Patterico's Pontifications

1/12/2018

Suspect in Deadly Kansas SWATting Charged with Manslaughter

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:30 pm



Tyler Barriss, the suspected serial SWATter who was arrested after a hoax phone call to police led to the death of Andrew Finch in Wichita, Kansas, has now been charged with manslaughter:

The Los Angeles man at the center of what is believed to be the first fatal “swatting” incident in the U.S. has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a hoax phone call that led to a deadly shooting in Kansas, records show.

Tyler Rai Barriss, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and interference with law enforcement, according to court records made public Friday. Barriss has also been accused of making a false alarm, a felony.

Authorities allege that a dispute over an online video game led Barriss to call a Wichita, Kan., police dispatcher and falsely claim that he had shot his father and was holding two other people hostage inside a Wichita home on Dec. 28.

But Barriss was in Los Angeles, not Kansas, and there was no hostage situation. When Wichita police responded, a man, later identified as Andy Finch, 28, emerged from the front door and was fatally shot by an officer.

. . . .

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Barriss could face up to 11 years and three months in prison, depending on his criminal history, Bennett said.

I think he should have been charged with murder. But this is better than the lousy “making a false alarm” charge that he was extradited for. I hope they didn’t screw it up by not charging the manslaughter before the extradition.

If you’re new to this story, you can read my post about this deadly SWATting here, as well as my own account of having been a SWATting victim in the past. I published the audio of the SWATting call and the body cam footage of the shooting here.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

Jonah Goldberg’s Remnant Podcast: Charles Murray, with Music from . . .

Filed under: General,Music,Music by Patterico — Patterico @ 7:45 pm



Jonah Goldberg’s podcast “The Remnant” is always entertaining and well worth your time. But the latest episode is special for a couple of reasons. First, Jonah’s guest Charles Murray is a longtime Patterico favorite. Second, the intro and outro music may sound familiar to longtime readers.

Click here to listen.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

Durbin: The Term “Chain Migration” Is Offensive to Blacks

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:45 am



So as we all know, Donald Trump issued a series of tweets this morning concerning the allegation that he called Haiti and African countries “sh*thole countries.” Trump said “this was not the language used” — but specifically denied only 1) that he insulted Haitians as opposed to criticizing their country, and 2) that he said “take them out” about Haitians. (Some interpreted this as a denial of the “sh*thole countries” phrase; I’m not so sure.) Then Senator Dick Durbin came out and said that, yes, Trump did say all that — although apparently he used the word “sh*tholes” to describe African countries, not Haiti. Durbin even said the word “sh*thole” out loud.

OK, fine. I want to focus on a different aspect of Durbin’s statement — because it shows his ability to be absurdly sanctimonious with a straight face. Namely, he claims that he told the President that “chain migration” is offensive to black people, because they came here in chains. Yes, he really said that. Here’s the video of Durbin:

DURBIN: When it came to the issue of “chain migration” I said to the President: “Do you realize how painful that term is to so many people? African Americans believe that they migrated to America in chains. And when you speak about ‘chain migration’ it hurts them personally.” He said: “Oh, that’s a good line.”

You have to hand it to Durbin, that he was able to pull that off without cracking up.

Oh well. Trump loves to stoke racially charged controversies, especially on the long weekend when the country celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Now Trump has a “let’s fight black people” kerfuffle to last him the whole holiday weekend. Last year he attacked civil rights leader John Lewis at the beginning of the MLK Day weekend. This year, it’s calling African countries “sh*tholes.” It’s what he likes to do.

By the way, I guess this is kinda burying the lede, but this blog has obtained exclusive audio of the President’s remarks on immigrants. It turns out that he was profane, but everybody got the quote wrong, as you can hear in this short clip from the meeting. Must Credit Patterico!

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0787 secs.