It seemed like Anthony Arambula did everything right. A man breaks into his Maricopa County home and runs into his son’s bedroom. He sends his wife and kids outside, then gets his gun out of the closet and holds the burglar at bay. He calls 911. But what happened after that wasn’t quite what he had in mind.
From Courthouse News :
From Courthouse News :
Phoenix Police officers already in the neighborhood heard the crash of the Arambulas’ window. When they approached the house, Lesley says, she told Sgt. Sean Coutts that her husband was inside holding the intruder at gunpoint. Lesley says Coutts failed to pass on that information to the two other officers.
Inside the house, the Arambulas say, Officer Brian Lilly shot Anthony six times in the back while he was still on the phone with the 911 operator – twice when he was on the ground.
The officers ran into the bedroom after Anthony told them, “You just killed … you just killed the homeowner. The bad guy is in there.”
Darn it. Cops hate when that happens. No, not because they pumped 6 bullets into the wrong guy, but because they could get in big trouble. Cops hate getting into big trouble.
Tony Arambula didn’t die, however. Instead, he sued. In a rather interesting complaint, more along the lines of melodramatic chatting than legal description, one detail makes the cops’ efforts to cover up their mistake exceedingly difficult. It seems that the 911 call was still being recorded as Lilly was busy shooting. And still recording after he stopped and realized his mistake.
Tony Arambula didn’t die, however. Instead, he sued. In a rather interesting complaint, more along the lines of melodramatic chatting than legal description, one detail makes the cops’ efforts to cover up their mistake exceedingly difficult. It seems that the 911 call was still being recorded as Lilly was busy shooting. And still recording after he stopped and realized his mistake.
According to the complaint, Lilly can be heard on the 911 tape telling Coutts, “We fucked up.”
Lilly says on the tape that he did not know where Anthony’s gun was when he shot him and that he “opened fire because he heard loud noises and saw someone who looked like he might be the ‘Hispanic’ male they were pursuing” before getting to the Arambulas’ house, according to the complaint.
But we all look like Hispanic males from the rear.
If things were bad after Lilly put six bullets into Tony, they got worse as the cops were left to figure out what to do about it.
Later, they tried to get the gun dealer who sold Tony the weapon to go along with their pretense that the gun may have been illegal, but the dealer refused to play ball. Then detectives tried to pin drug warrants on Tony from other states that he’s never been to, but the details didn’t match.
It’s so much easier when you shoot the wrong guy and just put a throw-away in his hand to justify it. It’s harder when you shoot the homeowner. And it’s really hard when the 911 recording catches it all. And you thought it was easy to be a cop.
H/T Dissent.
If things were bad after Lilly put six bullets into Tony, they got worse as the cops were left to figure out what to do about it.
Sgt. Coutts was quick to commence the cover-up of their terrible mistake. Sgt. Coutts asked Office Lilly where Tony’s gun was at the time Officer Lilly had opened fire on Tony. Officer Lilly admitted that he did not know where Tony’s gun was: ‘I don’t know. I heard screaming and I fired.'”And it goes on and on, with the cops dragging Tony Arambula outside the house by his shot leg onto gravel in the backyard, where he was put on display for his wife and children. He was placed on the “hot hood” of the squad car and driven down the street writhing in pain.
Lilly later told a police internal affairs investigator that Anthony had pointed his gun in his direction, “in the ‘ready’ position,” the complaint states. But Anthony Arambula says he was facing away from the officers, who could not have even seen his gun.
The complaint continues: “Still not knowing that he is being recorded n the 911 tape, Sgt. Coutts interrupted Officer Lilly’s admission and apology with his assurance that the cover-up would commence: ‘That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I got your back. … We clear?'”
Later, they tried to get the gun dealer who sold Tony the weapon to go along with their pretense that the gun may have been illegal, but the dealer refused to play ball. Then detectives tried to pin drug warrants on Tony from other states that he’s never been to, but the details didn’t match.
It’s so much easier when you shoot the wrong guy and just put a throw-away in his hand to justify it. It’s harder when you shoot the homeowner. And it’s really hard when the 911 recording catches it all. And you thought it was easy to be a cop.
H/T Dissent.
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It happens. It’s one of the reasons why, just a few hours ago, I was strongly encouraging folks in my carry class to not hold somebody at gunpoint if they’ve got another alternative — like, say, lying to the burglar and telling him that he will get shot if he stays.
