Crime Trial beginning for Uvalde officer who didn’t engage shooter

[HockeyBjj]

Trial begins for former Uvalde officer charged in Robb Elementary shooting response

Adrian Gonzales is charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in “imminent danger” by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

abcnews.go.com

Nearly four years after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas elementary school, a jury is set to decide whether a police officer should be held criminally responsible in connection with one of the worst school shootings in American history.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales, charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in "imminent danger" by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

Prosecutors allege that Gonzales, one of the first of nearly 400 officers to respond to the rampage, failed to engage the shooter despite knowing his location, having time to respond and being trained to handle active shooters. It ultimately took 77 minutes for law enforcement to mount a counter-assault that would kill the gunman.

Prosecutors in June 2024 charged both Gonzales and Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo -- the on-site commander on the day of the shooting -- with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child.

Gonzales and Arredondo are the only officers charged. Both have pleaded not guilty.

________________

Unclear why this guy is singled out, I’m sure the trial arguments will explain why and defendants will explain why not. I do hope found guilty so as to have more accountability for police officers. I get there’s a line that someone can’t be legally required to be a hero and put their life in great risk, but there’s also line of how much risk to stop children being killed. So let’s find that line.

 

[UberHere]

Police usually don’t engage violent suspects without backup or a SWAT team ahead of them. On the other hand, he knew there was a bloodbath going on inside and perhaps could’ve mitigated some of that. Real life isn’t like action movies where cops go cowboy and get in gun fights every shift.

 

[Poon Goon]

Police usually don’t engage violent suspects without backup or a SWAT team ahead of them. On the other hand, he knew there was a bloodbath going on inside and perhaps could’ve mitigated some of that. Real life isn’t like action movies where cops go cowboy and get in gun fights every shift.

Every cop I've heard talk about active shooters always says that in that situation the protocol is to go in immediately and try to end the threat. No waiting. I can see where that situation would trigger the "flight" in the fight or flight mechanism at a basic human level, but that is what training is for. Sucks for the cop that couldn't bring himself to go in and obviously it is terrible for all of the victims.

 

[Natural Order]

That man should have taken his life in shame a long time ago.

Strange times.

 

[Last Falconry]

it's pretty funny to put a cop on trial for being a dumb pussy and we should do it more often

 

[DoctorTaco]

Was this the guy with the punisher phone screen?

 

[HereticBD]

I don't really see how you can convict the guy on much. It's not like the military or anything(although maybe it should be). He froze out of fear. Take his badge and his job, but that's all I can see being the consequences. It's just a job, like any other. You don't sign your life away when you get the job.

 

[Romulas]

Trial begins for former Uvalde officer charged in Robb Elementary shooting response

Adrian Gonzales is charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in “imminent danger” by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

abcnews.go.com

Nearly four years after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas elementary school, a jury is set to decide whether a police officer should be held criminally responsible in connection with one of the worst school shootings in American history.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales, charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in "imminent danger" by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

Prosecutors allege that Gonzales, one of the first of nearly 400 officers to respond to the rampage, failed to engage the shooter despite knowing his location, having time to respond and being trained to handle active shooters. It ultimately took 77 minutes for law enforcement to mount a counter-assault that would kill the gunman.

Prosecutors in June 2024 charged both Gonzales and Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo -- the on-site commander on the day of the shooting -- with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child.

Gonzales and Arredondo are the only officers charged. Both have pleaded not guilty.

________________

Unclear why this guy is singled out, I’m sure the trial arguments will explain why and defendants will explain why not. I do hope found guilty so as to have more accountability for police officers. I get there’s a line that someone can’t be legally required to be a hero and out there life in great risk, but there’s a line of how much risk to stop children being killed. So let’s find that line.

Waste of time and money... This has already been done at the highest level. Police officers have no responsibility to protect you.

Maksim Gelman stabbing spree - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[KnightTemplar]

Every cop I've heard talk about active shooters always says that in that situation the protocol is to go in immediately and try to end the threat. No waiting. I can see where that situation would trigger the "flight" in the fight or flight mechanism at a basic human level, but that is what training is for. Sucks for the cop that couldn't bring himself to go in and obviously it is terrible for all of the victims.

Beat me to it. I believe it's national protocol in US police departments that the first cops on the scene search for and engage the shooter. Even if it means one cop going in alone.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Was this the guy with the punisher phone screen?

