A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

29 January 2016

FBI video does not prove Finicum shooting was “righteous”

Updated at 13:46:22 MST. Yesterday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a 26-minute, low resolution video of the operation that ended in the shooting death of Robert LaVoy Finicum. After viewing the video several times, and going through the shooting segment frame by frame, I find myself wondering whether Finicum could have been taken alive. He should have been taken alive.

I have some comments. But first, a description of the video and images that I extracted from it.

The 720-pixels-wide video was shot from an aircraft, probably a helicopter, that shadowed Bundy’s two-vehicle convoy as it approached the ambush site.

Updated at 13:46:22 MST. The Oregonian has a slow motion version of the video. And a commenter at the New York Times suggests that the aircraft was “…a drone with intelligence capabilities, particularly given how much is blacked out in the video released.” Whether on a drone or a helicopter, the video camera was inexcusably low resolution.

Amon Bundy’s Jeep stops when ordered to do so, and he and two others are arrested without incident. Finicum’s white pickup also stops, with Ryan Payne leaving it at some point.

After a few minutes, during which Finicum ignores orders to surrender, Finicum starts driving away. Reports the Oregonian’s Kelly House:

As officers trailed in a black SUV and fired shots at the truck, it rounded two bends in the road, then rammed into a snowbank to avoid a police roadblock. As it came to a stop, the truck nearly hit an officer who was standing alongside the road.

His hands raised, Finicum ran out of the car and toward the snowbank, yelling at police. Then, as police approached with guns drawn, he reached toward the left side of his waist. He began to put his hands back up, then reached down again.

Bretzing said Finicum was reaching toward a jacket pocket that contained a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

The video shows Finicum being shot, then falling on his back. He raised his arm, then lay still.

House’s account is clear, but has to be based on descriptions by the police and FBI as well as on his own observations of the video because the video just doesn’t provide enough detail to prove that Finicum was reaching for his waist.

I’ve extracted three frames from the video, which the FBI posted on YouTube. The original footage may be clearer than the compressed version on Youtube. The YouTube version is underexposed, not sharp, and has reading from the aircraft blacked-out (thus denying us information on altitude, etc.). I corrected the exposure, then sharpened the frames.

finicum_hands_up
Finicum with his hands up.

finicum_falling
Finicum falling from gunshots fired by the man on the left of the image.

finicum_upsampled
Digitally enlarged image of Finicum falling after being shot.

Now, some questions:

  1. What was the point of shooting at Finicum’s truck as he bolted for freedom? The law enforcement officers knew he was heading for a roadblock.

  2. Had the ambush’s commanders issued clear orders to make every effort to take Finicum alive?

  3. Was the 55-year-old Finicum heading for the woods? If so, how far would he have gotten in the steep terrain and deep snow before collapsing in exhaustion?

  4. Was he reaching for a gun, or just trying to keep his balance?

  5. Was lethal gunfire the only response available to the Oregon State Police who did the shooting — and if so, why? Were there no Tasers? No pepper spray? No beanbag gun?

  6. Why was Finicum denied medical treatment for 10 minutes? Did he bleed out during that period?

  7. Was the aerial video the only photographic recording of the event? Were there no body cams? No dash cams? No high definition video cameras clamped to the roofs of the law enforcement vehicle? If not, why not? Was the takedown of Bundy’s convoy that hastily planned — or was part of the plan to avoid video recordings that might conflict with official accounts?

An investigation of the shooting has commenced, with the Deschutes County Major Incident Team doing the investigating. Cops investigating fellow cops.

Given what I know now, I think this could have been handled better. I’m not convinced that Finicum had to die, let alone that he was fully at fault and the Oregon State Police were fully in the right. Of course Finicum should have surrendered peacefully instead of roaring off in his truck, but his defiance, or panic, was not unexpected, otherwise the roadblock that stopped him would not have been established.

Yes, the authorities got their man — and they got him in the manner best calculated to make him a martyr of the Waco and Ruby Ridge genre. That’s an irretrievable consequence of their actions.