Issues regarding the shooting of LaVoy Finicum

Finicum was murdered on January 26, 2016; although the shooting was declared "justified" by the same authorities that called for an attack on the Constitutional ideology the standoff represented (see item 7). we are going to look at the issues regarding this shooting...
in particular the lies told by FBI agents regarding the murder.

As of January 17 of 2017 (a year later)...

The inspector general’s office declined to discuss the investigation last week. The U.S. attorney’s office in Portland said it was ongoing.
LaVoy Finicum widow to hold meeting in John Day

Structure of this post:

Three videos from different sources of the murder
An item by item discussion of the shooting, focusing on the discrepancies of what LE (especially the FBI) told the public compared to other cases and what politicians were discussing behind the public's back
A timeline of the shooting corresponding with the OSP/FBI video
There are sources peppered throughout this discussion; these are the most relevant to this post, and they are located at the points I feel are most useful. There are additional sources at the end.

Video Sources:

“Complete, Unedited Video of Joint FBI and OSP Operation 01/26/2016”, FBI

Timestamps are Youtube, not from the upper-left

Shawna Cox video from inside vehicle, The Oregonian
https://www.facebook.com/105477983124317/videos/243917005947080/
and

and

Shooting Report (with some information redacted)
http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/assets/pdf/Finicum_Redacted_Web_3102016.pdf

Harney County Autopsy Report
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/other/2016/03/08/Finicum%20autopsy%20report.pdf

3-3-16 - Emails From Oregon Governor's Office Re Malheur Refuge Takeover.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/302031664/3-3-16-Emails-From-Oregon-Governor-s-Office-Re-Malheur-Refuge-Takeover

Discusion by item

The FBI/OSP story is that LaVoy was shot AFTER reaching for a gun. The FBI's account can be found at “Remarks by SAC Greg Bretzing at a Press Conference to Address the Ongoing Situation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge”, https://www.fbi.gov/portland/press-releases/2016/remarks-by-sac-greg-bretzing-at-a-press-conference-to-address-the-ongoing-situation-at-the-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge

However, we already know that the FBI lied in this case (from the Oregonian link above);
also see

1 - The lying by the LEOs at the scene definitely make the following issues more conspiratorial in nature by government officials at all levels.

https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/153694006-FBI-agents-under-investigation-over-shots-fired-during-Ore-standoff-arrest
and
http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/08/new-video-shows-agents-began-shooting-at

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bullet-casings-from-shooting-of-oregon-occupier-missing-report/ar-BBqxBVb?ocid=sf

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/03/bullet_casings_disappear_from.html

2- If LaVoy was reaching for a gun under his arm, then why did he reach for two different locations (midsection, underarm)?
Update: the autopsy shows that there was a gunshot wound at the location LaVoy reached for.

3- It appeared that LaVoy attempted to put his hands back into the air after reaching for his midsection the first time (9:29).

4- If the gunshot wounds are in the locations that LaVoy reached for, it is likely that he reached as a result of being wounded. The FBI needs to release their autopsy immediately. LaVoy's family has had an independent autopsy done, and is waiting for the official autopsy to be released. (1:14, “LaVoy Finicum Funeral Service Live Stream Utah 2-5-16”)

Update: the autopsy shows that there were gunshot wounds at the locations LaVoy reached for.

5- If the shooting was a result of LaVoy reaching for a weapon, then why was there a windshield crack consistent with gunfire damage first visible at 12:09?
Update: FBI agents fired at the vehicle before LaVoy exited (from the Oregonian and other links above). This was the first thing that the FBI agents lied about, claiming that they did not fire.

6- If the shooting was as a result of LaVoy reaching for a weapon, then why did FBI/OSP maintain fire on the other passengers of Lavoy's vehicle for two minutes (10:12-12:19 visible signature of gunfire taken on LaVoy's vehicle) without receiving any return fire? These may be as a result of the “sponge projectiles” Bretzing mentions. Then again, the FBI's credibility in this case is nonexistant.

7- LaVoy was en route to meet with a law enforcement officer, what was the necessity of stopping him prior to that meeting?
This may be the most damning of all;
“OSP (Oregon State Police) would respond only in the event of danger to the public,” answered the Governor’s Public Safety Policy Advisor, Heidi Moawad “ (from the Emails From Oregon Governor's Office”)
And yet -
“We are hearing from multiple sources the Harney County residents’ sentiment is shifting very quickly to a higher degree of sympathy toward the occupation because they feel like their way of life is under siege,” Jim Desmond, director of The Nature Conservancy, wrote on January 14. (from the Emails From Oregon Governor's Office”)
And-
“I knew going into it that there was a sheriff in Grant County that was supporting the movement or the ideology behind what [the occupiers] were pushing,”
http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20160310/documents-osp-moved-fatal-traffic-stop-to-avoid-grant-county-sheriff?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Blue_Mountain_Eagle

So, while the OSP was claiming it was a public safety issue to the public, behind closed doors it is very clear that it is an IDEOLOGICAL issue for the government officials involved in the situation.