IIRC, that guy's wife was in the building. I don't know if she made it out.

 

[surgeyou1]

Is being a pussy a crime?

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

Sure, the cops were scared to go in the building and do their jobs.. but they showed great form in tackling the parents who were trying to get to the building to save their children from a massacre. That's got to count for something!

 

[method115]

I don't really see how you can convict the guy on much. It's not like the military or anything(although maybe it should be). He froze out of fear. Take his badge and his job, but that's all I can see being the consequences. It's just a job, like any other. You don't sign your life away when you get the job.

I think the guy is a POS but yea I agree. I don't want to see people go to jail over things like this.

Sure, the cops were scared to go in the building and do their jobs.. but they showed great form in tackling the parents who were trying to get to the building to save their children from a massacre. That's got to count for something!

The crazy thing is one women got away and was able to grab her child and get out.

 

[Blastbeat]

I don't really see how you can convict the guy on much. It's not like the military or anything(although maybe it should be). He froze out of fear. Take his badge and his job, but that's all I can see being the consequences. It's just a job, like any other. You don't sign your life away when you get the job.

For most other jobs I would agree, but this guy was a police officer. Part of the job is potentially signing your life away to help others in a time of crisis. Which this guy failed to do.
He should not only have his job taken away, he should be forbidden from having any sort of law enforcement-adjacent job for the rest of his life. He has proven that he doesn't have what it takes.

 

[SurferH2O]

Those cowards not only didn't engage. They stopped others from doing so. The shame must be unbearable... and deserved.

 

[HereticBD]

For most other jobs I would agree, but this guy was a police officer. Part of the job is potentially signing your life away to help others in a time of crisis. Which this guy failed to do.

Nah. They have no "legal" duty to protect you. It's just what they're expected to do. It's a job requirement, not a legal one.

That said, maybe they should be legally bound. Maybe they should be run like the military, where you do sign your life away to be in that position. It's a very serious job, and I don't want any cowards in there, thinking they're gonna be writing tickets for 40 years, and then shit themselves when they get met with threats to their own safety. I want Rambo, not Upham.

He should not only have his job taken away, he should be forbidden from having any sort of law enforcement-adjacent job for the rest of his life. He has proven that he doesn't have what it takes.

Certainly.

 

[Andy Capp]

Trial begins for former Uvalde officer charged in Robb Elementary shooting response

Adrian Gonzales is charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in “imminent danger” by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

abcnews.go.com

Nearly four years after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas elementary school, a jury is set to decide whether a police officer should be held criminally responsible in connection with one of the worst school shootings in American history.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales, charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in "imminent danger" by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.

Prosecutors allege that Gonzales, one of the first of nearly 400 officers to respond to the rampage, failed to engage the shooter despite knowing his location, having time to respond and being trained to handle active shooters. It ultimately took 77 minutes for law enforcement to mount a counter-assault that would kill the gunman.

Prosecutors in June 2024 charged both Gonzales and Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo -- the on-site commander on the day of the shooting -- with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child.

Gonzales and Arredondo are the only officers charged. Both have pleaded not guilty.

________________

Unclear why this guy is singled out, I’m sure the trial arguments will explain why and defendants will explain why not. I do hope found guilty so as to have more accountability for police officers. I get there’s a line that someone can’t be legally required to be a hero and put their life in great risk, but there’s also line of how much risk to stop children being killed. So let’s find that line.

Perhaps it's the details in bold that put the focus on this particular officer. It raises a lot of questions. Primarily, when they say "trained to handle..." does everyone receive this training or is it a specialty of some kind? And if the latter, was there an increase in pay and/or did it require acceptance of specific responsibilities that he agreed to individually before participating in that training? In that case, I'd agree with taking some sort of action against him above and beyond making sure he never works as a cop again anywhere else and clawing back any additiona payl he may have received for the up-training. I just don't know exactly what. If not, I'd say he's been picked as a scapegoat and not much else.

 

[Stoic1]

It should be eye opening to a certain section of our population that you, and you alone, are responsible for the safety and security of your family. The police are not here to help.

 

[Thrawn33]

If department training and TTP said "first officer on scene engage ASAP", it is proved they didn't follow it, and as a result their negligence resulted in death...then yeah I have no problems with criminal charges.

But yeah as someone said earlier, I don't see how this individual could live with themselves afterward.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

won't go anywhere. US supreme court decided long ago that police officers have no duty to protect civilians.