Monkeypox and Other Fake News Stories
Monkeypox is apparently the next best fear-mongering tactic by the media at large, with a whopping DOZEN cases announced on Monday, which progressed to an even more scary 45 cases on Friday. They say this like it’s spreading like wildfire - but only if that wildfire was located in your sock drawer.
Listen to "Monkeypox and Other Fake News Stories" on Spreaker.
If this podcast has not been released, has been deleted, or to listen to the ad-free, early release version, LISTEN HERE.
Note: This article contains the transcripts and recording notes from the original article.
And can I just say, here, that the name MonkeyPox just feels like the next thing that logically follows something like bird flu and mad cow disease and swine flu. I just wonder what’s next. I’m thinking like squirrel fever, or maybe horse hiccups.
And all this isn't to say that Monkeypox isn't real. Of course I'm not denying that. But what makes it fake news is that it's not newsworthy. It's trumped up and bloated to make it seem important because there's nothing else currently fear-wrenching enough to keep America's sheep glued to the TV. So, they had to come up with something to keep the stress levels high enough to keep serotonin in the blood, which has proven to be the best motivator to pattern-forming viewing habits.
Just as we saw with the media frenzy that caused so much more harm than good amid the COVID-19 pandemic, mass media has wasted no time at all jumping right onto its next biohazard bandwagon.
That’s right, if beating the war drum didn’t work to get us into a full blown nuclear war with Russia Monkeypox is a nice safe harbor to keep Americans scared, and of course glued to our TV screens for the latest updates in the world of media frenzying.
So, here’s the timeline: Monday, America had 12 cases in 12 states. Tuesday that numer shot up to 13. That number ascended to 30 by Wednesday, which is more than double, before plateauing at 40 by Thursday, and then a huge spike of five new cases to bring the total to 45 cases in 15 states throughout the week. What a week for the onset of a brand new fear campaign.
I can’t even believe their actually making this a part of their news coverage. There
On Friday, that conversation shifted to made the jump to Monkeypox being associated, or even being confused with a sexually transmitted disease, as it can appear as a rash on the genitals. Like, because it’s a pox
Just two paragraphs below the CNBC article was a 4-minute video stating that the “Next pandemic threat can come from everywhere.” I have such a hard time wrapping my head around a pandemic surrounding us from all sides that it literally comes from everywhere.
It goes on to quote that health care providers should not rule out monkeypox just because a patient has another diagnosis or another sexually transmitted infection. They’re basically warning both doctors and patients that even if you go in for a routine check up, even though you’re at zero risk for catching Monkeypox, you COULD STILL HAVE MONKEYPOX!!!
[Laughs]
Oh, geez.
But this gives me a great opportunity to make a teachable moment. So, instead of joining onto the Monkey Pox bandwagon, I’m just going to use it as a moment of learning. I am, after all, a professor.
Teachable moment:
- I really enjoy taking jabs at the establishment. But that’s basically got the value of potty humor unless the point of those jabs actually comes across.
- As a professor, I always task my students with considering three things about every story they come across. Well, there are a lot of them. The first three should be kept in mind at all times, the two I’ll detail after that should come to mind when the first three don’t quite pass the sniff test.
- First, consider the agenda. This seems obvious, of course, but you need to ask yourself: Why is this story being written? What other stories happening right now are talking about the same facts, and what are those stories saying? A wonderful way to find out is to search! And how do you do that? You take a handful of the biggest buzz words in a given article or broadcast, and plug those into an internet search. And I recommend that you do NOT use Google, because they’ll obviously send you results that benefit them, their social media platforms, their advertisers and constituencies first. In fact, they may not even return anything that’s NOT going to benefit these entities. I recommend using Yahoo! or Bing, or even downloading the TOR browser or using a VPN and searching that way. This will give you the least filters and help balance out what you’ll get back from all perspectives. At least that’s the hope.