Let the intruder run down the street, with your tv over his shoulder, and explain to the cops why he’s out for a jog with a tv set. And if he goes and hurts somebody else because the cops didn’t catch him? That’s somebody else’s problem; sorry. There’s just too much that can go wrong while you’re holding a guy at gunpoint — and getting shot by the cops is one of the classic things that can go wrong. (A robbery victim in St. Paul, some years ago, was shot and killed by the arriving SPPD cops; he’d wrestled the gun away from his attacker, and despite a witness screaming, “Don’t shoot the guy with the gun, he’s the victim, he’s the victim, he’s the victim,” they shot and killed the guy with the gun.
(I’m not going to second-guess Tony Arambula; maybe the guy wouldn’t leave, for all I know.)
You know, I always think I can believe anything anymore after being baptized into life as a criminal defense attorney. But you still had my jaw dropping a little more with each revelation in this post.
Just an hour ago, I finished a book I couldn’t put down called _No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Times_ about fabrications by officers, District Attorneys AND COURTS in various outrageous “molestation” cases.
The only thing that I guess REALLY surprises me anymore is that people still have faith in our legal systems.
I find this horrible, mind you, but not surprising or jaw-dropping. Cop shoots wrong guy? Happens; it’s an old American tradition, going back to before Wild Bill Hickok killed Mike Williams (he felt back about it) just after shooting Phil Coe (he didn’t; Coe was about to shoot him). When people are scared and guns come out, bad stuff can happen, and does, a lot. Cops are much more likely to do that than most of us, because they (quite reasonably) take guns out in scary situation a lot more than most of us, and are going to get it wrong, a lot more often.
(Hell, off the range, something like 88% of shots cops fire at 21 feet or less miss the intended target; these guys seem to have done a lot better then that — they just happened to score well on the human target that they shouldn’t have intended to shoot.) Realizing that he’s just shot the wrong guy, he looks to cover it up rather than own up? I’m not saying it’s okay — because, well, it’s anything but okay — but it’s entirely predictable.
Update: You’re wrong, Scott. The cop did everything right. We know this because his department has cleared him, and if he hadn’t done everything right, they wouldn’t have.
Shooting the wrong guy is just the local PD policy; Lilly was just obeying . . . policy. He was confused, that’s all. And the coverup? Well, what’s a guy to do when he’s put six bullets in the wrong guy?
Well, thanks for clearing that up. Now I can sleep better at night.
I live but to help.
More seriously, for a sec: a huge part of the Bad Cop Stuff problem is the self-serving tendency for their departments to stamp it as Nothing to see; move along now. Only costs them credibility, and that’s not of importance, apparently.
You guys are way too harsh on the cops.
I look at it this way: at least they’re finally admitting that “we fucked up” followed by a cover-up is part of the policy.
Somewhere in the bottom of the pail, you’ll actually find the pony, Rick.
cops covering for cops. put a bullet in the head of every dirty or suspected dirty cop. cops are scum plain and simple.
Not surprised coming from the de facto police state in Maricopa County.
I just love cops and all their donut-munching, minority-targeting, cover-up embellishing goodness.
It gives me goose pimples.
No really, feel.
It is most unfortunate that whether you’re hispanic, black, diabetic, any one, any color, any place that our law enforcement went from that to being a swat team for anything. Also murder by taser is not “quite as bad” as by gun by the cops.
Actual drug dealers on the street makes it worse, however not everyone is a drug dealer or user. All are guilty in the eyes of the law where our constitution says otherwise.
For the very reason of anti-american cops and lawyers I don’t own any weapon.
Could I use one? Yes! Do I own one, no…because of Prosecutors and cops who lie and because of a system that let Richard Cheney (terrorist from Wyoming) shoot a man without even a parking ticket. We have too many people in prison for doing far less than Richard Cheney did. Who is a major stockholder in private prison companies….Richard Cheney of course!
Should Mr. Tony Arambula will a billion dollars it would hardly be compensation.
I will bet Mr. Arambula is being “watched” right now.
Face up to it. He made a mistake now own it like a man, not cower away like a child.
It is an insult to each and every American that cops investigate cops and then the cop being investigate can never do wrong.
Should you be required to appear in court the court always say that “there is laws of the land to be obeyed” to the ordinary citizen.
That rule does not apply to Cops, Lawyers, Judges and Politicans, and many ultra wealthy.
We have a priviledged society. Most of us are not allowed into it.
When Tiger Woods came along he did so well he had to be allowed a “green jacket”.
Now that we have President Obama, it is the Republicans who will not support him and silently not support his color.
It would be nice to see independent investigators and prosecutors handle the excessive law enforcement, not the cops investigate and clear themselves.
You are told since you are litte “that if you are doing nothing wrong you should have nothing to fear” which has never been the truth. However, as continued statement of the same always goes down the should “the police officer who is doing nothing wrong have nothing to fear”. The gun and taser have become the Judge, Prosecutor, and the Jury in one man’s hand. You really can thank Washington DC’s “mandates” for the increase in Police Violence.
