Deputy who shot unarmed civilian should be arrested

I'm sure everyone has seen the video of the San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy shooting of unarmed Air Force police officer Elio Carrion. If ever there was a clear case of police misconduct this is it. The deputy tells the guy to get up and when he does he shoots him three times. Before he gets up you can hear Carrion calmly telling the deputy he's going to get up now and he then proceeds to get up slowly before being shot.

Now there will be those who will read this and think that i'm anti cop but i'm not. I know being a cop is a very dangerous job and that the deputy in question was just in a high speed chase. That however does not excuse what he did. I see the father of the deputy has gone public and stated that his son told him he felt threatened and that the tape may have been altered. If the tape wasn't altered then i have to disagree with the deputy's fathers defense. If his son felt threatened he shouldn't have told the suspect to get up. He was violating police procedure when he did so. The bottom line is that police officers should not defend these kinds of actions. Now i know it's natural for a parent to do so but the deputy's actions should be condemned by those in law enforcement.

What should have happened was once the video tape surfaced the deputy should have been placed under arrest. Instead he was placed on paid leave. In cases like this these kinds of actions really stir up anger against those in law enforcement, especially in the minority communities. That is why in this case it would be to the benefit of all in law enforcement if the sheriffs deputy was placed under arrest. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's department needs to show that their officers aren't above the law.

Another thing that disturbs me in a lot of these cases is that the person responsible for doing the video taping often becomes a target for police. The man who videotaped Elio Carrion's shooting has himself been arrested. Whether or not the person who videotaped the shooting is himself a criminal is really irrelevant to what's on the tape. It doesn't change the fact that an unarmed man was needlessly shot by a police officer. Just think if there had been no video tape. It would have been Elio Carrion's word agains that of a police officer. Who do you think everyone is going to believe? There would be no justice. You wouldn't have even seen it on the news. If Jose Luis Valdez, who shot the video knew he was wanted by police yet still went to them with this video, he ought to be commended for doing the right thing.