- Second, consider the source. Who is writing the article or releasing the podcast? What has their position been in the past? Does taking a certain side of the debate help push another angle that they’ve pressed in the past? A very simple way to do this is to simply get off your normal apps and websites and look at a different news provider. For instance, instead of using YouTube, search for your stories of interest on Minds.com, Bitchute.com, Odysee.com or another platform that I like to call the Aftermarket Media. If you’re interested in a list of the ones I use for my sources, send an email to MasculistPodcast@gmail.com.
- And third, consider the timing. Are their bills sitting before Congress right now that a certain story might influence in some way? If a story is really huge, but doesn’t really warrant that much media coverage, what else is happening in the world? Is this story being used to flank another issue, to draw attention away from a foreign bombing campaign, or to hijack a conversation that would otherwise draw a critical perspective of a position, or a publication or a certain politician? A great place to find out what’s happening in the world is on that list I mentioned above. Shoot me an email and I’ll get that out to you.
- There are several other considerations that we must take, of course. But those first three will be your first line of tack at getting you a a wealth of rational answers to just about any nonsensical mass media frenzy question you’ll ever ask.
- Two final pieces of advice that I’ve found to be consistently valuable in answering many seemingly unanswered questions are the following:
- When you can’t answer the question of why - as in “Why did the US invade Iraq when we found no weapons of mass destruction, and then follow that up with an equally questionable invasion of Afghanistan” - is to insert the word “Money” into the equation, which will give you a heaps of options to choose from. In this example, it’s no coincidence that George W. Bush led the invasion of both of these countries while Dick Cheney, the former chairman and CEO of Halliburton, was Vice President. The reason it’s no coincidence is that Halliburton went on to win billions of dollars in securities and construction contracts in the wake of these invasions. Of all the contract bids entered from all the companies across all the countries in the world, the notion that the government looked away while mass media wouldn’t report on the fact that Halliburton beat out all these other bids in what came to be known as a no-bid contract process, is equally not incidental. About the closest they came to paying it any attention was in a September 27, 2004 article from the New York Times that quotes “the Bush campaign maintains that Mr. Cheney has cut ties with Halliburton and that the administration has given the company no special treatment.” In case you’re missing my meaning here: THIS IS A LIE that the government sponsored and Mass Media propogated. There is no other way to say it. And the sheeple of America swallowed that lie hook, line and sinker. This report didn’t come out until three years after the invasion of Iraq, which happened to be less than one year after Cheney left Halliburton after chairing the global company for 15 years. Cheney also happened to have continued receiving taxable compensation from his former company all throughout the war. And yet there was no more scrutiny given to this issue than a weekend read in the NYT, and the world moved on like nothing ever happened. I didn’t though. I spent three weeks on a report for one of my journalism classes at IU slamming everything that the Bush cabinet and Mass Media stood for in that obvious collusion of outright lies to the American people. In the end, as always, nothing changes when not enough people demand that change. And that’s what happend there.
- Which leads me to the second thing one should always ask himself when hearing what appear to be echoes of news stories around the world without any governmental pundits or White House correspondents dashing the claims. When the government and the Mass Media at large - and I’m including Social Media in this statement - do NOT disagree, or worse, actually DO agree on a certain subject, the hairs at the nape of your neck should be standing at attention. This usually only means one of a few things.
- Firstly, it could mean that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. In other words, when there’s no blowback from Mass Media over what’s happening in Washington, that’s usually because the media is benfitting from the affair (either in terms of scandal to cast out click-bait, or gossip value, or even passage of legislation that makes fake news even easier to spread).
- Secondly, the opposite may be true as well, meaning that a given spike in coverage potentiates momentum in a certain element of political benefit to a party currently in power - for good or bad, which, regardless how it plays out, bad is always good for someone in Washington. A perfect example of this is the former president Trump’s seemingly endless cringe moments that, if not for him being president, would not be news at all. At times it seems that the announcements on his Twitter feed were in the news more than the policies he implemented.