I think the solution is simple. Homeowner shoots the intruder before cops get there, then puts gun away. Cops arrive, no confusion. The dead guy’s the bad guy. Call a hearse.
The questions NO ONE ask are the most important ones. Who are these people we let be cops? What type of person has the urge to carry a gun and say, “Yeah, I should be in charge of everyone else.”
What are their educational qualifications?
What are their motives? If the people I grew up with who became cops are any indication, the motive is RARELY a selfless calling.
Who are they and why the hell are we expected to trust them?
I take it, Dingleberry, you don’t know any decent human being who has had to kill another human being.
I do. I’ve got a friend who — in as clear a case of self-defense and defense of another as there could be — shot and killed a man almost thirty years ago, and has not gone through a week without nightmares over it.
He made the right call. If he hadn’t shot the robber, there’s every reason to believe that he, and the woman who raised him, would have been murdered.
He made the right call. But if he could have chased the guy away, he would have, and my friend would have been spared thirty years of nightmares.
So . . . and I do mean this metaphorically, if seriously: fuck you.
Scott: your blog; your rules. You can pull this if you want to; I’ve got no beef. But I get so damn tired of hearing and reading this simplistic bullshit that I just had to vent a little.
We have the technology to keep all government employees on tape and GPS 24/7.
They only reason they could possibly object is if they’re criminals!
No, victims get shot by the police because most LEO’s cannot stop and listen because they have already prejudged the situation before they arrive.
The funny part is how they (the cops) don’t seem to notice the glaring error in their story:
“Hey The guy was facing me with his gun, and somehow all my bullets hit him in the back!” 🙂
I guess he must have turned around real fast while the bullets were still on their way!
This is terrible. This is a perfect example of how minorities aren’t tended to w/ more justice. I’ve been a victim of racial profiling by white cops and i was convicted by a white judge. Even though, i crossed examined the officers and their stories didn’t match. I still was found guilty. In this lates incident w/ the phoenix officers, had it been a hispanic cop and a white homeowner or a white cop and a white homeowner. This would have a different interpretation no doubt. How could these officers be cleared of no wrong doing? Their effort to cover up has been documented and proof exists. It’s absolutely obsurd for them to be cleared. Such conduct violates the law they are meant to uphold. Guilty! I hope this teaches cops through out America, a valuable lesson and i hope that, it will serve as an example of what not to do by officers. It will serve to preserve more justice for minorities. More and more we are seeing these indidents that for a long time went unforseen before Marthin Luther King changed things for all minorities but, we have a long ways to go still.
Beaner down! Beaner down!
These pigs knew they weren’t going to get in trouble for shooting this poor guy. They almost never do. And they tried to frame him anyway.
Where are we going, and how did we get in this handbasket?
Why is it that no matter what the situation, people have to bring race into it? What does it matter what their race was, did you know the 3rd cop involved was not white? Did you know that Tony’s wife was not Hispanic or Black? Probably didnt care to know that did you? Cops that try to cover up almost always get caught. In this case it’s going to cost the City of PHX millions and these 2 bad cops will undoubtedly loss their jobs as they should have over a year ago. I’m sorry that you feel that your a victim because your ancestors we treated the way they were but you need to stop bring the race card out and trying to make everyone feel sorry for you. A white cop and white judge didnt convict you, a jury did, if your story is true to start with.
This is pathetic!
This is what you get when you give an a–hole a gun and a badge – and send him out in public.
Yeah cops love to shoot first and clean up later.. f—ing lovely…
You don’t accidentally shoot a man 6 times including once to the back and 3 while he is on the floor.
Hope the cop gets fired and has to pay for the entire suit
I hope the people that live there clean those cops up and send a few to jail for trying to cover it up. The only way to deal with these problems is one department at a time.
I hope that cop gets shot and killed by a real criminal…we are getting to a point where we are close to a revolution…
Me, I hope that some folks will learn to engage their brains before their keyboards. But, of course, hope is not a plan.
Here is the real problem with incidents like this (and they are NOT isolated);
The problem is not that the wrong man was shot. I am no fan of law enforcement, but accidents happen everywhere, and big accidents happen when you are carrying a firearm. The real problem here is 2 fold; 1) They tried to cover up their mistake by turning the victim into a criminal, and 2) they shot a man TWICE who was already bleeding on the ground from the first 4 bullets he was plugged with.
Cops, do yourselves a favor;
Use police brutality and police corruption separately. Used together is just too hard to explain away, even if your POS department clears you of blatant wrong doing.
This cop is an idiot in the first degree. What a geek from hell. He needs to be a mall cop not a real cop.