and email. They apparently knew he'd just bought a knife. And the place and manner in which they approached him indicates that they knew he didn't have a gun or a bomb.
They seem to have had lots of information and a long time to figure out just how and what they were going to do.
What is still not clear to me, however,
and what were they going after him for that morning? Buying a knife is not committing a crime. Keeping someone under surveillance does not mean the person is going to commit a crime.
From all I can find out, he made threats, via phone, to his nephew, about killing guys in blue, including decapitation. And purchased multiple knifes. Ok, if they had this guy under surveillance, why did not the group of plain clothed police that approached him in the parking lot that morning go to his dwelling with a warrant and arrest him on probably cause (if that cause existed)?
Read more
Google the Tueller Drill. A person with an edged weapon can cover a distance of 21 feet before someone can unholster a firearm. Add a stressful situation to that scenario and any fumbling with the holster and the lunging attaker easily has the upper hand.
Are people forgetting that this guy was a terrorist? I can't believe any American would even question the killing of a terrorist, ridiculous really. I'm very thankful he's dead and hope every terrorist suffers the same fate.
So you say
He probably was terrorist, but how does anyone know that at this point? I haven't seen the evidence, have you ?
terrorist, not terrorist
They keep calling him a terrorist because they have an audio recording of him saying he planned to kill a policeman. What he said he wanted to do fits the description. He certainly hadn't earned it.
They knew he took the bus and chose that place to "ask him some questions." Five officers trained their weapons on him.
I feel like I just a lost a little bit of my humanity
I feel like I just a lost a little bit of my humanity by watching another human being be killed (for real).
I can't really think of anything else to say about it, except, that the video certainly seems to strongly support (or maybe definitively establish) the claim that law enforcement retreated first.
Well, I guess I can think of one more thing. I'm happy that I didn't end up on the police career path (I was headed there once). I just can't imagine what it would have been like to feel like I had to shoot this guy and then go up to him to see if he was still alive and call an ambulance in an effort to keep him that way.
That's definitely a harder job than what I have now.
Probably not as bad
As being stabbed with a military style knife. Just a guess!
I have no reason to dispute
I have no reason to dispute the version given by the JTTF...however, I am confused. Is this the video that convinced leaders in the Muslim community that he 'was not on his cell phone, and he was not shot in the back'? Because to be honest, I can't discern either assertion, particularly the first, from this video.
Still leaves open the
Still leaves open the question of precisely why the police chose that particular time and place to make contact. There were too few cops, they were unprepared even though they had prior knowledge of his knife purchase, and they had no control over the cars or other people nearby. For christsakes we see a school bus, and a short bus at that, entering the lot ! Were the police and FBI oblivious of the presence of other people ? It's too incredibly unprofessional. And no video but a security camera video from the burger place. Theres no way they just wanted to question him and got surprised. They got exactly what they went there for.
Do you need a link about the 5 a.m. phone call?
Because I can provide one.
Give us the link for the call
Give us the link for the call
*About* the phone call, not the call itself
Feds: Roslindale man had plans to behead somebody specific out of state, then decided it would be easier to kill a local cop - in which an FBI agent swears in an affidavit that Rahim talked to his cousin about two hours before his death about killing a cop that very day (a copy of the entire affidavit is linked at the bottom of the post).