- And thirdly, it could be an active, calculated, partisan agreement between the government and Mass Media themselves to engage in a campaign of censorship - or whatever redirecting, misinformational, narrative-shifting ideology they can hatch under the guise of fomenting “truth” by protecting the poor, uninformed American people of the mysterious, powerful disinformation machine churning day and night in an effort to send us all into chaos. News flash: we’re already in chaos! And it’s not because a handful of wachos have an internet connection. In one of the most dispicable displays of being caught having both of their hands in the same cookie jar, major Social Media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, complied with government requests to flag, shadow ban and even remove posts, comments and accounts of those making claims that went against stated claims of the Biden administration. This, of course, surrounded the often daily changes to the COVID-19 information horizon which has ultimately seen itself dashed altogether with the latest data from vaccine and viral infection research.
- How to spot fake news:
- When any disease, disorder or virus or anything else is anything less than tens of thousands of cases nationwide, it’s not a real threat. Not that we shouldn’t be preparing for it. But anything less than that is not newsworthy.
- When the numbers are so abysmal that it’s not newsworthy, you have to ask yourself why they’re reporting it.
- The major networks were actually reporting that MonkeyPox was actually NOT a threat. And my first question was, ‘So why are you talking about it?’ What’s so important about a non-threatening bug that it comes on in Prime Time Television?
- Think about how much effort goes into telling the news? Researching the news? Producing and airing the news? Think of the expense of paying all those people and advertising expenses and station promotions. And yet they go through all that to report that something is NO BIG DEAL. THAT’S NOT WHAT NEWS IS ABOUT!!
- News is supposed to be impactful, important, so rare and extraordinary that IT MAKES THE NEWS!!! The news is supposed to be reserved for useful, information like record breaking Olympic accomplishments and noteworthy inventions; outstanding accomplishments like moon landings and military victories. MORE…
- Think about it, folks. Think critically about what the mass media is telling you, because I can assure you, if the majors like Fox and CNBC and CNN and all the others are circling around a non-issue like sharks circling a wounded diver, there’s a reason.
- My assumption - dare I say even a prediction - is that they’re preparing to turn MonkeyPox into the next big scare. And as the numbers of infections don’t support the news broadcasts covering it, we’ll still see it come in well ahead of real threats going on in the world like when the US bombs a small village in Sudan and that never makes the news.
If you enjoyed this article, consider becoming a supporting member. For just $3 you'll get access to insider-only case files, mugshots and background checks of perps, access to unreleased articles and podcasts, extended shows, and much more. For $5 you'll get the Legally Insane News show, including This Week in Guns and weekly recaps of legally charged stories from around the nation, and you'll also get access to Small Town Justice, an ultra-high studio quality audio project on in-depth investigations of corruption and crime from America's small and mid-sized communities. At the $9 level, you'll get access to our documentary films and the podcasts that go behind the scenes of production.
If you’ve been affected by a story like this, why not tell me about it? Send any questions, feedback or story ideas to thejusticepod[at]gmail[.]com.
Be sure to follow us on our brand new social media accounts. We’re on Twitter & Instagram @cyleodonnell.
This Week in Guns
Listen to "This Week in Guns 6.24.22" on Spreaker.
If this podcast has not been released, has been deleted, or to listen to the ad-free, early release version, LISTEN HERE.
There is a series of comprehensively researched articles on this week's podcast. Find those HERE.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Sentenced in Killing
When she was convicted, Kim Potter, was still claiming that she didn’t know she’d shot Daunte Wright with her service weapon rather than her taser. While the court did not find that Potter’s mistake warranted a complete dismissal of her charges, they did give her a much reduced sentence. I’m assuming the fact that she was convicted at all, had quite a lot to do with the protests going on leading up to and including the final days of the trial.
Listen to "LIN_Potter_Wright_Killing" on Spreaker.
If this podcast has not been released, has been deleted, or to listen to the ad-free, early release version, LISTEN HERE.
Whatever the case happens to be, the city of Minneapolis must be getting pretty tired of doling out tens of millions upon tens of millions of dollars to the families of victims killed by that city’s police officers. And the family of Daunte Wright is simply the most recent.