8- And considering that Lavoy was going to meet with local LE, why use an illegal roadblock?

Case Thirty-One: Deadman’s Roadblock
BROWER v. CONTY OF INYO, 489 U.S. 593, 103 L. Ed. 2d 628, 109 S. Ct. 1378 (1989).
The family claimed that police had erected a “deadman’s roadblock” by positioning
an 18-wheel tractor-trailer across both lanes of the driver’s escape route, concealing the roadblock behind a curve in the road and leaving it unilluminated…
…roadblock can result in a fourth amendment seizure if it can be established that it was an unreasonable seizure. Thus, the trial court was directed to reconsider critical fact…

https://www.facebook.com/TenMillionManMarchOnDC/posts/1586228761702325

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/122025NCJRS.pdf

http://www.callrainwater.com/pdf/Force%20060%20-%20Roadblock%2001.pdf

Case History
1] Graham v. Connor, 109 S. Ct. 1865 (1989) -- In Graham, the Court set forth standards for evaluating the reasonableness of the use of force. There were three criteria stated: the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of officers or others, and whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by fleeing.
[2] Tennessee v. Garner, 105 S.Ct. 1694 (1985) -- In Garner, the Court opined that deadly force could be used to protect officers or others from the immediate threat of serious physical harm, or to prevent the escape of dangerous individuals, after other means have been exhausted, and a warning has been given, where feasible.
[3] Fiser v. City of Ann Arbor, 417 Mich. 461 (1983) -- In Fiser, the Michigan Supreme Court provided guidelines for evaluating the reasonableness of a police pursuit.
[4] National Driver Training Reference Guide -- International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, 1989.
[5] Brower v. County of Inyo, 109 S.Ct. 1378 (1989) -- The Brower Court held that a seizure is a, “...governmental termination of freedom of movement through means intentionally applied...” (emphasis added), and further opined that a seizure has occurred when force is used. The Court defined force as an intentional act which leads to a stop or an arrest.

“ An employing town, city, or county may be directly responsible under 42 U.S.C. §1983 when an employee executes a governmental policy or custom that inflicts Constitutional injury. “

8- Mark McConnell, who fed the media the story that LaVoy “charged” the agents, was not arrested, nor was he subject to the barrage of criminal charges that the other participants in the occupation were. In addition, McConnell was not even in the vehicle, he was at the first roadblock at the time of this shooting, and in a different vehicle.

9- The federal government has gone to great lengths to charge these men, who committed no violent acts, to the point that they may spend life in prison.
Yet organizers of “Black Lives Matter” and “Occupy Wall Street”, who traveled interstate to plan riots which have spawned multiple assaults and which have cost taxpayers and local business millions of dollars of damage, have not been arrested on any similar charges despite having proved a public danger.

10- I am not going to address the issue of the unregistered gun that Finicum carried; he had a registered sidearm that he carried normally and openly, and then all of a sudden he hides an illegal pistol on his offhand side? Since this is a matter of speculation, and considering the lies and the attempts to hide evidence on the part of the FBI, I will note this discrepancy without further discussing it.

Timeline (Timestamps are Youtube, not from the upper-left - OSP/FBI video):

8:14 LaVoy leaves 1st checkpoint
9:14 2nd roadblock appears
9:16 LaVoy goes offroad. Does he hit an agent with vehicle? Agent moves toward vehicle, not away.
9:21 LaVoy exits with hands up
9:26 LaVoy, with hands up, moves away from approaching agent
9:28 Agent on ground gets up
9:29 LaVoy reaches for midsection, puts hands back up, then reaches under arm
9:34 Lavoy on ground
9:52 light artifact to left of tree mid-shot (flashbang?)
9:59 2nd light artifact to right of LaVoy's vehicle (flashbang?)
10:12 first gunshots hit passenger side front window ofLaVoy's vehicle
10:20 more gunfire to passenger side; gunshot cracks become visible (due to camera angel) on windshield
10:47 continued gunfire to passenger side (last observed)
11:40 camera angle changes
11:47 camera angle changes
12:09 possible gunfire seen on windshield
12:19 gunfire to windshield
12:42 camera angle changes
15:08 1st passenger exits vehicle w/ hands up
23:15 last passenger exits