Comments

1
Wish SPD would stop making statements like "clearly armed" and just post the video on Youtube.
2
Uhm... So why was Taylor in prison for 20 years?
3
@2 Would be heartbreaking if it were drug crimes. Even more so if it were pot.
4
We need federal agents conducting ongoing daily stop and frisk of Seattle police officers to check them for drop guns. Bad cops don't police themselves, and good cops don't police bad cops. Somebody else has to.
5
@2: According to the WA court system, it was one count first degree rape, four counts of first degree robbery, one count of attempted first degree rape, and two counts of second degree assault, all committed with a deadly weapon:

http://wa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDoc…

6
So, a convicted rapist, who has 4 counts of robbery and a few other assaults and rapes (with a weapon), was "deeply beloved" by the NAACP community???

"Taylor, who was in possession of a handgun, had been in a car with at least one other person when the incident unfolded, engaged in what appeared to be a drug transaction when officers came upon him, the source said.

Police seized a large quantity of drugs, according to the source."
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…
7
@5 what a charming young man. How does being poor and underprivileged make you rape someone though? I can get how desperation could lead to robbery/theft or dealing drugs. But fucking rape?!?!? 20 years seems a little light in that case.

8
@6 Ugh, that's Standard Operating Procedure for the NAACP.
9
this guy sounds like a complete scumbag missed by no decent people. We'll see what the dashcam video shows.
12
And I agree that a past criminal history doesn't justify simple murder / execution by the Seattle Police. But let's stop with the line of this guy being some sort of pillar of the community.
13
@12 FTW.
14
What does someone have to do to no longer be "deeply loved"?
15
Super pleased with the fast video release. Now if SPD would just get bodycams already.
16
There's pretty much no way this guy could've been armed and up to no good.
17
@14
Ansel wants to go to Hollywood to create progressive movies in which all blacks killed by cops were MLKing. It's part of adolescent fantasy. He means well.
The real issue is the capitalists who hire Ansel and encourage him
18
he had the NAACP fooled, or it's just their spin.

just think: if not for a do-gooder who called 911, the drug transaction would have proceeded and no one would have died. except maybe from the drugs, later.

legalize them all. end the black market.

19
@14, @17: The "blacks are always doing good, and whites are always doing bad" narrative does not leave much wiggle room, is the issue. As always, people are just people. Some do good, some do bad, most are in between.
20
@18
Pretty much so.
21
Great god. If the NAACP thinks this guy is a saint, I'd hate to see who they wouldn't vouch for.
22
@2, IIRC the correct answer to what he spent 20 years in jail for is nothing. The convictions for that sentence were overturned as witnesses recanted. I could of course have my cases confused, but I don't think I do.
24
" four counts of first-degree robbery, first-degree rape, unlawful possession of a firearm, a drug offense, and two counts of second-degree assault" yet deeply beloved? Maybe it's time to reconsider what kind of person you. The community's beloved rapist and robber. Salt of the Earth. Does he deserve to be shot because of that? Of course not. If he was reaching for a gun he deserved to get shot though.
25
I'm still mad.
28
Since people aren't simple cartoons they can be more than one thing. This man could have been both a convicted felon and beloved by family and friends. It's just too bad that he was also the former and not just the latter.
29
Convicted felon or saint, the police who shot him in seconds KNEW NONE OF THAT. Does not matter how good or bad you were in the past when you're looking at the result ONLY in hindsight.

They saw a gun and shot immediately. For all they knew he could have been reaching for his concealed weapon permit.
30
We are all innocent until proven guilty, unless you are a police officer. Shocking how quickly we demonized the police. It is sad and unfortunate that this person was killed. But if I was a police officer arresting a convicted felon and can see that he has a gun on his hip I would probably act quickly too. White, black, or any race or sexual orientation can scare you when they are a convicted rapists carrying a gun eligibly. It is sad that this happened, and I am sure the NAACP president was speaking with a sad heart when he made the comments. Maybe this guy wasn't know to carry a gun, but he was carrying a gun as well as heroin and Cocaine. I would think that the president should have waited until the facts in the story came out before making his comments. He may be loved by his friends and family, but four counts of first-degree robbery, first-degree rape, unlawful possession of a firearm, a drug offense, and two counts of second-degree assault tell a different story of his involvement in the community.
31
#29 He had history of violent crime, and illegally carrying guns. Since they could see the gun I am sure they were not thinking about his permit to carry. Funny how the NAACP president says that he was not known to carry a gun when he has already been arrested for carrying a gun illegally.
32
"In its latest report, the Seattle Times grants anonymity to a mysterious person only described as "the source" to speculate about Taylor engaging in a drug deal before his death, and talks to no one from his family or the Seattle-King County NAACP."

1) The linked article does not mention an anonymous source speculating about anything (but does assert that both Mr. Taylor and a passenger in the car were found to be in possession of what sounds like non-recreational quantities of cocaine and heroin).

2) As far as I can tell, no one from Mr. Taylor's family or the NAACP witnessed the shooting, so I don't see why the Seattle Times should be faulted for not asking them to speculate as to what happened. In other words, at least the mysterious, anonymous source allegedly cited by the times *might* actually know what happened, whereas Mr. Taylor's family and the NAACP almost certainly do not.

3) You realize The Stranger has a whole column dedicated reporting from mysterious anonymous sources, right?

It's pretty hypocritical to slam another media outlet for perceived bias in one direction while unflinchingly biasing your own reporting in the other direction.
33
@32: Re: your first point - https://twitter.com/Ansel/status/7018917…
34
yawn, same shit different day.

literally SPD and PD's all over the country have zero impetus to change because there are zero penalties. It's clear even unlimited amount of federal "oversight" literally changes nothing about the interactions between working-class police and their mostly lower-class subjects.
35
Bigwave425 he was a felon , he couldn't have a concealed weapons permit. A felon cannot even live in a home that has guns.
37
@35 Lenalynx, any felons rights can be reinstated after doing time and paying for their rights back.....no one knows what this man has done whatsoever.

TO ALL ON THIS BLOG.....watch that dashcam and listen very well to those codes and read that story they have told. It does not add up.

They said they got a "suspicious car" call?? Those two officers that shot him were in UNMARKED everything, car/clothes/etc. The guns he was shot with were not police hand guns they looked awfully long for a routine "suspicious car" call. He raised his hands as asked and then they fired before they finished asking. Looks to me as if he went into the car because of that big gun/rifle he was shot with (he had no choice but to fall in the car).
39
@33 Perhaps there's a subtlety of journalistic ethics regarding anonymous sourcing I don't understand, but I still don't see the issue with the Seattle Times' story as originally phrased (assuming there is such a source, which is a different issue). Wouldn't those same journalistic ethics require you to update your story to reflect the change to the Times' story?
40
@22 It's Hankerson, not Taylor, who was released because a witness recanted its testimony. Taylor's victim still insists she was raped. Not knowing her race we have no way of knowing if she is lying (white) or not (black).

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