Since Derek Chauvin’s trial, the city paid out $27M to the family of George Floyd, and another $20M to the family of Justine Damond, who was shot by officer Mohamed Noor, who responded to the Damond's 911 call. Noor was also later convicted on similar charges to Potter.
Perhaps after all that, the mere $3.2M the Wright family has received in a settlement payout from the city is a consolation for their loss. But I seriously doubt they feel quite as satisfied by the fact that Potter only received 16 months in jail for two convictions including first- and second-degree manslaughter.
Now, I did a little research on this to find out where her sentence landed against the standard for charges of this type. And I found out that, according to the Shouse Law Center in California, the maximum sentence for even one conviction of first-degree manslaughter, as averaged across the country, is a decade in prison. Potter’s sentencing, then, might seem like a slap in the face for the family of Daunte Wright, as her conviction entailed two manslaughter charges in total.
The plot thickened, however, when it was revealed that Daunte Wright had a warrant issued for his arrest at the time of the shooting. And the charge for which Wright was being sought was for aggravated robbery.
Aggravated is putting it nicely, given the nature of the incident that I’ll describe in a moment. But the word “aggravated” is the word used in the courts to process charges that involve or include a weapon of some sort. And that can be anything from a weapon-specific item like a knife or gun, to some other object used to cause harm to the victim, which can include things like hammers, baseball bats, and so on.
In fact, in my latest documentary, I filmed the plight of a small town activist who was so hated by the local government that they tried several times unsuccessfully to convict him on felony aggravated assault, and the thing they named as a weapon in the obviously conjured incident, was a forklift that has a maximum speed of about 5mph. It was a crazy addition to an already crazy film about nuclear level civil rights violations in a tiny, desert town. You can check that out at LIF.com/films, you can also go to LIF.com and click the link for the movie, BTLQ, or you can find a direct link to the film in the article for this podcast.
According to a warrant obtained by the Daily Mail, which is a digital rag published out of the UK, Wright had violated his parole and failed to appear in a hearing related to the matter. The report also indicated that this information was known to Potter before Daunte Wright was killed. This puts a different spin on the story that we are hearing in the US, since the original charge stemmed from Daunte Wright having held a woman at gunpoint and robbed her of $820 she’d taken out from a cashed check to pay her rent. The bond set for that warrant at the time of his shooting was $100,000.
In other words, 4,000 miles away, the news story broke of a violent criminal who the state wanted so badly that they issued a six-figure bond for his capture, and during that pursuit he was killed. However, in the US, the story spun by liberal mass media was that yet another black man was shot by yet another white cop, and justice translates to that cop going to jail.
The facts reported in Britain included that Potter knew Wright was a violent offender and acted on that knowledge. And here in the States, we were given the woke media rhetoric that Minneapolis is a breeding ground for white cops targeting innocent black males.
Whether or not the outcry over Daunte’s killing was simply fueled by recent police violence, or if the majority of those in support of Wright’s family were unaware of his crimes at the time, is not currently known, since I was only able to find it through deeper digging. However, little remains to be available from the major networks that clearly dominate public access to news and information about the case.
It seems, however, that there was no problem for the British newspapers to obtain the police records, revealing the entire timeline of events detailed in the arrest record and warrant issued against Daunte Wright. Check the article for this podcast for those records. They’re quite revealing.
Whatever the case, the settlement and the lackluster jail sentence are likely a result of the courts attempting to balance out the public outcry with the officer’s knowledge of the facts in the matter.
The New Paradigm of Anti-Trust
My recent article on the death of Patrick Lyoya at the hands of former officer, Christopher Schurr, led me to the thoughts that I wrote about in this article. It's more a story of nostalgia in the face of changing times, but is as relevant now as it was when my memories of a much less complex world were being formed back in high school.
Listen to "The New Paradigm of Anti-Trust" on Spreaker.
If this podcast has not been released, has been deleted, or to listen to the ad-free, early release version, LISTEN HERE.
When dad was growing up in the 1950s, there were certainly violent crimes - murders, even. But they were sensational and outrageous, that news of these instances traveled far and wide, and scared the crap out of the entire country.
