COP WHO KILLED ANTONIO MARTIN, 18 IN ST. LOUIS SUBURB OF BERKELEY IS ANDREW WEUSTHOFF

Video above shows crowd attacking Berkeley, MO police at gas station where Antonio Martin, 18, had just been shot to death by white cop Andrew Weusthoff. Witnesses said he was alive for 30 minutes, but police did not call for medical assistance. 

Posted by: Carlos Miller in Ferguson, PINAC News, PINAC News Top 3, Public Records, St. Louis Cop Killings, The Blue Line, Viral Videos

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/01/berkeley-cop-shot-killed-antonio-martin-andrew-weusthoff/

January 2, 2015

Antionio Martin, 18, killed by Berkeley, MO cop Andrew Weusthoff Dec. 24, 2014.

VOD editor: Note the lack of broad news coverage of this killing, replaced by coverage of the two killings of New York City police. The mainstream media has insisted without proof that Antonio Martin had a gun, even including it in newspaper headlines. His grandmother demanded to see the gun, adding, “These police do some dirty things. They just wait until nightfall for some young Black men and then gun them down.”

Berkeley, MO — Although police in Missouri have yet to officially release the name of the police officer who shot and killed an 18-year-old man named Antonio Martin last month, we have determined his name is Andrew Weusthoff, a seemingly nice guy with a sense of humor judging by his Facebook page, which no longer exists.

The officer’s name was inadvertently released by the St. Louis County police department on Monday after we made a public records request for the full, unedited video as well as the incident report.

We still have not received the full video footage of the incident, but the report we received listed an assault on a law enforcement officer, listing Weusthoff as the victim, which makes sense because police have said from the beginning that he was defending himself after Martin pulled a gun on him.

Andrew Weusthoff, Berkeley, MO cop who killed Antonio Martin, 18 on Dec. 24. Photo of a mock mug shot is from his Facebook page, no longer in existence.

That report also states the case was “exceptionally cleared,” which is a phrase police use to close a case when circumstances prevent an officer from making an arrest as would happen when a suspect is dead.

However, three days later, we were contacted by the St. Louis County Police Department, who informed us that the  initial report was no longer valid, sending us an “updated” report.

The updated report, which they sent us today, now states that it is a “homicide” investigation, instead of an assault on a police officer.

And this time, the victim is listed as Martin.

Also, not only was “Weusthoff’s name nowhere on the second report, the case was once again listed as “active,” contradicting what Berkeley police and city officials told the media Tuesday during a press conference that they had conducted their own investigation and determined that the officer shot Martin in self-defense.

Martin’s mother Toni Martin collapses in grief after being informed of her son’s death.

The press conference seemed more of a ceremonial gesture as they were not even the main agency investigating the incident, but nevertheless, the news was reported widely, even though the Berkeley Police Department did not provide any fresh details besides mentioning there were now “several witnesses” that confirmed the story, who remained nameless.

The official investigation is being conducted by the St. Louis County Police Department, who say the case is still open, even though their own records indicated the case was closed earlier this week.

Most people keeping up with the stories seem to take the word of police, judging by comments on social media, even though police have not released the full videos, mainly the portion that would show the actual gun.

VOD noted that video shows officer assaulting (pushing) Martin just before Martin retreats backwards, after some conversation. Martin evidently lifts his hand, but it is unclear what if anything is in it. He may very well have been pointing his finger at officer in anger at assault.

So far, police have released three clips, one showing Martin lifting his hand towards Weushoff as if he had a gun, but the video is dark and grainy and it is impossible to tell if Martin was holding a gun, a phone or anything at all.

The other two showing the cop and witnesses scurrying for cover after Weushoff fired three times as he falls on his back, evidently  believing Martin had a gun.

Martin, who was pronounced dead shortly after he was shot, is cropped from two of the videos as you can see in the video below and as we discussed here. The alleged gun is also cropped from those clips.

Toni Martin and Jerome Green, parents of Antonio Martin, at candelight vigil after killing. His mother told the media he did not own a gun, and had just left his girl friend’s home to go to the store. His grandmother Margret Chandler, 65, demanded to see actual proof of possession of the gun, including fingerprints, etc. She told the LA Times, “If he was in the wrong, I want to know he was in the wrong I want to see the gun in his hand. I don’t want them to tell me he had it. I want to see it. These police do some dirty things. They just wait until nightfall to see some young Black men and gun them down.”

Police say they did that out of respect for his family, but his family has been asking to see the video.

Police also say they found a loaded 9-millimeter Martin’s body with the serial numbers scraped off, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he actually had a gun, considering police have long used “throwdown” guns to plant as “evidence” when they happen to kill an unarmed citizen.

We are not saying that is the case here, but unless they release the full video, we cannot rule it out either.

All we are asking for is transparency.

Instagram collage of scene of Antonio Martin’s killing.