Moving forward a generation, when I was growing up, we heard of violent crime as well, and many of us even experienced it first hand. This is because, with the increase in population, also came an increase in cases of violence. I'm sure there are several contributing factors to this, but a presiding assumption from my own, humble perspective is that the cases increased with population, of course, but also for a complex number of reasons. And I think that's because society as a whole has become more complex between my dad's generation and my own.
And the word "complex" that I keep using here, is specifically to identify that the structure and imperatives of society as a whole have grown complex at a rate that exponentially surpasses our society's ability to adapt to that cadence and scope of change. In other words, I don't think that our ability to cope with change is evolving at a speed necessary to keep up with the social changes and expectations that we are placing on ourselves.
And we see examples of this all over the place, where, in the past, there would be, for instance, the Vietnam War and people would protest about that one conflict until they saw results. Or there would be a women's lib movement and women would dedicate years to the effort. Today, we have wars piled on top of financial crises, on top of mob-style riots following an unjust court ruling, on top of huge fires made worse by global warming, followed immediately by a season of ultra-violent mass shootings, right on top of a terrorist event somewhere in the world.
If you add concentrated efforts at internal conflict like Incels and Antifa, on top of aggressive groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, and then consider all the terror events that are making more headlines lately, there's just too much for most people to keep up with.
Perhaps someday I'll write about my experience in an active shooter scenario in my school when I was in third grade, and my brother was in fifth grade. That experience shaped both of our lives, and is a prime example of an increase in both statistical probabilities of involvement with violent crime changing over between my generation and his.
Columbine also marks a moment in American history when crime took a front seat in the news and frightened a nation for the sheer determination of the murders and killers in question. I'll suffice it to say for this conversation, that crime encroached further into personal experiences as I grew up.
The next generation has seen shootings and violent crime rise even further, making Columbine look more like a stepping stone than an isolated incident in recent history. And shootings became more prevalent outside of schools as well. Community organizations, places of religious congregation, places of commerce have all literally come under fire by those attempting to perpetrate a great deal of harm and horror on their neighbors.
This is one aspect that separates my generation from my father's - the sheer intentionality of acts of violence. These acts were intended to either provoke some kind of localized response, or simply to exact carnage before committing suicide. There were a lot of other intentions behind mass killings, of course, but I've covered some of the research in previous articles you're welcome to read up on for that.
Ever since 9/11 when the world was shattered by the crumbling towers, nothing has ever been the same. A new era of anti-trust was ushered in. And a culture that was once free to assume innocence before guilt, started down the path of a paradigm shift that's resulted in what we see today - long waiting lines at TSA checkpoints for commercial flights, metal detectors at courts and police stations, and a flurry of new background checks and interview points for otherwise innocuous jobs and general access.
These days, you finally have to take the news seriously...
Here's an anecdotal comparison that drives my point: within a couple years of first getting my license, I got a flat tire. I was pulled over on the side of the road, in the middle of changing it when a cop pulled up behind me and put his lights on. I was alerted to the situation, but I wasn't necessarily alarmed. In other words, I was cautious of an interaction with a police officer, but I wasn't altogether worried about what would happen.
In fact, I was right to be both calm and also concerned and also calm. As was part of his job description at the time, the officer had stopped behind me to ensure that passing vehicles did not steer into me. stopped to help. These days if a cop stops you have a measurable, statistical probability of that interaction ending with you being shot.
These days, police have absolutely no obligation to assist anyone in any way, even if that effort could result in saving someone's life. And there are examples all over the world where proof is available. Thankfully, we haven't descended into the depths where all officers remember and exercise their freedom to refuse lifesaving services. But the difference between my experience as a new driver, and the experience new drivers are having on the road today with police officers, is very telling of how trust in law enforcement is rightly diminished.
In fact, one has but to Google terms like "police involved shootings" to see seemingly endless pages of results of officers being fired or even charged with murder and murder-related crimes for Worse yet are the cases where officers should have been charged, but weren't - often as a result of technicalities stitched into the law to protect officers and grant them additional rights over the citizens they serve.
Things shouldn't be this way. That complexity that I referenced before: it has contributed to issues on both sides of this debate. And while it may be true that there is a knowable solution lingering out there in the ether, it's certainly not known to us right now.
Case by case, we're seeing charges either dropped or refused for bad officers entangled in extremely questionable violent crimes, where convictions for good officers are also easily found on headlines around the nation.
The only easy answer that covers all the chaotic rubble of the debate is that there is no easy answer. There's no one way to sum it all up, while simultaneously including both sides of the argument and also offering a semblance of peace to the victims that find themselves in the fray.
I'll go on record once again and say that we absolutely need good cops. I for one have always supported the work of good officers in defense of, and service to, their communities. But I think that, as a result of the exposure that cops have had lately for their involvement in killing innocent victims, young men these days are a lot less likely to choose policing as their career.
If you enjoyed this article, consider becoming a supporting member. For just $3 you'll get access to insider-only case files, mugshots and background checks of perps, access to unreleased articles and podcasts, extended shows, and much more. For $5 you'll get the Legally Insane News show, including This Week in Guns and weekly recaps of legally charged stories from around the nation, and you'll also get access to Small Town Justice, an ultra-high studio quality audio project on in-depth investigations of corruption and crime from America's small and mid-sized communities. At the $9 level, you'll get access to our documentary films and the podcasts that go behind the scenes of production.
Be sure to follow us Twitter & Instagram @cyleodonnell.
If you’ve been affected by a story like this, why not tell me about it? Send any questions, feedback or story ideas to thejusticepod[at]gmail[.]com.
Images in this article came from ABC news.
Murder Trial Imminent for Execution Style Killing of Patrick Lyoya
Officer Christopher Schurr, a former cop from Grand Rapids, Mich., is accused of being a murdering, badge-waving shitbag, after finally facing charges stemming from his execution style shooting of an immigrant from the Congo named Patrick Lyoya. The victim was 26-years-old at the time of the killing.
Listen to "Charges Filed against Police Officer in the Killing of Patrick Lyoya" on Spreaker.
If this podcast has not been released, has been deleted, or to listen to the ad-free, early release version, LISTEN HERE.
The victim was killed on April 4 this year, but Schurr was not formally charged until June 9 - which is 65 days after Lyoya was shot in the back of the head, while laying face down on the ground as Schurr laid on top of him.
Not only was Schurr not charged during those two months and five days since the shooting, he was also not fired for the incident until his charges were formally filed. Continue Reading...
This not only speaks to the notion that police are automatically given the benefit of doubt over cases that would be immediately prosecuted if their roles were reversed. It also goes to show that literally murder charges have to be filed against cops in order to see them fired for killing the citizens they're sworn to protect.
The prosecutor, Chris Becker, said in a news conference streamed live on Facebook: “The death was not justified or excused … by self defense.” He briefly defined the statute for second-degree murder before making that statement, which he also said was a fairly simple charge to define.
This has me wondering, if it's so easily defined, why it took more than two months to assess whether or not the officer met the state's standard for prosecution.
Even so, Becker only charged Schurr with a single count of second-degree murder. There were no other offenses leveled against him that might have indicated that any departmental investigation of the killing was thorough enough to conclude whether or not Schurr breached his duties in pulling Lyoya's car over in the first place.
This further drums up the question that, if the county had two months to prepare a murder case against an average citizen who man-handled and murdered a cop in a similar scuffle, would they find more charges to file. It seems likely, since most prosecutorial cases against citizens by local governments for assaults on officers and other citizens include consideration of every aspect of the crime, including things like weapons charges, nearby property damage caused by the scuffle, whether or not the assailant was trespassing at the time of the incident, if their license was valid at the time of the incident and so on.
In fact, in this week's church shooting in Orange County, California, David Wenwei Chou, 68, was charged with one felony count of murder, five felony counts of premeditated attempted murder, four felony counts of possession of an explosive device, and felony enhancements of lying in wait and personal discharge of a firearm causing death, officials reported.