Questions Remain Unanswered in Berkeley Police Shooting of Antonio Martin Near Ferguson

Dec. 30, 2014

Posted by: Carlos Miller in Body Cam News, Citizen Journalism, Citizens vs. Government, Ferguson, PINAC News, Surveillance Video, The Blue Line, Viral Videos

A Missouri cop shot and killed a man Tuesday night in St. Louis County, two miles from Ferguson, sparking more civil unrest as protesters clashed with police in the aftermath of the shooting.

Berkeley police say the 18-year-old man pulled a gun on the cop, causing him to fear for his life, which led to the officer pulling his own gun out and firing.

Police even provided a surveillance video that shows the suspect, Antonio Martin, raising his arm towards police as one would raise a gun.

But police cut the video immediately after that motion, preventing the public from seeing the cop pulling out his own gun and firing, insisting they are doing it out of respect for Martin’s family.

Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins holds press conference after killing. Both he and the suburb’s police chief are Black, and are saying the killing was necessary, as mainstream media has happily pointed out.

They also said the officer was assigned a body cam, but was not wearing it. And they say the car was equipped with a dash cam but it only turns on when the cop turns on his emergency lights, which was not the case here.

And the only reason the cop was not wearing his body cam was because he had not been trained to clip it on his uniform and turn it on, which takes approximately six months to get it right, said Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins.

According to ABC News:

“At this point it’s relatively new,” Hoskins said of the body cameras. “We only have three [body cams], so if it had been six months from today and we had gone through all the training I would have some concerns.”

But since authorities have the gas station surveillance video that shows the interaction, Hoskins said he wasn’t concerned about the lack of body cam footage.

“It would’ve been helpful, and in the future and when we get well trained, there will be a severe penalty for an officer who does not turn it on,” Hoskins added.

Protesters at gas station where Martin was killed are attached by police.

But the gas station video doesn’t contain audio nor a close-up of the interaction as the body and dash cams would have.

The incident took place Tuesday night at about 11:15 p.m. when the officer, a 34-year-old white man, drove up to the gas station in response to a report of a robbery.

The video shows Martin and a friend, both black men, standing in front of a convenience store at a gas station. They begin to walk away as the cop pulls up and steps out of the car.

Tweets allegedly from “Imperial Wizard” of KKK.

Martin’s friend walks up to the cop while Martin walks away from the cop. The cop, who has a lit flashlight in his hand, then appears to order Martin to walk towards him, which he does.

The cop then appears to want to frisk Martin, placing his hands on him as if to have him step up against the car with his hands on the hood, but Martin takes a few steps back.

It was then when police say he pulled out a gun, but it is impossible to determine from the video if he really did have a gun. Police say they recovered a 9-millimeter gun with its serial number scraped off. They also said Martin’s friend ran off.

Hundreds of protesters descended upon the scene, resulting in clashes with police, adding more fuel to the already tense national environment between citizens and police.

Witnesses on Twitter say Martin remained alive for 30 minutes but police refused to provide him medical assistance. Here is a dispatch recording from the minutes after the shooting where the dispatcher is asking for help with crowd control but not for an ambulance.

Protesters shut down Interstate 170 the night after Martin was killed.

While police insist the video should clear any doubts up, there are still many unanswered questions:

• Why didn’t the officer have his emergency lights considering he was speaking to a pair of potential armed robbers, which would have ensured his dash camera would have been turned on and surely have captured the entire incident at close range?
• Why would a patrol car’s dash cam even be set up to where it only turns on if the car’s emergency lights are turned on? How would that help in an ambush as we saw in New York City where two cops were killed just sitting in their car with their emergency lights turned off?
• How did the cop manage to pull out his gun so fast if he was already holding a flashlight in his right hand and the suspect’s alleged gun was pointing at him from point-blank range?
• Why do the cops insist on not showing us the entire footage, claiming it is out of respect for the family when respect for the truth should take a much higher priority, especially in an incident that could lead to more riots? After all, we recently learned how editing a video in mid-action can completely alter a story.
• Is there more footage from other cameras they are not showing us, perhaps closer angles as the one they are showing us is quite far?
• Will Martin’s fingerprints be found on the gun, which had its serial number scraped off?
• Is it possible that Martin could simply have been pointing his finger at the cop, telling him to back off from trying to illegally search him?
• Is it possible the gun could have been planted as police departments have done in the past to justify shooting unarmed citizens, including recently in New York City ?
• Why did police initially describe it as a “routine business check” only to later say the cop was responding to a robbery call, which would normally prompt the use of emergency lights? But then why not just release the entire video instead of allowing tensions, speculations, accusations and anger to continue to grow in the wake of yet another police shooting death?
• Here is the surveillance video as well as a video of the clashes after the shooting.
• It’s also quite possible that everything went down exactly how police explained it, which would give the cop more than an enough justification to kill Martin.