I suppose we're actually lucky to see charges even filed against the officer, since it's often reported that charges are rare for police killings. In fact, it's often falsely argued that police are not granted extra rights over the citizens. This is false, first and foremost, as, from the moment they sign their oaths as police, they're given the right to use deadly force in situations that would never be extended to common citizens.
They also benefit from the frequently called upon, and very powerful police unions who influence everything from lax prosecutorial litigation against cops to qualified immunity (which happens quite frequently, and makes it nearly impossible to successfully sue public officials). They frequently aren't prosecuted in small and mid-sized communities due to a lack of prosecutors who don't fall under conflicts of interest exclusions. It's also known that jury pools tend naturally to side with police due to their frequent practice of pruning certain details, court language rehearsals, and presupposed status in the courts.
These waters are further muddied by lax departmental oversight given to predatorial police officers using their badge as a get-out-of-jail free card.
Nevertheless, due to the delays in seeking justice for the Lyoya family, the incident rightly spurred protests around the Grand Rapids area, while the district attorney took his sweet time in coming to the decision to charge the former officer, who, only this week, was actually fired, presumably for cause relating to the incident.
The protests got so raucous that the protesters actually shut down a commission meeting this past Tuesday with shouts for demands of justice for Lyoya's killing. Presumably, the protestors knew very well that charges would likely immediately be levied against civilian citizens, if the killing occurred between traditional residents, as they argued that cops are not held to the same standard as status quo citizens in the eyes of the law.
I saw the original video for this incident many weeks ago. It all started from a standard traffic stop. Lyoya didn't appear aggressive, he didn't pull weapons, the officer didn't mention any suspicion of weapons, and he also attempted to manhandle Lyoya with no apparent suspicion of any crime. If I recall, the officer pulled Lyoya over for something related to his license plate. When Schurr asked for Lyoya's driver's license, that's when he started grabbing Lyoya. The incident turned into a scuffle, Schurr tried to shoot Lyoya with a taser - also for no apparent reason, and also for no apparent suspicion of a crime. Lyoya swatted the taser away.
At the end of the bodycam video, which extends beyond the time of the footage shot by Lyoya's passenger, a very sad scene plays out. Schurr's body camera had not only apparently stopped recording during the scuffle, it also magically started recording again after the paramedics had arrived on the scene. They'd started CPR on Lyoya, and the body cam was pointed upward at a second responding officer who stood over the EMTs performing the unsuccessful life-saving efforts.
Lyoya was not obeying the officer's commands, And in fact, it appeared at one time like he might flee the scene. But there was also no indication by Schurr that would indicate Lyoya was under arrest.
In the end, there was no reason I could think of that would justify such a delay in bringing charges against Schurr for his actions that day. But I can almost guarantee that if there was no one around recording the incident, that delay may well have ended up being a complete refusal to press any charges at all. This is especially fortified by the notion that Schurr's bodycam just happened to fail, as so many other officers' cameras seem to fail, right at a pivotal moment in an incident.
My heart goes out to the parents of Lyoya, who had to answer the door one day to one officer delivering the news that another officer in that same department had killed their son.
Keep them in your thoughts as well, as this case moves forward. And let's hope that they receive justice for the execution of their son.
If you enjoyed this article, consider becoming a supporting member. For just $3 you'll get access to insider-only case files, mugshots and background checks of perps, access to unreleased articles and podcasts, extended shows, and much more. For $5 you'll get the Legally Insane News show, including This Week in Guns and weekly recaps of legally charged stories from around the nation, and you'll also get access to Small Town Justice, an ultra-high studio quality audio project on in-depth investigations of corruption and crime from America's small and mid-sized communities. At the $9 level, you'll get access to our documentary films and the podcasts that go behind the scenes of production.
If you’ve been affected by a story like this, why not tell me about it? Send any questions, feedback or story ideas to thejusticepod[at]gmail[.]com.
Be sure to follow us on our brand new social media accounts. We’re on Twitter & Instagram @cyleodonnell.